NEAR-FIELD LITHOGRAPHY IMMERSION SYSTEM, IMMERSION UNIT AND INTERFACE MODULE THEREOF
20240272558 ยท 2024-08-15
Assignee
Inventors
- Xiangang LUO (Chengdu, Sichuan, CN)
- Chengwei ZHAO (Chengdu, Sichuan, CN)
- Yanqin WANG (Chengdu, Sichuan, CN)
- Changtao WANG (Chengdu, Sichuan, CN)
- Zeyu ZHAO (Chengdu, Sichuan, CN)
- Yunfei LUO (Chengdu, Sichuan, CN)
- Mingbo PU (Chengdu, Sichuan, CN)
- Yiyun ZHANG (Chengdu, Sichuan, CN)
Cpc classification
G03F7/2041
PHYSICS
International classification
G03F7/00
PHYSICS
Abstract
Provided is an near-field lithography immersion system, including: an immersion unit including: a liquid flow channel and a gas flow channel configured to apply gas to confine an immersion liquid provided by the liquid flow channel into an exposure field; at least two interface modules, the interface module includes a gas connector, a liquid connector and a brake connector, the gas connector and the liquid connector are correspondingly connected to the gas flow channel and the liquid flow channel, respectively, the brake connector is configured to control an assembly and a disassembly of the immersion unit, and the interface module is detachably connected to the immersion unit; and a mask loading module including a mask base plate and a mask, the immersion liquid is guided to an edge of the mask from below the mask base plate to form an immersion field between the mask and a substrate.
Claims
1.-10. (canceled)
11. A near-field lithography immersion unit, an immersion filed being formed between a mask and a substrate, wherein the near-field lithography immersion unit comprises an air curtain flow channel subunit, an immersion flow channel subunit, an immersion flow channel sealing subunit and a flow channel converging subunit which are sequentially stacked from bottom to top; wherein a gas flow channel is provided in the air curtain flow channel subunit, and gas is introduced through the gas flow channel; wherein the immersion flow channel subunit is configured to seal the gas flow channel of the air curtain flow channel subunit and is provided with a liquid injection flow channel and a liquid recycling flow channel, liquid is introduced through the liquid injection flow channel into an exposure field to form an immersion field, and the liquid is recycled through the liquid recycling flow channel, wherein the gas forms an air curtain surrounding the immersion field at a periphery of the immersion field; wherein the immersion flow channel sealing subunit is configured to seal the liquid injection flow channel and the liquid recycling flow channel of the immersion flow channel subunit; wherein the flow channel converging subunit is provided with a gas inlet, a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet respectively connected to the gas flow channel, the liquid injection flow channel and the liquid recycling flow channel; and wherein the flow channel converging subunit is configured to introduce the gas and the liquid into the immersion unit through a connection to an interface module and recycle the liquid from the immersion unit.
12. The near-field lithography immersion unit according to claim 11, wherein the liquid injection flow channel and the liquid recycling flow channel, the introduced gas enters the gas flow channel by sequentially passing through the gas inlet, a gas inlet hole provided on the immersion flow channel sealing subunit and a gas inlet hole provided on the immersion flow channel subunit, the introduced liquid enters the liquid injection flow channel by sequentially passing through the liquid inlet and a liquid inlet hole provided on the immersion flow channel sealing subunit, and led liquid flows out of the liquid recycling flow channel by sequentially passing through a liquid outlet hole provided on the immersion flow channel sealing subunit and the liquid outlet.
13. The near-field lithography immersion unit according to claim 11, wherein a guide port is further provided on the flow channel converging subunit, and a brake is installed in the guide port; and wherein a number of the flow channel converging subunits is four, and the flow channel converging subunits are uniformly arranged at four corners of the immersion unit.
14. The near-field lithography immersion unit according to claim 11, wherein the air curtain flow channel subunit, the immersion flow channel subunit, the immersion flow channel sealing subunit and the flow channel converging subunit in the immersion unit are integrally formed or detachably connected to each other.
