Exposure unit, exposure system and device manufacturing method

• US 6,185,474 B1
• Filed: 03/02/1998
• Issued: 02/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Yamada, Yasuyoshi, Kyotoku, Satoshi, Nakamura, Takashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bahta, Kidest
• Application Number:
  US09/034,019
• Time in Patent Office: 1,072 Days
• Field of Search: 700/121.96, 700/3, 700/93, 395/500.22, 355/43, 430/5, 340/825.06
• US Class Current: 700/121
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70525 Controlling normal operating mode, e.g. matching different apparatus, remote control or prediction of failure

Abstract

A network type exposure unit connected via a communication network to other exposure units or to an information processor determines whether or not exposure work information of the instructed kind of exposure work is in the storage thereof. When the instructed exposure work information is determined to be non-existent, the unit inquires of the other exposure units or a host equipment whether or not there is therein the exposure work information, and decides executability of the exposure work requested to be started from the result thereof. The exposure work information can be transferred between arbitrary units, thereby alleviating complexity of maintenance and management of the exposure work information.

Claims

1. An exposure unit for performing exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of exposure work information, said exposure unit comprising:

communication means for performing communication with external units;

determining means for determining whether or not said exposure unit has specified work information;

inquiring means for inquiring of an external unit via said communication means about a presence or an absence of work information when said determining means determines a non-existence of said specified work information; and

deciding means for deciding whether or not the exposure processing based on said specified work information is executable on the basis of the result of the inquiry by said inquiring means.

2. An exposure unit according to claim 1, wherein said exposure unit further comprises notifying means for notifying the external unit via said communication means of the result of a decision by said deciding means.

3. An exposure unit for performing exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of exposure work information, said exposure unit comprising:

communication means for performing communication with external units;

determining means for determining whether or not said exposure unit has specified work information;

inquiring means for inquiring of an external unit via said communication means about a presence or an absence of work information when said determining means determines a non-existence of said specified work information; and

receiving means for receiving said specified work information via said communication means from an external unit having given a response notifying of the presence of said specified work information.

4. An exposure unit according to claim 3, wherein:

the external units to receive inquiries from said inquiring means are in a sequence from low to high costs required for obtaining work information; and

wherein said receiving means receives, upon receipt of an inquiry from said inquiring means, said specified work information via said communication means from the external unit having first returned a positive response.

5. An exposure unit according to claim 3, wherein said receiving means receives, upon receipt of a positive response to an inquiry by said inquiring means, information transmitted in succession to said response as said specified work information.

6. An exposure unit according to claim 3, wherein said inquiring means inquires of all external units allowing inquiry by the use of said communication means about the presence or absence of said specified work information;

and wherein said receiving means selects one of the external units having given a positive response to an inquiry from said inquiring means, and receives said specified work information from said external unit selected via said communication means.

7. An exposure unit according to claim 6, wherein said receiving means selects one requiring the minimum cost for obtaining the work information from among the external units having given a positive response to an inquiry by said inquiring means.

8. An exposure unit according to claim 3, wherein said exposure unit further comprises:

message receiving means for receiving a message inquiring about the presence or absence of work information from external units via said communication means; and

message sending means which determines whether or not said exposure unit has work information indicated by an inquiry message received by said message receiving means, and sends the result of the determination via said communication means to said external unit.

9. An exposure unit according to claim 8, wherein said message sending means, when determining that the work information indicated by said inquiring message is present in said exposure unit, transmits said work information, together with information showing the result of the determination, to said external unit.

10. An exposure unit for performing a specified exposure processing, said exposure unit comprising:

communication means capable of being connected to a network having a server unit;

determining means for determining whether or not work information necessary for executing the specified exposure processing is present in said unit;

requesting means which, when said determining means determines that the necessary work information is not existent in said unit, requests said work information via said network to said server unit;

receiving means for receiving the work information transmitted via said communication means from said server unit in response to said request by said requesting means; and

exposing means for executing said specified exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of the work information received by said receiving means.

11. An exposure unit according to claim 10, wherein:

said communication means is communicably connected to a host equipment through a communication line other than said network; and

further comprising instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction of exposure processing to be executed via said communication line from said host equipment.

