阅读说明：本技术 快门装置、光量控制方法、光刻装置及物品制造方法 (Shutter device, light quantity control method, lithographic apparatus and article manufacturing method ) 是由 仁平浩司 佐野裕贵 于 2020-09-11 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及快门装置、光量控制方法、光刻装置及物品制造方法。为了将快门关闭驱动定时提前并抑制照度变动引起的累计光量控制精度的下降,在快门装置中具有：快门,其遮蔽来自光源的光或者使来自光源的光通过；测量单元,其对通过了所述快门的光的照度进行测量；以及控制单元,其基于在所述快门处于全开状态时由所述测量单元测量出的照度值和预先设定的设定累计光量来计算既定的测量时间,基于所述既定的测量时间的累计光量来计算开始所述快门的关闭驱动时的累计光量。(The invention relates to a shutter device, a light amount control method, a lithographic apparatus and an article manufacturing method. In order to advance the shutter closing drive timing and suppress a decrease in the accuracy of control of the integrated light amount due to a variation in illuminance, a shutter device includes: a shutter that shields or passes light from the light source; a measurement unit that measures illuminance of light that has passed through the shutter; and a control unit that calculates a predetermined measurement time based on an illuminance value measured by the measurement unit when the shutter is in a fully open state and a preset integrated light amount, and calculates an integrated light amount when starting the closing drive of the shutter based on the integrated light amount of the predetermined measurement time.)

1. A shutter device is characterized by comprising:

a shutter that shields or passes light from the light source;

a measurement unit that measures illuminance of light that has passed through the shutter; and

and a control unit that calculates a predetermined measurement time based on an illuminance value measured by the measurement unit when the shutter is in a fully open state and a preset integrated light amount, and calculates an integrated light amount when the closing drive of the shutter is started based on the integrated light amount of the predetermined measurement time.

2. The shutter device according to claim 1,

the illuminance value is an illuminance value measured by the measurement unit at a time point when a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of the opening drive of the shutter.

3. The shutter device according to claim 1,

the illuminance value is an illuminance value at which the illuminance measured by the measurement unit reaches a maximum value from the start of the opening drive of the shutter.

4. The shutter device according to claim 1,

the predetermined measurement time is set to be shorter than the measurement time calculated based on the illuminance value and the set integrated light amount.

5. The shutter device according to claim 1,

the predetermined measurement time is set to be shorter than the measurement time calculated based on the illuminance value and the set integrated light amount, and the predetermined time is determined based on a range of illuminance variation or a deviation of a previously measured drive timing of the shutter.

6. A light amount control method which is an exposure control method using a shutter that shields light from a light source or passes light from the light source and a measurement unit that measures illuminance of the light that has passed through the shutter, characterized in that,

the method includes a control step of calculating a predetermined measurement time based on an illuminance value measured by the measurement unit when the shutter is in a fully open state and a preset integrated light amount, and calculating an integrated light amount when starting the closing drive of the shutter based on the integrated light amount of the predetermined measurement time.

7. A lithographic apparatus for forming a pattern of a master on a substrate, comprising:

an illumination optical system having a light source for illuminating the original plate;

a shutter that shields or passes light from the light source;

a measurement unit that measures illuminance of light that has passed through the shutter; and

and a control unit that calculates a predetermined measurement time based on an illuminance value measured by the measurement unit when the shutter is in a fully open state and a preset integrated light amount, and calculates an integrated light amount when the closing drive of the shutter is started based on the integrated light amount of the predetermined measurement time.

8. A method of manufacturing an article using a lithographic apparatus, the method characterized by,

the lithographic apparatus has a shutter that shields light from a light source or passes light from the light source, and a measurement unit that measures illuminance of the light that has passed through the shutter,

the method of manufacturing the article includes:

a control step of calculating a predetermined measurement time based on an illuminance value measured by the measurement unit when the shutter is in a fully open state and a preset integrated light amount, and calculating an integrated light amount when starting the closing drive of the shutter based on the integrated light amount of the predetermined measurement time;

forming a pattern on a substrate by the control step;

developing the substrate on which the pattern is formed; and

and a step of manufacturing an article using the developed substrate.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a shutter device, a light amount control method, and the like used for an exposure device and the like.