15. The near-field lithography immersion unit according to claim 11, wherein the liquid injection flow channel is configured to introduce the liquid into the exposure field through a liquid outlet of the liquid injection flow channel at a predetermined angle to form the immersion field, the gas flow channel is configured to introduce gas into the periphery of the immersion field through a gas outlet of the gas flow channel arranged outside the liquid outlet of the liquid injection flow channel to form an annular air curtain, and a liquid recycling port of the liquid recycling flow channel is arranged between the gas and the liquid outlet of the liquid injection flow channel.
16. A near-field lithography interface module used in conjunction with the near-field lithography immersion unit according to claim 11 and installed on the flow channel converging subunit, comprising: a gas connector having an end installed in a gas inlet of the flow channel converging subunit to introduce gas; a liquid injection connector having an end installed in a liquid inlet of the flow channel converging subunit to introduce liquid; a liquid recycling connector having an end installed in a liquid outlet of the flow channel converging subunit to recycle the liquid; a linear guide connector having an end installed in a brake in a guide port of the flow channel converging subunit; and a connector installation plate configured to fix the other end of the gas connector, the other end of the liquid injection connector, the other end of the liquid recycling connector and the other end of the linear guide connector.
17. The near-field lithography interface module according to claim 16, wherein a number of interface modules is matched with a number of flow channel converging subunits, and an outer side of the gas connector, an outer side of the liquid injection connector and an outer side of the liquid recycling connector are provided with a sealing ring, respectively.
18. A near-field lithography immersion system, comprising: an apparatus base plate; a mask loading module installed on the apparatus base plate and configured to install a mask; the near-field lithography immersion unit according to claim 11 installed on the apparatus base plate through the interface module comprising: a gas injection connector having an end installed in a gas inlet of the flow channel converging subunit to introduce gas; a liquid injection connector having an end installed in a liquid inlet of the flow channel converging subunit to introduce liquid; a liquid recycling connector having an end installed in a liquid outlet of the flow channel converging subunit to recycle the liquid; a linear guide connector having an end installed in a brake in a guide port of the flow channel converging subunit; and a connector installation plate configured to fix the other end of the gas injection connector, the other end of the liquid injection connector, the other end of the liquid recycling connector and the other end of the linear guide connector; a supply and recycling system configured to provide gas and liquid to the near-field lithography immersion unit through the interface module and recycle the liquid; and a control system electrically connected to the supply and recycling system and the near-field lithography immersion unit to control liquid supply, gas supply, recycling and braking.
19. The near-field lithography immersion system according to claim 18, wherein the mask loading module comprises a mask sucker, a mask base plate and a mask which are sequentially arranged from top to bottom, the mask and the mask base plate are integrally formed or detachably connected to each other, and a size of the mask is the same as a size of an exposure field.
20. The near-field lithography immersion system according to claim 19, wherein the air curtain flow channel subunit of the immersion unit and the immersion flow channel subunit of the immersion unit are at least guided from below a mask base plate to an edge of the mask.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0027]
[0028]
[0029]
[0030]
[0031]
[0032]
REFERENCE NUMERALS
[0033] 1immersion unit, 1-1air curtain flow channel subunit, 1-2immersion flow channel subunit, 1-3immersion flow channel sealing subunit, 1-4flow channel converging subunit, 2interface module, 2-1gas connector, 2-2liquid injection connector, 2-3liquid recycling connector, 2-4linear guide connector, 2-5connector installation plate, 2-6sealing ring, 2-7brake, 3mask loading module, 3-1apparatus base plate, 3-2mask sucker, 3-3mask base plate, 3-4mask, 3-5substrate, 4supply and recycling system, 5control system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0034] In order to make objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure clearer, the present disclosure will be further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments and accompanying drawings.
[0035] Terms used here are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Terms include, comprise, contain, etc. used here indicate the presence of described features, steps, operations and/or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations and/or components.
[0036] In the descriptions of the present disclosure, it should be understood that terms indicating orientation or positional relationships are based on orientation or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for convenience of describing the present disclosure and simplifying the descriptions, but do not indicate or imply that the apparatus or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, so these terms should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure.