12. An exposure unit according to claim 11, wherein said communication line in said communication means has a communication rate lower than in said network.

13. An exposure unit according to claim 11, wherein said instruction receiving means receives a plurality of instructions for exposure processing via said communication line from said host equipment;

and

wherein, for each of said plurality of exposure processing runs, the exposure unit further comprises control means for repeating said determining means, said requesting means, and said receiving means.

14. An exposure unit according to claim 11, wherein when said work information necessary for said specified exposure processing is not existent in said server, the exposure unit further comprises communication means for notifying said host equipment of such an effect.

15. An exposure system provided with a plurality of exposure units for conducting exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of exposure work information, said system comprising:

communication means communicably connecting said plurality of exposure units and a host equipment and giving an exposure work instruction to the host equipment;

determining means for determining, when said host equipment specifies an exposure unit and work information, whether or not the specified exposure unit has said work information;

searching means for searching, when said determining means determines a non-existence of the specified work information, for a unit having said work information from among said plurality of exposure units and said host equipment; and

deciding means for deciding whether or not the exposure processing based on said specified work information is executable by said system, on the basis of the result of the search by said searching means.

16. An exposure system according to claim 15, wherein said system further comprises notifying means for notifying said host equipment via said communication means of the result of the determination by said determining means.

17. An exposure system provided with a plurality of exposure units for performing exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of exposure work information, said system comprising:

communication means which communicably connects said plurality of exposure units to said host equipment giving an exposure work instruction thereto;

determining means for determining, when an exposure unit and work information are specified by said host equipment, whether or not the specified exposure unit has said work information;

searching means for searching, when said determining means determines that said specified work information is non-existent, for a unit having said work information from among said plurality of exposure units and said host equipment; and

transmitting means for transmitting said specified work information from the unit searched for by said searching means via said communication means to said specified exposure unit.

18. An exposure system according to claim 17, wherein units to be searched for by said searching means are in a sequence from low to high cost required for obtaining the work information;

and

wherein said transmitting means transmits said specified work information from a unit found first by said searching means via said communication means to said specified exposure unit.

19. An exposure system according to claim 17, wherein said searching means performs searching for all units capable of being searched for in said communication means, and extracts a unit having said specified work information;

and

wherein said transmitting means selects one of the units selected by said searching means and transmits said specified work information from the external unit selected via said communication means to said specified exposure unit.

20. An exposure system according to claim 19, wherein said transmitting means selects one with a minimum cost required for obtaining the work information from among the external units having returned a positive response in said inquiring means.

21. An exposure system according to claim 17, wherein said searching means comprises:

message receiving means for receiving a message inquiring about the presence or absence of the work information from the other units via said communication means in each of the units connected to said communication means; and

message transmitting means for determining whether or not said exposure unit has the work information indicated by the inquiring message received by said message receiving means, and transmitting the result of the determination to the transmitter of said message via said communication means.

22. An exposure system according to claim 21, wherein said message transmitting means transmits, when determining that the work information indicated by said inquiring message is in said exposure unit, said work information, together with the result of the determination, to said external unit.

23. An exposure system having a plurality of exposure units and at least one server, said system comprising:

communication means including a network communicably connecting said plurality of exposure units and said server;

determining means for determining whether or not the work information necessary for executing the exposure processing specified for one of said plurality of exposure units is present in said specified exposure unit;

acquiring means for acquiring, when said determining means determines that the necessary work information is non-existent in said exposure unit, said work information via said server via said communication means; and

exposing means for executing said specified exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of the work information acquired by said acquiring means.

24. An exposure system according to claim 23, wherein said communication means communicably connects said plurality of exposure units and a host equipment by the use of a communication line other than said network;

and

wherein each of said plurality of exposure units is further provided with instruction receiving means receiving an instruction of exposure processing via said communication line from said host equipment.

25. An exposure system according to claims 24, wherein said communication line in said communication means has a communication rate lower than that of said network.

26. An exposure system according to claim 24, wherein, when specifying information specifying a plurality of exposure processing runs in a lump is received from said host equipment in said instruction receiving means, said system further comprises control means for executing said determining means and said acquiring means repeatedly for each of the exposure processing runs specified by said specifying information.