Background

In the step-and-repeat exposure apparatus, an exposure shutter is used as a function of controlling exposure light and the amount thereof. The exposure shutter is formed of, for example, a rotating body having a light shielding portion for shielding a light beam and an opening portion for passing the light beam.

As an example of the exposure process of the step-and-repeat type exposure apparatus, there is a process as follows. First, in a state where an exposure area on a substrate to be exposed is positioned at a position for exposure, opening drive for setting a shutter blade from a closed state (light-shielding state) to an open state (non-light-shielding state) is performed, and the shutter blade is made to be stationary. Then, the exposure area is irradiated with exposure light for a predetermined time, and after a desired exposure amount is reached, off drive for changing from an on state to an off state is performed, and exposure is completed. Next, the stage holding the substrate is moved to a position for exposing a subsequent exposure area. After the stage has been moved, the exposure shutter is opened again to start exposure. The exposure process is performed by repeating the above process by an amount corresponding to the number of exposure regions set in advance.

Next, an exposure amount control method will be explained. In the exposure amount control as described above, the exposure amount control cannot be performed in real time during the shutter closing drive. The exposure amount in the closing drive is determined by the shape of the shutter blade and the driving operation thereof, and therefore, the exposure amount cannot be controlled while being fed back. Then, it is considered that the exposure amount from the start of the closing drive of the shutter blade to the completion of the closing drive is equal to the exposure amount from the start of the opening drive of the shutter blade to the elapse of a fixed time, and the control is performed. That is, the exposure amount during the shutter close driving is calculated based on the exposure amount measurement value at the time of shutter open driving, and the exposure amount at the shutter close driving start timing is determined based on the calculated exposure amount in the close driving, and driving is performed. The exposure amount at the off drive start timing is obtained based on a result of subtracting the exposure amount equivalent to the fixed time from the set exposure amount. This structure is disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. 61-34252.

On the other hand, as a demand for exposure apparatuses in recent years, it is required to shorten the exposure processing time in order to improve the apparatus productivity. One means for achieving this object is to shorten the time from the completion of the shutter blade opening operation to the start of the closing operation.

However, the real-time measurement time of the exposure amount is longer than the time from the start of the shutter opening operation to the completion of the opening operation due to the actuator response to the motion command of the shutter blade, the delay of the motion command communication, the delay of the calculation process by the feedback, and the like. That is, the shutter blade has already completed the opening operation, but the start timing of the shutter closing operation needs to wait for the completion of the measurement time, before which the shutter closing operation cannot be started. This is a factor that hinders the shortening of the time from the completion of the shutter blade opening operation to the start of the closing operation.

Thus, in japanese patent application laid-open No. 6-120103, the following method is proposed: in the shutter open drive, the exposure amount for a fixed time equivalent from the time when the shutter is in the open state and the illuminance reaches the maximum is measured, and the exposure amount for a predetermined time equivalent is obtained by proportional calculation from the exposure amount for the fixed time equivalent. This makes it possible to determine the exposure amount at the start of shutter closing drive without waiting for the elapse of the exposure amount measurement time, and therefore, contributes to shortening the time from the completion of the shutter blade opening operation to the start of the closing operation.

However, in the technique of japanese patent application laid-open No. 6-120103, when illuminance fluctuation occurs during exposure, a difference occurs between illuminance at the time of measuring an exposure amount for determining a shutter close driving timing for a fixed period of time and illuminance at the time of actually performing shutter close driving. As a result, the predicted exposure amount during the shutter close operation differs from the actual exposure amount during the shutter close operation, and the exposure amount control accuracy is degraded.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a shutter device that advances the shutter closing drive timing of an exposure device or the like and suppresses a decrease in the accuracy of integrated light amount control due to illuminance variation.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above problem, a shutter device according to an aspect of the present invention includes:

a shutter that shields light from a light source or passes light from the light source;

a measurement unit that measures illuminance of light that has passed through the shutter; and

and a control unit that calculates a predetermined measurement time based on an illuminance value measured by the measurement unit when the shutter is in a fully open state and a preset integrated light amount, and calculates an integrated light amount when the closing drive of the shutter is started based on the integrated light amount of the predetermined measurement time.

