WO2023236069A1

WO2023236069A1 - Alignment calibration system and method therefor

Info

Publication number: WO2023236069A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/097516
Authority: WO
Inventors: 李永春; 许永昕; 吴俊穎; 苗庭瑄
Original assignee: 李永春
Priority date: 2022-06-08
Filing date: 2022-06-08
Publication date: 2023-12-14
Also published as: CN117546091A

Abstract

An alignment calibration system and a method therefor. After an image sensing device (3) and an image capturing apparatus (4) respectively acquire alignment information, positioning information is obtained through computation so as to achieve precise alignment calibration, and when light spot array scanning is performed using the positioning information obtained in this way, the exposure precision can be greatly improved.

Description

Alignment correction system and method

Technical field

The present invention relates to a system applied in an optical device, and in particular to an alignment correction system and a method thereof.

Background technique

The electronics industry is changing with each passing day. In order to meet the demand for products such as printed circuit boards, semiconductors and integrated circuits, flat-panel displays, light-emitting diodes, or optoelectronic communications, exposure process technology has gradually become the core of the electronics industry in recent years. In order to achieve higher resolution In order to improve the exposure and improve the exposure quality, the related technologies of light point array scanning and alignment correction are very important.

Alignment correction methods in the existing technology usually require additional position sensors and markers or baselines on the substrate or stage to achieve alignment correction. However, this method requires additional sensors, which leads to uncertainty. It is more stable and increases the cost. In addition, in the light point array scanning method, digital optical images are generally continuously projected, but this method may cause the stage to move at a constant speed during one cycle. And has the disadvantage of not being able to handle high-resolution optical graphics.

Contents of the invention

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide an alignment correction system that uses an image sensing device and an image capture device to position each other and obtain positioning information. In this way, the equipment burden is effectively reduced and the positioning accuracy can be improved. .

Another object of the present invention is to provide an alignment correction method, which uses an alignment correction system to perform mutual positioning, and then uses an arithmetic processing unit to generate positioning information based on the obtained alignment information, so that the image sensing device and the image capture The relative position of the device is determined, thereby achieving the effect of alignment correction.

In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment of the present invention discloses an alignment correction system and a method thereof, including: a stage; an optical engine, which is disposed opposite to the stage to project digital optical images; and an image sensing device, which is provided On the stage, the image sensing device includes a first mark. The first mark is disposed on the image sensing device. The image sensing device is used to detect the digital optical image. When the digital When an optical image is taken, the corresponding first alignment information is output; the image capture device is arranged relative to the stage to capture and output the second alignment information according to the first mark; and the computing processing unit is respectively connected with the The carrier, the optical engine, the image sensing device and the image capture device are signally connected to receive and generate positioning information based on the first alignment information and the second alignment information.

In a preferred embodiment, the optical engine includes a light source device, a digital micro-mirror array device and an optical imaging device. The digital micro-mirror array device is arranged opposite to the light source device, and the optical imaging device is connected to the digital micro-mirror array device. The micro-mirror array device is arranged oppositely. The light source device emits a light source to the digital micro-mirror array device. The digital micro-mirror array device includes a plurality of micro-mirrors. The micro-mirrors receive and reflect the light source. To the optical imaging device, the optical imaging device receives and projects the light source to form the digital optical image.

In a preferred embodiment, the stage carries a substrate, and the substrate has a second mark, and the image capture device is used to capture and output third alignment information based on the second mark of the substrate, and the calculation processing The unit receives and performs operations based on the first alignment information, the second alignment information and the third alignment information to obtain the positioning information.

In a preferred embodiment, the first alignment information includes the first coordinate value of the digital optical image and the first mark, the second alignment information includes the second coordinate value of the image capture device, and the third The alignment information includes the third coordinate value of the substrate.

In a preferred embodiment, the computing unit transmits a control command to the carrier based on the positioning information, so that the carrier moves to a predetermined position.

In order to achieve another of the above objectives, an embodiment of the present invention discloses an alignment correction method. The steps include: an optical engine projects a digital optical image to an image sensing device; the image sensing device detects and based on the digital optical image Output the first alignment information to the computing unit; the image capture device captures and outputs the second alignment information to the computing unit based on the first mark located on the image sensing device; and the computing unit based on the first pair The bit information and the second bit information are operated to obtain positioning information.

In a preferred embodiment, in the step of the optical engine projecting the digital optical image to the image sensing device, the light source device of the optical engine emits the light source to the digital micro-mirror array device, and the light source device of the digital micro-mirror array device The plurality of micro-mirrors receive and reflect the light source to the optical imaging device, so that the optical imaging device receives and projects the light source to form the digital optical image.