[0037] All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used here have meanings generally understood by those of ordinary skilled in the art, unless otherwise defined. It should be noted that the terms used herein should be interpreted as having the meaning consistent with the context of the present disclosure, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly rigid manner.
[0038] Compared with a dry lithography machine with gas as an intermediate medium, an existing immersion lithography device in a projection lithography may improve a numerical aperture (NA) of a projection objective by filling a high-refractive-index liquid (which is called an immersion liquid) between the last piece of projection objective and a substrate and increasing a refractive index (n) of the liquid medium, so that a resolution and a focal depth of the lithography device may be improved.
[0039] Refer to
[0040]
[0041] The immersion system is usually used in the field of projection lithography. A mask of the projection lithography is located above a projection objective lens, and the immersion unit is installed below the projection objective lens with a central axis of the projection objective lens as a center of a circle. An arrangement of the immersion unit is independent of the mask, the immersion field is located between the projection objective lens and the substrate, and a required size of the immersion field is determined by a size of the projection objective lens. Because the projection objective lens is hardly changed in the projection lithography, and a change of the mask does not affect the immersion unit, the immersion unit is usually installed on the projection objective lens in a fixed connection manner.
[0042] However, in the near-field lithography to which the immersion system of the present disclosure is applied, the immersion field is not formed between the projection objective lens and the substrate, but between the mask and the substrate. Moreover, a liquid film thickness of the immersion field in the near-field lithography is reduced from a traditional millimeter level to nanometer and micron levels. More importantly, the immersion unit of the near-field lithography is directly related to a size and a loading of the mask. Therefore, the traditional immersion unit is completely incompatible.
[0043] By contrast, in the present disclosure, gas injection, liquid recycling and liquid injection flow channels of the immersion unit 1 may be converged through the interface module 2 and may be connected to a supply and recycling system 4, which may not only avoid a leakage of the immersion liquid and the gas caused by too many connection points between the immersion unit and the supply and recycling system, but also conveniently and quickly replace a different immersion unit 1 that is used in conjunction with the mask through the interface module 2 when different masks are replaced.
[0044] On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, the liquid flow channel includes a liquid injection flow channel and a liquid recycling flow channel, and the liquid connector includes a liquid injection connector and a liquid recycling connector. A gas outlet of the gas flow channel, a liquid recycling port of the liquid recycling flow channel and a liquid outlet of the liquid injection flow channel are sequentially arranged at the edge of the mask 3-4 from far to near.
[0045] The liquid flow channel includes the liquid injection flow channel and the liquid recycling flow channel. The immersion liquid is provided to a gap between the mask 3-4 and the substrate 3-5 through the liquid injection flow channel, and is recycled from the gap between the mask 3-4 and the substrate 3-5 through the liquid recycling flow channel. The immersion liquid continuously flows between the mask 3-4 and the substrate 3-5 to form a stable immersion field. A continuous renewal of the immersion liquid may be realized by providing the liquid injection flow channel and the liquid recycling flow channel, and contaminations, micro-nano bubbles, etc., may be taken away from the exposure field in time, so as to ensure a high purity of the immersion liquid.
[0046] On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, the immersion unit 1 further includes: an immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3 used to seal the gas flow channel and the liquid flow channel; a flow channel converging subunit 1-4 arranged above the immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3. The flow channel converging subunit 1-4 is used to converge the gas flow channel and the liquid flow channel for a docking installation with the interface module 2.
