System and method to compensate for static and dynamic misalignments and deformations in a maskless lithography tool
First Claim
1. A system for maskless lithographic printing, comprising:
- a spatial light modulator that forms patterns, the spatial light modulator including a plurality of spatial light modulator arrays and a reference reticle;
a substrate stage;
at least one optical element that images the patterns onto a substrate held by the substrate stage;
a rasterizer, coupled to the spatial light modulator, that generates pattern data used by the spatial light modulator to form the patterns; and
a sensor, coupled to the rasterizer, that provides a signal to the rasterizer related to misalignment of a first spatial light modulator array relative to a frame of reference,wherein the rasterizer uses the signal from the sensor in generating the pattern data to compensate for misalignment of the first spatial light modulator array relative to the frame of reference.
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Abstract
The present invention provides systems and methods for maskless lithographic printing that compensate for static and/or dynamic misalignments and deformations. In an embodiment, a misalignment of a pattern formed by a spatial light modulator is measuring during printing. Rasterizer input data is generated based on the measured misalignment and passed the rasterizer. The rasterizer generates pattern data, based on the rasterizer input data, that is adjusted to compensate for the measured misalignment. The pattern data generated by the rasterizer is passed to the spatial light modulator and used to form a second pattern, which includes compensation for the measured misalignment. In an embodiment, deformations caused, for example, by a warping a surface of the spatial light modulator are measured and used by the rasterizer to generate pattern data that compensates for the deformations.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A system for maskless lithographic printing, comprising:
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a spatial light modulator that forms patterns, the spatial light modulator including a plurality of spatial light modulator arrays and a reference reticle; a substrate stage; at least one optical element that images the patterns onto a substrate held by the substrate stage; a rasterizer, coupled to the spatial light modulator, that generates pattern data used by the spatial light modulator to form the patterns; and a sensor, coupled to the rasterizer, that provides a signal to the rasterizer related to misalignment of a first spatial light modulator array relative to a frame of reference, wherein the rasterizer uses the signal from the sensor in generating the pattern data to compensate for misalignment of the first spatial light modulator array relative to the frame of reference. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for maskless lithographic printing with a tool including a spatial light modulator, which has a plurality of spatial light modulator arrays and a reference reticle, and a rasterizer, comprising:
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(a) comparing a first pattern formed using the reference reticle to a second pattern formed using a first spatial light modulator array to determine a misalignment of the first spatial light modulator array relative to a frame of reference; (b) generating rasterizer input data based on the misalignment determined in step (a); (c) providing the rasterizer input data to the rasterizer; (d) generating pattern data with the rasterizer, the pattern data being adjusted based on the rasterizer input data provided in step (c); (e) providing the pattern data to the spatial light modulator; and (f) forming a third pattern with the spatial light modulator and the pattern data that compensates for the misalignment measured in step (a). - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification