SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISCHARGING ELECTROSTATIC CHARGE IN NANOIMPRINT LITHOGRAPHY PROCESSES
20170120572 ยท 2017-05-04
Inventors
Cpc classification
B41C1/1058
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
International classification
Abstract
Apparatus, systems and methods that use alpha-ionizers to discharge electrostatic charge accumulated on the working surfaces of imprint lithography templates and/or substrates.
Claims
1. An imprint lithography apparatus comprising: an imprint head having a template chuck configured to retain an imprint template having a patterning surface; a motion stage having a substrate chuck, the substrate chuck configured to retain an imprint lithography substrate, the motion stage translatable relative to imprint head so as to bring a retained substrate or a location thereon into and out of superimposition with the patterning surface of the retained template; a first alpha-ionizer and grounded conductor coupled to the motion stage and further arranged such that translational movement of the motion stage brings the first alpha-ionizer and grounded conductor into superimposition with the patterning surface of the retained template, wherein the first alpha-ionizer when so positioned operates to create an electrically neutral plasma field between the patterning surface of the imprint template and the grounded conductor to discharge electric charge on the patterning surface of the imprint template to ground.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the grounded conductor comprises a portion of the first alpha-ionizer.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the grounded conductor is separate from and located proximal to the first alpha-ionizer.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the created neutral electric plasma field has a density of 310.sup.8 ions/cm.sup.3 to 1.210.sup.11 ions/cm.sup.3 at the patterning surface of the retained template.
5. The imprint lithography apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a second alpha-ionizer and grounded conductor arranged such that translational movement of the motion stage brings the second alpha-ionizer into superimposition with the retained substrate or location thereon, wherein the second alpha-ionizer when so positioned operates to create an electrically neutral plasma field between the retained substrate or location thereon and the grounded conductor to discharge electric charge on the retained substrate or location thereon to ground.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the grounded conductor comprises a portion of the second alpha-ionizer.
7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the grounded conductor is separate from and located proximal to the first alpha-ionizer.
8. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the created neutral electric plasma field has a density of 310.sup.8 ions/cm.sup.3 to 1.210.sup.11 ions/cm.sup.3 at the retained substrate or location thereon.
9. The imprint lithography apparatus of claim 5 wherein in the second alpha-ionizer is coupled to the imprint head.
10. A method of discharging electrostatic charge on an imprint lithography template patterning surface and/or imprinted substrate, the method comprising the steps of: bringing a patterning surface of an imprint lithography template into contact with polymerizable material deposited on an imprint lithography substrate; solidifying the polymerizable material to form a patterned layer on the substrate; separating the template from the formed patterned layer; and after separating, positioning the template in superimposition with an alpha-ionizer and grounded conductor such that the second alpha-ionizer creates an electrically neutral plasma field between the retained substrate or location thereon and the grounded conductor to ground and maintaining such positioning for a predetermined discharge time so as to discharge electrostatic charge on the template patterning surface.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the predetermined discharge time is less than 1 second.
12. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of, after separating, positioning the substrate in superimposition with an additional alpha-ionizer and grounded conductor that creates an electrically neutral plasma field between the retained substrate or location thereon and the grounded conductor to discharge electric charge on the retained substrate or location thereon to ground maintain such positioning for a predetermined discharge time so as to discharge electrostatic electricity on the formed patterned layer on the substrate
13. The method of claim 12 wherein the predetermined discharge time is less than 1 second.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein the alpha-ionizers operate to create He at a density of 310.sup.8 ions/cm.sup.3 to 1.210.sup.11 ions/cm.sup.3 at the template patterning surface or the formed patterned layer surface.
15. The method of claim 10 wherein the substrate is glass.
16. The method of claim 10 wherein the steps of bringing the imprint lithography template patterning surface into contact with the polymerizable material and solidifying the polymerizable material are performed in a He environment.
17. A method of manufacturing a device comprising: transferring a pattern into a substrate using an apparatus according to claim 1; and processing the substrate to manufacture the device.
18. A method of manufacturing an imprint lithography replica template comprising: transferring a pattern into a glass substrate using an apparatus according to claim 1; and processing the substrate to manufacture the replica template.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0012] So that features and advantages of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of embodiments of the invention may be had by reference to the embodiments illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings only illustrate typical embodiments of the invention, and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] Referring to the figures, and particularly to
[0021] Substrate 12 and substrate chuck 14 may be further supported by stage 16. Stage 16 may provide translational and/or rotational motion along the x, y, and z-axes. Stage 16, substrate 12, and substrate chuck 14 may also be positioned on a base (not shown).
[0022] Spaced-apart from substrate 12 is template 18. Template 18 may include a body having a first side and a second side with one side having a mesa 20 extending therefrom towards substrate 12, with mesa 20 having a patterning surface 22 thereon. Further, mesa 20 may be referred to as mold 20. Alternatively, template 18 may be formed without mesa 20.
[0023] Template 18 and/or mold 20 may be formed from such materials including, but not limited to, fused-silica, quartz, silicon, organic polymers, siloxane polymers, borosilicate glass, fluorocarbon polymers, metal, hardened sapphire, and/or the like. As illustrated, patterning surface 22 comprises features defined by a plurality of spaced-apart recesses 24 and/or protrusions 26, though embodiments of the present invention are not limited to such configurations (e.g., planar surface). Patterning surface 22 may define any original pattern that forms the basis of a pattern to be formed on substrate 12.
[0024] Template 18 may be coupled to chuck 28. Chuck 28 may be configured as, but not limited to, vacuum, pin-type, groove-type, electrostatic, electromagnetic, and/or other similar chuck types. Exemplary chucks are further described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,873,087, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. Further, chuck 28 may be coupled to imprint head 30 such that chuck 28 and/or imprint head 30 may be configured to facilitate movement of template 18.
[0025] System 10 may further comprise a fluid dispense system 32. Fluid dispense system 32 may be used to deposit formable material 34 (e.g., polymerizable material) on substrate 12. Formable material 34 may be positioned upon substrate 12 using techniques, such as, drop dispense, spin-coating, dip coating, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), thin film deposition, thick film deposition, and/or the like. Formable material 34 may be disposed upon substrate 12 before and/or after a desired volume is defined between mold 22 and substrate 12 depending on design considerations. For example, formable material 34 may comprise a monomer mixture as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,157,036 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,076,386, both of which are herein incorporated by reference.
[0026] Referring to
[0027] Either imprint head 30, stage 16, or both vary a distance between mold 20 and substrate 12 to define a desired volume therebetween that is filled by formable material 34. For example, imprint head 30 may apply a force to template 18 such that mold 20 contacts formable material 34. After the desired volume is filled with formable material 34, source 38 produces energy 40, e.g., ultraviolet radiation, causing formable material 34 to solidify and/or cross-link conforming to a shape of surface 44 of substrate 12 and patterning surface 22, defining patterned layer 46 on substrate 12. Patterned layer 46 may comprise a residual layer 48 and a plurality of features shown as protrusions 50 and recessions 52, with protrusions 50 having a thickness t.sub.1 and residual layer having a thickness t.sub.2.
[0028] The above-mentioned system and process may be further employed in imprint lithography processes and systems referred to in U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,934, U.S. Pat. No. 7,077,992, U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,396, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,396,475, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
[0029] In the present invention, such systems and processes are further adapted to incorporate alpha particle ionizers to generate airborne ions that effectively discharge nanoimprint template and substrate working surfaces. In particular, the incorporation of such alpha particle ionizers are advantageous in nanoimprint lithography as they eliminate the electrostatic charge generated during separation of a template from the imprinted material on the substrate, which in turn reduces the collection of particles on the template surface and on the substrate, that would otherwise be attracted electrostatically. Reduction of attracted and trapped particles in turn reduces process defects that would otherwise occur. At the same time, such ionizers provide for high ion efficiency within a useful working range, leading to fast discharge rates that are compatible with high throughput requirements of nanoimprint lithography.
[0030] Alpha particle ionizers in particular produce high energy double ionized helium atoms, He++ (also referred to as double charged helium ions or alpha-particles). The double charged helium ions are positively charged and have very high ionization efficiency in air due to the double electric charge and related high particle collision cross-sections (effective geometrical cross-sectional area of the particle), and due to the mass of He atom comparable with the mass of excited atoms. The latter is explained by classical mechanics as an optimal condition for the energy transfer during collision of two particles. The maximum energy transfer happens when these two particles have similar mass. Both .sup.241Am and .sup.210Po are good emitters of He atoms and useful in the present invention. Although .sup.241Am has lower specific activity than .sup.210Po, the same effective emission can be produced with .sup.241Am simply by using more of the .sup.241Am material. It will further be appreciated that other alpha particle emitters can also be used. The number of ions produced by an alpha particle depends on its energy. Within a narrow range of energy, e.g., 5.3 MeV for .sup.210Po and 5.5 MeV for .sup.241Am, the number of ions produced per each alpha particle is approximately the same. The average stopping range of alpha particles with energies of 5.3 MeV (for .sup.210Po) or 5.5 MeV (for .sup.241Am) is approximately 3.4 cm in air. The maximum distance (d.sub.max) the alpha particle can travel in air at room temperature and atmospheric pressure is 4.2 cm. Thus, any effective working distance within 4.2 cm can be chosen, including, e.g., the average stopping range value of 3.4 cm.