Other features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of an exposure apparatus including an exposure control apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a shutter driving state and a scene of illuminance at the time of exposure of the embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a basic exposure amount control method.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing operation timings in embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing operation timing in embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the sequence of the exposure method corresponding to fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the sequence of operations in embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the sequence of operations in embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of examples. In the drawings, the same components and elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted or simplified.

[ example 1]

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the structure of an exposure apparatus (lithography apparatus) including the shutter apparatus of embodiment 1. The exposure apparatus includes: a lamp 1 as a light source for emitting ultraviolet rays for exposure; an elliptical reflector (mirror)2 for guiding the light of the lamp 1 onto a reticle (reticle) 18; and a rotary-type exposure shutter 3 that controls the time at which light from the elliptical mirror 2 is irradiated onto the reticle 18. The exposure shutter 3 is formed of a shutter blade 301 that blocks light from the light source and an opening 302 through which the light passes. A second shutter 50 for blocking exposure light is provided between the elliptical reflector 2 and the exposure shutter 3.

Further, after the exposure light having passed through the exposure shutter 3 passes through a lens (lens)4, part of the light is guided by a half mirror (half mirror)5 to a photodetector (Photo detector)8 for measuring illuminance. On the other hand, the light having passed through the half mirror 5 is reflected by a mirror MR, guided to a reticle (original plate) 18, guided to a substrate ST as an object via a projection optical system LS, imaged, and exposed to a photosensitive material (not shown) on the substrate ST. The exposure shutter 3, the lens 4, the half mirror 5, the mirror MR, and the like constitute an illumination optical system.

In addition, the exposure apparatus includes an exposure shutter driving motor (motor)6 and an encoder 7 for detecting rotation of the exposure shutter. The current driver 10 drives the exposure shutter driving motor 6. The FVC (Frequency Voltage Converter) 11 converts a pulse train proportional to the shutter speed from the encoder 7 into a Voltage. The AD converter 12 converts an analog voltage proportional to the light amount from the photodetector 8 for measuring the integrated exposure into digital data.

The speed servo amplifier 13 generates an output proportional to the difference between the value from FVC 11 corresponding to the actual speed and the secondary speed command value 24 so that the actual speed of the exposure shutter 3 coincides with the secondary speed command value 24.

The multiplier 14 generates a secondary speed command value 24 based on the primary speed command value 21 and the gain control data 20. The position counter 15 monitors the rotational position of the shutter. The cumulative exposure amount (cumulative light amount) counter 16 counts the output from the AD converter 12, and monitors the time-wise integrated amount (cumulative exposure amount, cumulative light amount) of the amount of light incident on the photodetector 8 after the shutter opening operation.

The cumulative exposure amount counter 16 constitutes a measurement unit that measures the illuminance of light that has passed through the shutter, together with the photodetector 8 and the AD converter 12.

Note that, the integrated exposure amount (integrated light amount) herein does not mean an instantaneous light amount (illuminance), but means a light amount integrated (integrated) over the entire irradiation period, and in the embodiment, the integrated exposure amount (integrated light amount) has the same meaning as the exposure amount.

The controller 17 controls the overall operation, and incorporates a memory 19. The memory 19 stores a relational expression of the shutter driving speed with respect to the integrated exposure amount Et and parameters. The controller 17 incorporates a CPU as a computer, and functions as a control unit that executes various operations of the entire apparatus based on the relational expression, parameters, and computer program stored in the memory 19.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a shutter driving state and a scene of illuminance at the time of exposure. First, the exposure shutter is driven from a closed position where the light beam is interrupted. Even if the exposure shutter 3 starts rotating, the state (open state) in which the light beam passes is not immediately achieved, and the closed state continues. When the end of the exposure shutter 3 reaches one end of the light beam, the light beam gradually starts to pass through, and when the end reaches the other end of the light beam, the light beam is opened.

