JPH11340121A - Exposure equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [PROBLEMS] To improve the throughput of an exposure apparatus that transports a workpiece using a workpiece transport mechanism having two arms and performs rough alignment and exposure processing. SOLUTION: A work is taken out from a cassette stage CS accommodating a plurality of works by a work transfer mechanism RA, coarsely aligned by a rough alignment unit FA, and transferred to a work stage WS to perform a work exposure process. In the work stage WS, the position of the mask alignment mark is detected and stored in advance, and when the work is carried into the work stage WS, the detected and stored mask alignment mark is aligned with the work alignment mark. Then, an exposure process is performed. At this time, the processed work taken out of the work stage is stored in the cassette stage CS while the mask alignment mark is being detected and stored. Thereby, the throughput can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus used for manufacturing, for example, a semiconductor device, a printed circuit board, an LCD, and the like. And then transporting the workpiece to a work stage for exposure, and automatically transporting the processed workpiece to a work cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining a work transfer and an exposure processing step in an exposure apparatus. In the figure, CS is a cassette stage on which a work cassette for accommodating a plurality of works is placed. RA is a work transfer mechanism, which is provided with a work transfer arm, holds the work by vacuum suction, and transfers the work to each component of the exposure apparatus (cassette stage CS, coarse alignment unit FA, work stage WS). I do. FA is a rough alignment unit, which performs rough alignment of the work with respect to the arm of the work transfer mechanism RA so that the work alignment mark marked on the work at the time of fine alignment described later falls within the field of view of the alignment microscope. . WS is a work stage that performs fine alignment of the mask and the work and exposure processing after detecting a mask alignment mark marked on the mask and storing the position of the mark.

Hereinafter, the work stage WS, the contents of the work in the rough alignment section FA, the work transport mechanism RA, and a control system for controlling the above-described exposure apparatus will be described. (1) Processing at Work Stage WS The work stage WS irradiates the work placed on the work stage with exposure light through a mask on which a mask pattern such as a circuit pattern is formed, and forms a mask pattern on the work. Is the place to transcribe. The transfer of the mask pattern must be performed at a predetermined position on the work. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately detect and position the position of the mask and the position of the work. If the temperature of the apparatus changes due to exposure processing or changes in the surrounding environmental temperature, the position of the mask alignment mark will shift, which may affect the exposure accuracy.Before performing the workpiece exposure processing, first,
A mask alignment mark is detected and its position is stored (hereinafter, this processing is referred to as a mask mark detection / storage processing PA
Call).

The mask alignment mark detection / storage processing PA is performed in a state where there is no work on the work stage WS, as shown in JP-A-8-233529 and JP-A-9-115812. The time required for this process is about 10 seconds. Next, a work alignment mark provided on the work is detected by using an alignment microscope, the mask and / or the work are moved, and the alignment (fine alignment) of overlapping the stored mask alignment mark is performed. Do. afterwards,
Perform exposure processing. The time required for this fine alignment and exposure processing is usually about 20 seconds.

(2) Processing in Rough Alignment Section FA In order to perform fine alignment between the mask and the workpiece, the workpiece is positioned such that the alignment mark of the workpiece is within the field of view of the alignment microscope. It must be placed at a predetermined position on the stage WS. For this purpose, it is necessary to roughly align the position of the work with respect to the position of the work stage WS in the rough alignment section FA in advance, and then transport the work to the work stage WS. That is, when the work transfer mechanism RA transfers the work from the rough alignment unit FA to the work stage WS, the work is moved to the coarse alignment unit so as to reproduce the position of the work when the mask alignment mark and the work alignment mark match. Move by FA.
As a result, rough positioning can be performed. This is called coarse alignment.

The rough alignment is performed by a method in which the edge of the work is abutted against a pin or the like, or a method in which the edge of the work is detected in a non-contact manner by an optical sensor or the like. A singular point on a shape such as a flat or a notch is detected, and thereafter, the work is rotated by a predetermined amount, and the center of the work is moved to the position described above. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the coarse alignment unit FA mounts the rotation stage RS on which the work W is mounted and rotates, and the rotation stage RS with XY (X is, for example, the left-right direction in FIG.
Is an XY stage XYS that moves in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing, an edge detection sensor ES that detects the edge of the rotating workpiece W, and the center of the workpiece W and a singular point (orifla or notch) based on the detected positional information of the edge of the workpiece. And the like, and a control unit C1 for calculating the direction of the control.