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[0033]
.sub.1=R.Math.C(1)
[0034] The typical electric capacitance between a charged patterning surface of a nanoimprint template (having a stamp or field area 26 mm33 mm) and an ionizer as described herein, and which are positioned at a gap distance of 3.4 cm from one another, is estimated at around C=0.2 pF. The lowest plasma resistance is estimated as R210.sup.6. That gives the characteristic discharge time .sub.1410.sup.7 s (=0.4 microseconds). Due to recombination of positive and negative ions and depending on humidity, and air pressure there is an uncertainty in the estimate of the ions concentration in air, and ion mobilities. That leads in turn to some uncertainty in the plasma resistance (the value that is inverse to plasma conductance) estimate. The resistance, R, on the high side is estimated as 210.sup.11. The discharge time in this case is .sub.1410.sup.2 s (=40 milliseconds) which is still acceptable for nanoimprint processes. As the electric capacitance for a given specific nanoimprint template is fixed, the discharge time will mostly depend on plasma resistance R. The latter depends on the activity of the alpha particle source, ion recombination rate, the working distance between ionizer and the target surface, air or other gas composition, temperature and humidity.
[0035] In particular approaches, a helium gas environment can be employed instead of air. Imprint lithography tools use helium gas routinely for imprint processes. Thus there may be situations when discharge is required in helium environment. In this situation, ionization is still effective, as plasma resistivity will increase only 6 times. This increase in value still gives reasonable discharge times. Incorporation of an alpha particle ionizer into a nanoimprint lithography system provides for a number of process advantages over other ionization schemes. First, an alpha particle ionizer does not produce massive particulates that can adversely affect the imprint template and/or the imprint quality and/or subsequent processing. For instance, ionizers based on coronary discharge from sharp metal tips produce particulates from decaying of the tip. Coronary discharge oxidizes the metal tip and creates particulates through oxide cracking. Rather, an alpha particle ionizer simply produces helium atoms. That is, as the alpha particle (or double charged He atom, He++) loses its energy, it is neutralized, and converted into helium atom. Helium gas is routinely used in nanoimprint lithography processes to create a local helium atmosphere that mitigates against air trapping. Thus, alpha particle ionizers release helium only, which again is already common to imprint processes and which is otherwise easily dissipated.
[0036] Second, the ionization efficiency by alpha particles of any gas, including helium and/or air, is much higher than the ionization efficiency for penetrating radiation like -rays, x-rays, beta or UV light. This is because the energy exchange in a collision of two near identical in mass particles is more effective than for particles with very dissimilar weights. An alpha particle with a mass of 4 a.u. faster loses its energy to the He (4 a.u.) and/or air making atoms (average mass 14.5 a.u.). That is why an alpha particle ionizer produces 1,000 times more ions per unit of air volume than a typical soft x-ray source. The charged surface discharges 1,000 times faster with the use of alpha particle ionizer as compared to -rays, x-rays, beta or UV light.
[0037] Due to the high ionization efficiency, and effective energy loss the alpha particles have a short stopping distance in air, 3.4 cm, with the maximum travel range 4.2 cm [5]. In helium environment the maximum travel range of alpha particles is 25 cm. This makes the usage of alpha particle ionizer safe for nearby operating personnel and for the surrounding working equipment. The radiation does not propagate farther than 4.2 cm in air. Thus the emitter can be placed in the open space as long as there is adequate air space around it (i.e., greater than the maximum travel range of 4.2 cm in air), and not cause any harmful or deleterious radiation exposure. (Alternatively, the alpha particle ionizer can be completely enclosed within metal shield while not in use and/or placed for storage.) At the same time, the effective working range, such as, for example, the stopping range of 3.4 cm, is far enough from the surface to be discharged and not to worry about tight space clearance between the ionizer and the discharging surface.