In a preferred embodiment, in the step of the image capturing device capturing and outputting the second alignment information to the processing unit based on the first mark located on the image sensing device, the image capturing device captures and based on the substrate's The second mark outputs third alignment information, and the operation processing unit receives and performs operations based on the first alignment information, the second alignment information, and the third alignment information to obtain the positioning information.

In a preferred embodiment, after the operation and processing unit performs operations according to the first alignment information and the second alignment information to obtain the positioning information, it further includes: the operation and processing unit transmits the control according to the positioning information. Commands are given to the stage to move the stage to a predetermined position.

In a preferred embodiment, when the image sensing device detects and transmits the digital optical image to the processing unit, the processing unit compares the digital optical image with the default digital optical image to generate compensation information; And the computing processing unit performs compensation according to the compensation information to make up for the difference between the digital optical image and the default digital optical image.

The beneficial effect of the present invention is to solve the problem of alignment correction of the optical device using the existing optical device without the need for additional correction devices, and at the same time, improve the accuracy of alignment correction to achieve exposure of high-resolution optical patterns.

Description of the drawings

Figure 1A is a system schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 1B is a schematic diagram of a partial device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a method flow chart according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3A is a schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3B is a schematic flow chart of an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3C is a schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3D is a schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3E is a schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a partial method flow chart according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the above and/or other objects, effects, and features of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the following is a detailed description of the preferred embodiments:

Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B , which are a system schematic diagram and a partial device schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the alignment correction system of the present invention includes: a stage 1, an optical engine 2, an image sensing device 3, an image capture device 4 and a processing unit 5, and is described in detail as follows:

The stage 1 carries the substrate Sb to be subjected to the exposure process. In one embodiment, the stage 1 can move along a plane, such as the plane composed of the X-axis and the Y-axis, but this is not limited thereto.

The optical engine 2 is arranged opposite to the stage 1, and, in one embodiment, the optical engine 2 includes a light source device 21, a digital micro-mirror array device 22 and an optical imaging device 23, wherein the light source device 21 is used to emit light. Light source. In one embodiment, the light source is, for example, UV light source, but is not limited thereto.

The digital micro-mirror array device 22 is disposed opposite the light source device 21 to receive and reflect the light source, and the digital micro-mirror array device 22 includes a plurality of micro-mirrors 221, and these micro-mirrors 221 are in the form of an array. , in one embodiment, for example, if the micro-mirrors 221 are distributed in the X-axis and Y-axis directions, there may be M micro-mirrors 221 in the X-axis direction, and there may be N micro-mirrors 221 in the Y-axis direction. The reflectors 221 are combined into an M*N array, but are not limited to this. The optical imaging device 23 is combined with the digital micro-mirror array device 22 to receive and project the light source to form a digital optical image, where the digital optical An image is an array of light points composed of a plurality of light points.

The image sensing device 3 is disposed on the stage 1. In one embodiment, the image sensing device 3 is, for example, a photosensitive coupling device (Charge Coupled Device, CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor, CMOS). ), but is not limited thereto. It is used to detect light sources, where the number of image sensing devices 3 is not particularly limited, and the image sensing device 3 includes a first mark 31. When the number of image sensing devices 3 When there are more than two, only one of the image sensing devices 3 needs to have a mark, and it is not necessary that every image sensing device 3 has a mark, but this is not the case.

In one embodiment, when the image sensing device 3 detects a digital optical image, it correspondingly outputs the first alignment information. Since the digital optical image is projected on the image sensing device 3 in the form of an array of light points, at the same time , because the position with the first mark 31 will block some light points in the digital optical image, so that the image sensing device 3 cannot detect the light points on the first mark 31, and the remaining digits that are not blocked The optical image can be detected by the image sensing device. In this way, in addition to the position of the digital optical image, the position of the first mark 31 can also be known.

The image capture device 4 is arranged opposite to the stage 1, and is used to capture the first mark 31 on the image sensing device 3, and output the second alignment information based on the obtained first mark 31. In an embodiment , when the substrate Sb has the second mark Sb1, further, the image capture device 4 captures the second mark Sb1 on the substrate Sb, and outputs third alignment information based on the second mark Sb1.

The computing unit 5 is connected to the stage 1, the optical engine 2, the image sensing device 3 and the image capturing device 4 respectively to receive and generate positioning information based on the first alignment information and the second alignment information. The first alignment information obtains the digital optical image and the first coordinate value of the first mark 31 , and then uses the second alignment information to obtain the second coordinate value of the image capture device 4 , which is to project the digital optical image relative to the optical engine 2 The relative position coordinates of The bit information obtains the third coordinate value of the substrate Sb, which is the relative position coordinate of the second mark Sb1 relative to the digital optical image projected by the optical engine 2 . In this way, the computing unit 5 can transmit control instructions to the carrier 1 based on the positioning information, so that the carrier 1 can move to a predetermined position, but this is not limited to this.