At the time of rough alignment, the controller C1 rotates the rotary stage RS on which the work W is mounted, and moves the orientation flat or the notch in a predetermined direction based on the edge position of the work W detected by the edge detection sensor ES. And the XY stage XYS is moved to move the center of the work W to a position corresponding to a predetermined position on the work stage WS. The time required for the rough alignment is approximately 25 seconds because of the above-described processing.

(3) Work transfer mechanism The work transfer mechanism RA transfers the work to the cassette stage CS, the rough alignment section FA, and the work stage W of the exposure apparatus.
It is a robot that conveys to each component of S, and can use a single arm or two arms for holding a work. Hereinafter, a work transfer mechanism that holds a work by one arm and a work transfer mechanism that holds a work by two arms will be described.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a work transfer mechanism that holds a work with one arm. As shown in the figure, the work transfer mechanism RA includes a rotating part RA2 rotatably supported on a base RA1, a first arm RA3 rotating on the rotating part RA2, and a first joint RA4. Arm RA3
A second arm RA5 rotatably mounted on the second arm RA5, and a work holding arm RA7 rotatably mounted on the second arm RA5 at the second joint RA6.
The work holding arm RA7 is provided at the tip thereof with a work holding part RA8 for holding the work by vacuum suction or the like.

A first arm RA3, a second arm RA5
Is bent as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, whereby the work holding arm RA7 moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Further, by rotating the rotating part RA2, the direction of the work holding arm RA7 changes as shown in FIG. That is, the work holding arm RA7 of the work transfer mechanism RA is connected to the rotating unit RA2.
, And moves in the radial direction with the axis a as the origin, and conveys the work held by the work holding unit RA8. Further, the base RA1 has a mechanism for moving the rotating part RA2 in the vertical direction, whereby the work holding arm RA7 moves in the vertical direction.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of a work transfer mechanism provided with two arms. The work transfer mechanism RA shown in the figure includes a rotating part RA2 rotatably supported on a base RA1, and first arms RA3, RA3 ′ rotating on the rotating part RA2.
A second arm RA5, RA5 'rotatably attached to the first arm RA3, RA3' at the first joint RA4, RA4 ', and a second joint RA6, RA5
6 ', the workpiece holding arms RA7, RA7' rotatably attached to the second arms RA5, RA5 '.
Work holding parts RA8, RA8 'for holding the work by vacuum suction or the like are provided at the tips of the heads 7, RA7'. The second arms RA5 and RA5 'are provided with escape members RA9 and RA9' to avoid interference between the arms. The escape members RA9 and RA9 'are fixed to the work holding arms RA7 and RA7'. And escape member R
Work holding arms RA7, RA via A9, RA9 '
7 'is rotatably attached to the second arms RA5, RA5'.

The operation of each of the work holding arms RA7 and RA7 'of the work transfer mechanism shown in FIG.
This is the same as that described with reference to FIG.
A7 and RA7 'are set with the axis b of the rotating part RA2 as the origin.
They move independently in the same direction (the direction of the arrow in the figure). Then, the rotation of the rotating part RA2 changes the direction of the work holding arms RA7, RA7 '. That is, the work holding arms RA7 and RA7 'rotate while always being vertically overlapped, and move independently in the radial direction with the axis b as the origin. The details of the above-described work transfer mechanism are described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-274140.
Please refer to Japanese Patent Publication No.

(3) Control System FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system for controlling the exposure apparatus. In FIG. 6, MC is a main control unit, C1 is a coarse alignment control unit that controls the coarse alignment unit FA, C2 is a work stage control unit that controls the work stage WS, and C3 controls the work transfer mechanism RA described above. A work transfer mechanism controller C4 is a cassette stage controller for controlling the cassette stage CS. As described above, the coarse alignment control unit C1 controls the coarse alignment operation, and the work stage control unit C2 controls the mask mark detection / storage processing PA, the work fine alignment operation, and the exposure processing. Do.