[0038] The alpha particle ionizers produce neutral electric plasma directly between the surface to be discharged and grounded metal surface of the alpha particle ionizer or any other grounded metal that is within the plasma volume. The neutral plasma is electrically conductive. The plasma is intentionally generated in the space between the surface to be discharged and the alpha ionizer. Once in contact with the plasma, the surface charge flows through plasma to ground. On the contrary, coronary discharge ionizers produce ions near the discharge tip, which then have to be actively spread through air movement. Those moving ions, once delivered to the charged surface, recombine with the surface charged ions to discharge, a much slower process. Further, the surface to be discharged is physically removed and separate from the discharge tip. This separation leads to significant reduction of available ions reaching the charged surface that further slows the discharge rate.
[0039] An alpha particle ionizer with an activity of 250 uCi has a rate of ion generation of (1.110.03)1011 ions/(cm.sup.3s) within the stopping range in air of 4.2 cm. The electrically neutral plasma makes the space between the emitter and the surface to be discharged a good electric conductor. The typical plasma ion density is in the range of 3108 ions/cm.sup.3-1.21011 ions/cm.sup.3 depending on air conditions like temperature and humidity. High ion concentration facilitates the quick discharge of the electrostatic surface charge to the ground, providing for template surface discharge in at least less than 1 second, and more usually in the range of 10 ms to 100 ms. On the contrary, ionizing techniques that use the x-rays, -rays, etc. produce very low ion concentration. The highest air ionization efficiency among -radiation, x-rays, and UV light is attained by x-rays. Soft x-rays produce 1108 ions/(cm.sup.3s). Hard x-rays and -rays produce much less than 1108 ions/(cm.sup.3s). At this ionization efficiency, it takes up to tens of seconds to a few minutes to discharge a charged template or substrate surface.
[0040] Third, most imprint lithography processes typically use glass templates. Glass has high diffusion and permeability coefficients for helium. A typical glass template will have nanometer sized pores that facilitate diffusion of helium. Thus, helium produced in a glass template via alpha particle implantation (bombardment and the following trapping) and neutralization won't accumulate to a high concentration as opposed to the other implantation ions used in the industry (H+, Ar+, etc.). Accumulation of those ions in glass leads to formation of voids in glass, glass cracking, and distortion. Rather, the produced helium easily diffuses and migrates out of the glass leaving it intact. Thus a further advantage of using alpha particles for plasma generation is that they do not damage glass templates over time. This is a very important advantage in the template replication imprint process where the master template and the formed replica template are both made of glass. The same consideration of high helium permeability is also useful for imprinted resist. The latter is very vitreous material. That is, after neutralization the helium atoms will migrate out quickly out of the cured imprint resist as well, whereas other types of ions will accumulate in the resist creating voids, stress and distortion.
[0041] Fourth, the alpha ionizers do not require air flow to move ions to the charged template surface as is the case for coronary discharge ionizers. The latter require air movement in order to spread generated ions through the apparatus to the desired surface to be discharged. Such air flow significantly increases the chances of introducing contaminating particulates into the imprint area. These particulates will undermine the quality of imprints, and cause imprint defects. Alpha ionizers better match the imprint process requirements as they do not produce particulates, nor do they inadvertently introduce particulates by required air flows.
[0042]
[0043] As the imprint process finishes and template 601 is separated from imprinted field 611 on substrate 603, an electrostatic charge is generated on template surface 616 and imprinted field surface 614. Stage 604 is then moved in the x-y plane in such a way that the first alpha ionizer 606 is positioned just below the surface 616 of template 602 and imprinted field 611 is positioned just below the second alpha ionizer 608, each at a working distance d effective for discharge (compare
.sub.2.sub.1(2)
That is, .sub.2 is greater than or at least equal to characteristic discharge time .sub.1. Where .sub.2 is greater than .sub.1, the inequality (2) is taken into consideration when establishing the velocity of stage 604 during discharge.
[0044] With particular reference to
[0045] Further modifications and alternative embodiments of various aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description. Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative only. It is to be understood that the forms shown and described herein are to be taken as examples of embodiments. Elements and materials may be substituted for those illustrated and described herein, parts and processes may be reversed, and certain features may be utilized independently, all as would be apparent to one skilled in the art after having the benefit of this description.