When the on drive is started, an analog voltage corresponding to the amount of incident light is output from the photodetector 8. The analog voltage is converted into illuminance data via the AD converter 12. By gradually integrating the illuminance data, the integrated exposure amount (exposure amount) can be measured. Then, at the timing when the desired exposure amount is reached, the closing drive of the exposure shutter is started.

The close driving is driven from the position where the light beam passes, and the exposure shutter 3 rotates again with respect to the light beam. When the end of the exposure shutter 3 reaches one end of the light beam, the light beam starts to be gradually blocked, and when the end reaches the other end of the light beam, the light beam is in a light blocking state (closed state). The exposure amount is not integrated until the position in the closed state is reached, and the final integrated exposure amount is determined. That is, the shutter blade 301 controls the length of time from the time of opening to the time of starting the closing drive so as to obtain a preset exposure amount.

Fig. 3 shows a basic exposure amount control method. 101 to 109 indicate respective timings, and indicate states of shutters at the timings. First, from a state 101 in which exposure light is closed by the shutter blade 301 and the shutter is stopped, opening drive of the shutter blade 301 is started. When the shutter blade rotates, in state 102, the exposure light starts to pass through and the illuminance starts to rise. During the period from state 101 to state 102, the blades are rotationally driven, but light does not pass through. From state 102 on.

Then, the state becomes the open state 103, and the shutter blade is stopped in the state of 104, and the opening drive is completed. After that, the exposure for the predetermined period is continued, and then the shutter close driving is started 106. Thereafter, the state 107 where the interruption of the exposure light is started and the state 108 where the exposure light is interrupted are shifted, and the shutter blade is stopped in the state 109.

The sequence of fig. 3 described above will be described using the flowchart of fig. 6.

First, the controller 17 resets the cumulative exposure amount Et to 0, and starts measuring the cumulative exposure amount Et by the photodetector 8 (step S401). Next, the controller 17 starts the open driving of the shutter (step S402), and starts the exposure. Next, the controller 17 stands by until a predetermined fixed measurement time Tcmd elapses (step S403).

Then, after the measurement time Tcmd elapses, the controller 17 stores the exposure amount up to this point in time (S1+ S2 of fig. 3) (step S404). Next, the controller 17 stands by in the shutter open state until the integrated exposure amount Et becomes "set exposure amount a — the exposure amount (S1+ S2) stored in the above-described step S404" (step S405). After the accumulated exposure amount reaches the above-described exposure amount, the controller 17 starts the closing drive of the shutter (step S406).

In this example, the measurement time Tcmd is determined so that the exposure amount S4+ S5 at the time of shutter close driving from the state 106 to the state 109 in fig. 3 is equal to the exposure amount S1+ S2 from the state 101 to the state 105 until the lapse of the prescribed time from the start of shutter open driving. Further, the measurement time Tcmd takes more time than the state 104 in which the shutter opening operation is completed, and the shutter closing operation needs to wait for the measurement time Tcmd to elapse.

Therefore, although the shutter blade is in a drivable state during the period from the state 104 (shutter blade stopped state) to the state 105, the measurement takes time, and therefore the time cannot be shortened.

Then, the following method is considered: during the period from the state 103 to the state 104 at the timing when the shutter blade is in the open state, the exposure amount corresponding to a fixed time is measured, and the exposure amount is proportionally calculated from the time equivalent amount to be originally acquired, thereby determining the exposure amount for the shutter closing drive.

By adopting this method, the exposure amount at the shutter close drive start timing can be determined without waiting for the fixed measurement time Tcmd to elapse, and therefore, this contributes to shortening the exposure processing time. However, when the illuminance varies during the period from the timing of measuring the exposure amount equivalent to the fixed time to the start of the shutter closing drive, the exposure amount equivalent to the illuminance variation is generated as an error, and the accuracy of controlling the exposure amount may be lowered.