[0047] The immersion unit 1 includes a plurality of gas flow channels and a plurality of liquid flow channels. All of the gas flow channels are arranged in a same layer to form a gas flow channel layer, and all of the liquid flow channels are arranged in a same layer to form a liquid flow channel layer. For example, the gas flow channel layer, the liquid flow channel layer, the immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3 and the flow channel converging subunit 1-4 may be sequentially arranged from bottom to top. A lower surface of the liquid flow channel layer seals the gas flow channel layer, and the immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3 is used to seal the gas flow channel layer and the liquid flow channel layer which are arranged below the immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3. The flow channel converging subunit 1-4 is used to converge the gas flow channel and the liquid flow channel. Each flow channel converging subunit 1-4 may converge one gas flow channel, one liquid recycling flow channel and one liquid injection flow channel, or converge a plurality of gas flow channels, a plurality of liquid recycling flow channels and a plurality of liquid injection flow channels.
[0048] On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, the flow channel converging subunit 1-4 further includes a guide port, and the guide port is connected to the brake connector. The flow channel converging subunits 1-4 are uniformly arranged around the exposure field.
[0049] As shown in
[0050] On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, the number of the interface modules 2 is matched with the number of the flow channel converging subunits 1-4, and the interface modules 2 are connected to the flow channel converging subunits 1-4 in one-to-one correspondence.
[0051] As shown in
[0052] On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, a gas inlet and a liquid inlet are provided on the immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3 and the flow channel converging subunit 1-4, so that the gas and the liquid may circulate in the immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3 and the flow channel converging subunit 1-4.
[0053] The immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3, the flow channel converging subunit 1-4, the gas flow channel layer and the liquid flow channel layer are mutually sealed. The immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3 and the flow channel converging subunit 1-4 are provided, in a lower flow channel plate thereof, with a gas inlet at a position corresponding to the gas flow channel and a liquid inlet at a position corresponding to the liquid flow channel. The immersion flow channel sealing subunit 1-3, the flow channel converging subunit 1-4, the gas flow channel layer and the liquid flow channel layer are stacked and sealed, and the liquid injection, liquid recycling and gas injection flow channels are converged through the flow channel converging subunit 1-4, which may have fewer connection points with an external supply and recycling system 4 and a better sealing performance compared with a micro-flow channel arrangement in which only the gas flow channel and the liquid flow channel are provided.
[0054] On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, the interface module 2 further includes a connector installation plate 2-5 used to fix the gas connector, the liquid connector and the brake connector. An outer side of the gas connector, an outer side of the liquid connector and an outer side of the brake connector are provided with a sealing ring, respectively.
[0055] As shown in
[0056] On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, the interface module 2 and the mask loading module 3 are both arranged below the base plate 3-1 in the lithography apparatus.
[0057] During a lithography process, the mask loading module 3 is arranged below the base plate 3-1 in the lithography apparatus. In order to maintain a stability of the immersion field, the interface module 2 is arranged on the base plate 3-1 in the lithography device.
[0058] On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, a supply and recycling system 4 is further provided, including a gas supply unit, a liquid supply unit and a liquid recycling unit, and the gas supply unit, the liquid supply unit and the liquid recycling unit are connected to the gas connector, the liquid injection connector and the liquid recycling connector, respectively.
[0059] As shown in
[0060] On the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, a control system 5 respectively connected to the supply and recycling system 4 and the immersion unit 1 is further provided, and the control system is used to control supply and recycling of the gas, supply and recycling of the liquid and braking of the immersion unit 1.
[0061] As shown in
[0062] The present disclosure will be further described by the specific embodiments. The above-mentioned near-field lithography immersion system, the immersion unit of the near-field lithography immersion system and the interface module of the near-field lithography immersion system will be described in detail in the following embodiments. However, the following embodiments are only used to illustrate the present disclosure, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
[0063] As shown in
[0064] As shown in
[0065] As shown in
[0066] As shown in
[0067] As shown in
[0068] The near-field lithography immersion system of the present disclosure may solve the problem that it is difficult to form a stable immersion field in a case of a short working distance by providing the immersion unit. At the same time, the matching arrangement of the immersion unit and the interface module may solve the problem that it is difficult to automatically disassemble and assemble the immersion unit and the mask in a case of realizing the stable immersion field.
[0069] The above-mentioned specific embodiments have described in detail the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the above are only specific embodiments of the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, and the like made within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure shall be included in the scope of protection of the present disclosure.