Please refer to Figure 2, which is a method flow chart according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in the figure. The alignment correction method of the present invention includes the steps:

Step S1: The optical engine projects the digital optical image to the image sensing device;

Step S2: The image sensing device detects and outputs the first alignment information to the computing unit based on the digital optical image;

Step S3: The image capture device captures and outputs the second alignment information to the processing unit according to the first mark located on the image sensing device; and

Step S4: The operation processing unit performs operations based on the first alignment information and the second alignment information to obtain positioning information.

Please also refer to FIGS. 3A to 3E , which are flow diagrams of an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, as shown in step S1, the optical engine 2 projects a digital optical image to the image sensing device 3, and continues with step S2. When the image sensing device 3 detects the digital optical image located on the image sensing device 3 When , the corresponding first alignment information will be output to the arithmetic processing unit 5 .

In one embodiment, as shown in the side view and top view of the image sensing device 3 in Figure 3B, there is a glass protective cover above the image sensing pixel array of the image sensing device 3. This glass plate can be The protective cover artificially creates an alignment mark (Alignment Mark), that is, the first mark 31. The absolute position coordinates of this first mark 31 relative to the image sensing pixel array need to be accurately determined in advance or passed through. The digital optical image projected by the optical engine 2 can know the position of the first mark 31 through the light spot of the blocked digital optical image. For this reason, the first alignment information can include the digital optical image and the first position of the first mark 31 . Coordinate values, but not limited to this.

As shown in step S3, the image capture device 4 is used to capture and output second alignment information to the processing unit 5 according to the first mark 31 located on the image sensing device 3, where the second alignment information includes the image capture device The second coordinate value of 4. Furthermore, the image capture device 4 can capture and output the third alignment information according to the second mark Sb1 of the substrate Sb, wherein the third alignment information includes the third coordinate value of the substrate Sb. , but not limited to this.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3C , the image sensing device 3 containing the first mark 31 is moved on the stage 1 directly below the image capture device 4 independent of the stage 1 , and the image is defined. To capture the position coordinates of the device 4 relative to the first mark 31, for example, the alignment mark can be moved to the center point of the image capture device 4, and then the current displacement position of the stage 1 is recorded, but this is not limited.

In one embodiment, as shown in Figure 3D and Figure 3E, the substrate Sb is first fixed on the working stage 1, and then the second mark Sb on the alignment mark on the substrate Sb is moved by using the displacement of the stage 1. Go to the center point of the image capture device 4, and then record the current displacement position of the stage 1. If the substrate Sb has multiple alignment marks, confirm the relative position coordinates of each alignment mark, but this is not limited to .

As shown in step S4, the calculation processing unit 5 performs calculations based on the first alignment information and the second alignment information, and obtains the digital optical image and the absolute position coordinates of the first mark 31 through the first alignment information, and compares them with After the second alignment information is calculated, the relative position coordinates of the image capture device 4 are obtained. In this way, the positioning information of each device can be obtained. Furthermore, the processing unit 5 can also receive and use the first alignment information at the same time. Information, the second alignment information and the third alignment information are operated to obtain positioning information to increase the accuracy of the positioning information, but this is not limited to this. After step S4, further steps are included:

Step S5: The computing unit transmits the control command to the stage according to the positioning information, so that the stage moves to the predetermined position.

As shown in step S5, the obtained positioning information is provided to the computing processing unit 5 to transmit corresponding control instructions to control the stage 1 to move to any predetermined position according to the positioning information to perform exposure compensation, which can enable subsequent exposure procedures. It can be precisely controlled to improve exposure accuracy, but is not limited to this.

In one embodiment, to increase the accuracy of subsequent exposure, please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a partial flow chart of an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, it also includes the following steps:

Step S6: When the image sensing device detects and transmits the digital optical image to the computing processing unit, the computing unit compares the digital optical image with the default digital optical image to generate compensation information; and

Step S7: The computing unit performs compensation according to the compensation information to make up for the difference between the digital optical image and the default digital optical image.

As shown in step S6, in one embodiment, the digital optical image projected by the optical engine may differ from the expected digital optical image. For example, the expected digital optical image is in the form of a rectangular array, but the actually projected digital optical image Then there is skew or part of the position is not fully projected. At this time, when the image sensing device 3 measures and transmits all the light point positions of the actually projected digital optical image, in this way, if there is skew or part of the position If the projection is not completed, the processing unit 5 can compare the actually measured digital optical image with the default digital optical image to obtain compensation information, but this is not limited to this.