Fig. 4 shows the operation of embodiment 1 in which the above point is improved. The reference numerals 201 to 209 denote the respective timings, and show the shutter states at the timings. First, from a state 201 in which the shutter is stopped and the exposure light is blocked by the shutter blade 301, the opening drive of the shutter blade 301 is started. When the shutter blade 301 is driven, the exposure light starts to pass through in the state 202, and the illuminance starts to rise. Then, the shutter blade is in the open state 203, and the shutter blade is stopped in the state of 204, and the opening drive is completed.

When the shutter receives a closing drive start instruction in the state 206, the closing action (rotation) of the shutter blade starts. Thereafter, the shutter blade starts the closing operation of the exposure light from state 207, and the light beam is blocked in state 208, and the rotation of the shutter blade is stopped and the closing drive is completed in state 209. The time Tcls from the state 206 to the state 208 is equal to the time Topn from the state 201, which is the start of shutter open driving, to the state 203, in which the illuminance reaches the maximum.

The time from state 202 to state 203 in the shutter blade is equal to the time from state 207 to state 208, and the time from state 201 to state 202 is equal to the time from state 206 to state 207.

In example 1, the exposure amount Acls accumulated during the Tcls period is schematically inverted right and left and up and down, and forms a rectangular region having a bottom side Topn and a height of an illuminance value B measured at the time point of the state 203 in accordance with the exposure amount Aopn accumulated during the Topn period.

This is because if the shape of the opening 302 is symmetrical with respect to a predetermined radial line, the curve of the change in the exposure amount from the state 202 to the state 203 and the curve of the change in the exposure amount from the state 207 to the state 208 are reversed and matched.

Further, it can be expected that the exposure amount Acls is obtained after the off drive. Therefore, the predicted exposure time (predetermined measurement time) Texp can be calculated using the set exposure amount (set integrated light amount) a, the illuminance value B measured at the time point of the state 203 (when the shutter is in the fully open state), and the following equation (1).

Texp＝A/B……(1)

As shown in the following expression (2), the time obtained by subtracting Topn from Texp is set as a variable exposure measurement time Tmeas measured from the timing at which the shutter blade is in the open state (fully open state). Here, the fully open state refers to a state in which the shutter blade does not overlap a passage area of a desired diameter (for example, a white circle area of a solid line in fig. 3 to 5) through which the light beam from the light source passes.

Tmeas＝Texp-Topn……(2)

Here, Tcmd represents the measurement time in fig. 3, Aopn represents the exposure amount (the integrated light amount for a predetermined measurement time) accumulated from the state 201 to the state 203, and Ameas represents the exposure amount accumulated in the exposure measurement time Tmeas. In this case, the exposure amount Acls can be expressed by the following formula (3).

Acls＝Aopn+Ameas×(Tcmd-Topn)/(Texp-Topn)……(3)

The timing of measuring the illuminance value B is set to a point in time when a predetermined time Topn has elapsed from the state 201 in which the timing of opening drive of the shutter blade is started. Here, the predetermined time Topn is a fixed time obtained by determining in advance, by measurement or simulation, a time from the start of the shutter opening drive to the fully open state.

Alternatively, the change in illuminance may be measured from the shutter opening drive, and the time at which the illuminance reaches the maximum may be set. Alternatively, the illuminance may be set to a time point when the illuminance change becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value after the illuminance becomes maximum. In either case, it can be considered that the shutter is in the fully open state. When the measurement time Tcmd is exceeded, the predicted exposure time Texp may be set to the measurement time Tcmd. That is, the upper limit of the predicted exposure time Texp may be set as the measurement time Tcmd.

The above-described sequence of actions is illustrated by the flow chart of fig. 7.

First, the controller 17 resets the integrated exposure amount to 0 and performs measurement preparation (step S501). Next, the controller 17 starts the open driving of the shutter (step S502), and the exposure starts.

After the shutter open drive is started, the controller 17 stands by until Topn passes (step S503), and then the controller 17 stores the count value of the cumulative exposure amount counter 16 at that point in time, i.e., the cumulative exposure amount a1, as Aopn (step S504).

