Apparatus for providing levelling and focusing adjustments on a semiconductor wafer

• US 6,449,029 B1
• Filed: 06/27/2000
• Issued: 09/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NEC Electronics Corporation (Renesas Electronics Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Fujimoto, Masashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Mathews, Alan A.
• Application Number:
  US09/604,589
• Time in Patent Office: 805 Days
• Field of Search: 355/52, 355/53, 355/55, 355/67, 356/401, 356/400, 250/548, 438/14
• US Class Current: 355/53
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70358 Scanning exposure, i.e. relative movement of patterned beam and workpiece during imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70691 Handling of masks or workpieces
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 9/7026 Focusing
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 9/7034 Leveling
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/12 for structural parameters, e.g. thickness, line width, refractive index, temperature, warp, bond strength, defects, optical inspection, electrical measurement of structural dimensions, metallurgic measurement of diffusions electrical measurement of diffusions H01L22/14

Abstract

For a photolithography apparatus, an adjustment method is provided which comprises first and second processes. In the first process, a semiconductor wafer is successively set in one of cell positions. In each of the cell positions, a laser beam is directed to the surface of the wafer and light reflecting off the wafer surface is detected and analyzed to determine a vertical offset position of the wafer at each cell position. Data representing the vertical offset position is stored in a memory and the first process is repeated until the offset position data are derived from all cell positions. In the second process, tilt angles of the wafer at all cell positions are determined from the stored offset position data, and angle data representing the determined tilt angles are stored in a memory. The wafer is then set in one of the cell positions, and the angle data is read from the memory corresponding to the set cell position and the wafer surface is horizontally aligned. The offset position data is read from the memory corresponding to the set cell position and the wafer surface is vertically moved to the focal point. The second process is repeated until the wafer is set to all cell positions.

Claims

1. A photolithography apparatus comprising:

a mask support system for supporting a mask having a chip pattern and imagewise-modulating incident light with the chip pattern;

a projection lens system for projecting the modulated light onto a focal point;

a wafer support system for adjustably and horizontally movably supporting a semiconductor wafer, the system being controlled to successively set the wafer in one of a plurality of cell positions;

a position sensing system for directing at least four laser beams to the surface of the wafer at each of said cell positions, one said laser beam directed at each corner of said cell positions, and detecting the reflection of at least one said beam off the surface of the water;

position analyzer circuitry for successively analyzing a signal representing the reflecting light of each said cell position and determining therefrom a plurality of vertical offset positions of the wafer at said plurality of cell positions;

angle calculation circuitry for determining a plurality of tilt angles of the wafer at said cell positions from said plurality of vertical offset positions; and

control circuitry controlling said wafer support system to successively set the wafer in one of said cell positions, horizontally aligning, at each cell position, the surface of the wafer according to the tilt angle determined for the cell position and vertically moving, at each cell position, the surface of the wafer to said focal point according to the vertical offset position determined for the cell position.

2. A photolithography apparatus comprising:

a mask support system for horizontally movably supporting a mask having a chip pattern and imagewise-modulating incident light with the chip pattern;

a shield member having a slit for allowing a portion of the modulated light to pass therethrough;

a projection lens system for projecting the light passing through said slit onto a focal point;

a wafer support system for adjustably and horizontally movably supporting a semiconductor wafer, the system being controlled to successively set the wafer in one of a plurality of cell positions;

a position sensing system for directing at least four laser beams to the surface of the wafer at each of said cell positions, one said laser beam directed at each corner of said cell positions, and detecting the reflection of at least one said beam off the surface of the wafer;

position analyzer circuitry for analyzing a signal representing the reflecting light of each said cell position and determining therefrom a plurality of vertical offset positions of the wafer at said plurality of cell positions;

angle calculation circuitry for determining a plurality of tilt angles of the wafer at said cell positions from said plurality of vertical offset positions; and

control circuitry controlling said wafer support system to successively set the wafer in one of said cell positions, horizontally aligning, at each cell position, the surface of the wafer according to the tilt angle determined for the cell position, vertically moving, at each cell position, the surface of the wafer to said focal point according to the vertical offset position determined for the cell position, and controlling said wafer support system and said mask support system to simultaneously move the wafer and the mask in opposite horizontal directions each time the wafer is set in each cell position to linearly scan the set cell position of the wafer with the light focused by said lens system.

3. The photolithography apparatus of claim 2, wherein said control circuitry is arranged to align said wafer surface so that the wafer surface at said each cell position is parallel to said slit.