As shown in step S7, the computing processing unit 5 will perform compensation based on the compensation information to make up for the difference between the actual digital optical image and the default digital optical image, so that the subsequent exposure process can be more accurate.

In summary, the present invention provides an alignment correction system and a method thereof, which use an image sensing device and an image capture device to obtain alignment information respectively, and then perform calculations by a processing unit to obtain positioning information, so as to achieve accurate alignment. Bit correction function, and using this to scan the light point array, greatly improving the exposure accuracy.

However, the above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, but they cannot be used to limit the patent protection scope of the present invention; therefore, any simple equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the patent protection scope of the present invention and the content of the description , all still fall within the scope of patent protection covered by the patent of this invention.

Claims

An alignment correction system, characterized by including:

carrier platform;

An optical engine is arranged opposite to the stage to project digital optical images;

An image sensing device is provided on the stage. The image sensing device is used to detect the digital optical image. When the digital optical image is detected, the corresponding first alignment information is output. In addition, the image The sensing device includes a first mark, the first mark is provided on the image sensing device;

An image capture device is disposed opposite to the stage to capture and output second alignment information based on the first mark; and

The computing processing unit is respectively connected with the signal of the stage, the optical engine, the image sensing device and the image capture device, and is used to receive and generate positioning information based on the first alignment information and the second alignment information.
The alignment correction system according to claim 1, wherein the optical engine includes a light source device, a digital micro-mirror array device and an optical imaging device, the digital micro-mirror array device is arranged opposite to the light source device, and, the The optical imaging device is arranged opposite to the digital micro-mirror array device. The light source device emits a light source to the digital micro-mirror array device. The digital micro-mirror array device includes a plurality of micro-mirrors. The micro-reflectors The mirror receives and reflects the light source to the optical imaging device, so that the optical imaging device receives and projects the light source to form the digital optical image.
The alignment correction system of claim 1, wherein the stage carries a substrate, and the substrate has a second mark, and the image capture device is used to capture and output based on the second mark of the substrate. The third alignment information is received by the computing processing unit and performed according to the first alignment information, the second alignment information and the third alignment information to obtain the positioning information.
The alignment correction system of claim 3, wherein the first alignment information includes the digital optical image and the first coordinate value of the first mark, and the second alignment information includes the first coordinate value of the image capture device. The second coordinate value, and the third alignment information include the third coordinate value of the substrate.
The alignment correction system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit transmits a control instruction to the stage according to the positioning information, so that the stage moves to a predetermined position.
An alignment correction method, characterized in that the steps include:

The optical engine projects digital optical images to the image sensing device;

The image sensing device detects and outputs the first alignment information to the computing unit based on the digital optical image;

The image capture device captures and outputs second alignment information to the computing processing unit based on the first mark located on the image sensing device; and

The operation processing unit performs operations based on the first alignment information and the second alignment information to obtain positioning information.
The alignment correction method according to claim 6, wherein in the step of the optical engine projecting the digital optical image to the image sensing device, the light source device of the optical engine emits a light source to the digital micro-mirror array device, and The plurality of micro-mirrors of the digital micro-mirror array device receive and reflect the light source to the optical imaging device, so that the optical imaging device receives and projects the light source to form the digital optical image.
The alignment correction method according to claim 6, wherein in the step of the image capture device capturing and outputting the second alignment information to the processing unit according to the first mark located on the image sensing device, The image capture device captures and outputs third alignment information based on the second mark of the substrate, and the computing processing unit receives and performs operations based on the first alignment information, the second alignment information, and the third alignment information, Get the positioning information.
The alignment correction method according to claim 8, wherein the first alignment information includes the digital optical image and the first coordinate value of the first mark, and the second alignment information includes the first coordinate value of the image capture device. The second coordinate value, and the third alignment information include the third coordinate value of the substrate.
The alignment correction method according to claim 6, characterized in that, after the operation processing unit performs operations based on the first alignment information and the second alignment information to obtain the positioning information, it further includes:

The computing unit transmits control instructions to the carrier based on the positioning information, so that the carrier moves to a predetermined position.
The alignment correction method according to claim 6, characterized in that it includes the steps:

When the image sensing device detects and transmits the digital optical image to the computing processing unit, the computing unit generates compensation information based on comparing the digital optical image with the default digital optical image; and

The computing unit performs compensation according to the compensation information to make up for the difference between the digital optical image and the default digital optical image.