In step S505, the controller 17 starts the integration with the integrated exposure amount a2 different from the integrated exposure amount a1 measured up to step S504. Then, the controller 17 waits until the exposure measurement time Tmeas calculated based on the expressions (1) and (2) elapses (step S506), and the controller 17 stores the cumulative exposure amount a2 at the time point at which Tmeas elapses as Ameas (step S507).

Next, the controller 17 calculates the exposure amount Acls until the shutter becomes the closed state using expression (3) from the cumulative exposure amounts a1(Aopn) and a2(Ameas) stored in step S504 and step S507, respectively (step S508).

Next, in step S509, the controller 17 calculates the cumulative exposure amount Et at the start of shutter-off drive by the following equation (4) based on the set exposure amount a and the exposure amount Acls calculated in step S508.

Et＝A-Acls……(4)

Then, the controller 17 waits until the cumulative exposure amount Et reaches the above equation (4). After yes in step S509, the controller 17 starts the closing drive of the shutter (step S510).

With this configuration, it is possible to obtain a shutter device in which the start timing of shutter closing drive is shortened to a time shorter than the fixed measurement time Tcmd, and degradation of the control accuracy of the exposure amount (integrated light amount) due to illumination variation during exposure is suppressed.

[ example 2]

Next, the operation timing of embodiment 2 is shown in fig. 5. 301 to 309 represent timings, respectively, and represent states of shutters at the timings, and differences from embodiment 1 are as follows.

When the illuminance changes from a state 303 in which the shutter blade is in an open state and the illuminance reaches the maximum to a state 304 in which the shutter blade is stopped later, there is a possibility that the predicted exposure time Texp determined at the time point existing in the state 303 deviates from the actual exposure time.

For example, in a state where the illuminance increases during the period from the state 303 to the state 304, when the exposure amount is measured by a considerable amount of the predetermined time, the exposure amount may exceed the timing at which the shutter close driving should be started. Therefore, the exposure measurement time Tmeas measured from the state 303 in which the shutter blade is in the open state (fully open) is set to a time obtained by subtracting Topn from Texp and subtracting a predetermined time equivalent offset amount (offset) Tofs as shown in the following equation (5).

The offset amount Tofs is determined based on, for example, a range of illuminance variation or a deviation of shutter drive timing measured in advance.

Tmeas＝Texp-Topn-Tofs……(5)

By performing the calculation of the above expression (5), even if the illuminance fluctuates between the state 303 and the state 305, the exposure amount at the shutter close driving timing can be set in consideration of the considerable amount of the fluctuation.

Therefore, the reduction of the exposure control accuracy can be suppressed, and the shortening of the exposure time and the improvement of the productivity of the apparatus can be realized.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the sequence of actions of embodiment 2. Steps with the same numbers as in fig. 7 represent the same operations. The difference from fig. 7 is that the exposure measurement time Tmeas of step S606 is calculated by equation (5), and a process of subtracting the offset amount Tofs is added.

(method of manufacturing article)

Next, a method for manufacturing an article (semiconductor IC device, liquid crystal display device, MEMS, etc.) of the exposure apparatus (lithography apparatus) will be described. An article is manufactured by using the exposure apparatus, and processing the developed substrate by a process of exposing a substrate (wafer, glass substrate, or the like) ST coated with a photosensitizer through the reticle (original plate) 18 to form an original plate pattern on the substrate, a process of developing the substrate (photosensitizer) on which the pattern is formed, or other known processes. Other well known processes include etching, stripping resist, cutting, bonding, packaging, and the like. According to the article manufacturing method, articles with higher quality than the conventional article can be manufactured.

While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.

For example, although the shutter device in the exposure device is described in the embodiment, it goes without saying that the shutter device of the present invention can be applied to other devices than the exposure device.

Further, a computer program that realizes part or all of the functions of the control in the above-described embodiments may be supplied to a shutter device or the like via a network or various storage media. Then, the program is read out by a computer (or a CPU, MPU, or the like) such as the shutter device and executed. In this case, the program and the storage medium storing the program constitute the present invention.

This application claims the benefit of japanese patent application No. 2019-167470, filed on 9/13/2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.