27. An exposure system according to claim 23, wherein said server comprises:

managing means for managing the plurality of grouped exposure units; and

transmitting means for transmitting said requested work information to all the exposure units in the group to which said requesting exposure unit belongs.

28. An exposure system according to claim 23, wherein at least one of said plurality of exposure units can take the place of said server for processing.

29. An exposure system according to claim 23, wherein said system further comprises:

holding means for holding a deleting timing for each of the pieces of work information transmitted to the exposure unit; and

deleting means for deleting, when the deleting timing held by said holding means is reached, the corresponding work information from the storage area of the exposure unit.

30. An exposure system according to claim 29, wherein:

said holding means holds the identification information of the requested work information and the deleting timing thereof in a deletion list in correspondence to said requesting exposure unit; and

wherein said deleting means comprises;

deletion requesting means for requesting, from said server, deletion of the corresponding work information to an appropriate exposure unit when the deleting timing in said deletion list is reached; and

information deleting means for deleting the corresponding work information from a particular storage area thereof in response to a deleting request by said deletion requesting means in each of said exposure units.

31. A control method of an exposure unit having communication means for conducting communication with an external unit and performing exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of the exposure work information, said method comprising:

a determining step of determining whether or not said exposure unit has the specified work information;

an inquiring step of inquiring of an external unit via said communication means about a presence or an absence of said work information when it is determined in said determining step that the specified work information is non-existent; and

a deciding step of deciding whether or not an exposure processing based on said specified work information is executable, on the basis of the result of an inquiry in said inquiring step.

32. A control method of an exposure unit having communication means for conducting communication with an external unit and performing exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of the exposure work information, said method comprising:

a determining step of determining whether or not said exposure unit has specified work information;

an inquiring step of inquiring of an external unit via said communication means about a presence or an absence of said work information when it is determined in said determining step that the specified work information is non-existent; and

a receiving step of receiving, upon receipt of an inquiry in said inquiring step, said specified work information via said communication means from an external unit having given a response showing a presence of said specified work information.

33. A control method of an exposure unit having communication means capable of being connected to a network having a server and performing a specified exposure processing, said method comprising:

a determining step for determining whether or not work information necessary for executing said specified exposure processing is present in said unit;

a requesting step of requesting, when it is determined in said determining step that the necessary work information is non-existent in said unit, said work information via said network to said server;

a receiving step of receiving the work information transmitted via said communication means from said server in response to the request in said requesting step; and

an exposing step of executing said specified exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of the work information received in said receiving step.

34. A control method of an exposure system which is provided with a plurality of exposure units for performing exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of exposure work information, a host equipment giving exposure work information to said plurality of exposure units, and communication means communicably connecting them, said method comprising:

a determining step of determining, when said host equipment specifies an exposure unit and work information, whether or not the specified exposure unit has said work information;

a searching step of searching, when non-existence of the specified work information is determined in said determining step, for a unit having said work information from among said plurality of exposure units and said host equipment; and

a deciding step of deciding whether or not the exposure processing based on said specified work information is executable in said system on the basis of the result of the search in said searching step.

35. A control method of an exposure system which is provided with a plurality of exposure units for performing exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of exposure work information, a host equipment giving exposure work to said plurality of exposure units, and communication means communicably connecting them, said method comprising:

a determining step of determining, when said host equipment specifies an exposure unit and work information, whether or not the specified exposure unit has said work information;

a searching step of searching, when non-existence of the specified work information is determined in said determining step, for a unit having said work information from among said plurality of exposure units and said host equipment; and

a transmitting step of transmitting said specified work information from a unit found in said searching step via said communication means to said specified exposure unit.

36. A control method of an exposure system having a plurality of exposure units, at least one server, and communication means including a network communicably connecting them, said method comprising:

a determining step of determining whether or not work information necessary for executing the exposure processing specified for one of said plurality of exposure units is present in said specified exposure unit;

an acquiring step of acquiring, when non-existence of the necessary work information in said exposure unit is determined in said determining step, said work information via said communication means from said server; and

an exposing step of executing said specified exposure processing in which a pattern on a mask is print-exposed onto a substrate on the basis of the work information acquired in said acquiring step.