The cassette stage control unit C3 controls the cassette stage when unloading and collecting the work, and the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 controls the transfer of the work by the work transfer mechanism RA shown in FIGS. Control. The main control unit MC gives instructions to the coarse alignment control unit C1, the work stage control unit C2, the cassette stage control unit C3, and the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 to control the work transfer procedure and to control each component ( Cassette stage C
S, the rough alignment section FA, and the work stage WS), the exposure processing, the rough alignment, the work loading and the collection work are performed.

Next, the operation of the conventional apparatus in the above-described exposure apparatus will be described. (1) Conventional Example 1 FIG. 10 shows how a work is transferred between a cassette stage CS, a rough alignment unit FA, and a work stage WS in a conventional exposure apparatus using the work transfer mechanism RA shown in FIG. The horizontal axis indicates time, and the vertical axis indicates the location where the work exists. Each line represents a path along which the workpiece flows, and a square display indicates that each process is being performed. Next, with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 10, the process of transporting and exposing the work will be described. In addition, the following circle numbers correspond to the circle numbers shown in FIG. Further, n- in FIG.
1, n, and n + 1 are the (n-1) th sheet, the nth sheet, and n + 1, respectively.
This represents the first work.

(1) The (n-1) th work for which rough alignment has been completed is held by a work holding arm (hereinafter simply referred to as an arm) of the work transfer mechanism RA, and is taken out from the rough alignment unit FA (see FIG. 10). a, FIG. 1). In the work stage WS, a mask alignment mark (hereinafter, referred to as a mask alignment mark)
The detection and storage processing PA of the mask mark) is completed,
The position of the mask mark is stored. (2) The direction of the arm holding the work is changed from the direction of the rough alignment section FA to the work stage WS, the arm is extended, and the (n-1) th work is placed on the work stage WS (FIG. 1). In the work stage WS, the alignment mechanism aligns the mask mark stored in the mask mark detection / storage processing PA with the work alignment mark (hereinafter referred to as a work mark) marked on the n-th work by the alignment mechanism (fine alignment). ),
The work is exposed (FIG. 10B). In the meantime, the work transport mechanism RA takes out the n-th work from the work cassette of the cassette stage CS (FIG. 1) and transports it to the rough alignment unit FA (FIG. 10C, FIG. 1).
The rough alignment of the n-th work is performed by the rough alignment section FA (d in FIG. 10).

(3) The (n-1) -th workpiece after the exposure processing is taken out from the work stage WS (FIG. 1).
The arm holding the (n-1) th work is turned from the work stage WS direction to the cassette stage CS direction. The arm is extended, and the (n-1) -th work is moved to and stored in the work cassette of the cassette stage CS (FIG. 10).
E, FIG. 1). At the work stage WS where there is no work, the mask mark detection / storage processing PA is performed as described above (f in FIG. 10). (4) The n-th work for which rough alignment has been completed is held by the arm and taken out from the rough alignment section FA (g in FIG. 10 and FIG. 1). Hereinafter, similarly, n + 1, n +
2nd,..., Transport and rough alignment of the second work, and exposure processing. Note that the arm of the work transfer mechanism RA
Each part (cassette stage CS, coarse alignment section F
A, when the work is transferred to the work stage WS), if necessary, the two are relatively moved in the vertical direction to adjust the height.

Here, in the cassette stage CS, the rough alignment section FA, and the work stage WS, the time required for each operation is as follows, as shown in FIG.・ Processing time at work stage WS (fine alignment +
Exposure): 20 s Coarse alignment time; 25 s Mask mark detection / storage time: 10 s The time (tact) from the start of processing of the n-th work to the start of processing of the (n + 1) -th work is 51 s.

(2) Conventional Example 2 In an apparatus for performing exposure processing of a work, it is generally required that the quantity (throughput) of work that can be processed within a unit time be increased as much as possible. The following two methods can be considered as means for increasing the throughput. In the exposure apparatus, each part (WS,
FA, CS) to reduce the processing time per work. In an exposure apparatus, taking out a work between each part,
Reduce the time required for transport and placement. That is, in order to improve the throughput, in order to efficiently transfer the work in the apparatus, the arm shown in FIG. 3 may be replaced with a work transfer mechanism RA using a single robot. It is conceivable to use the work transfer mechanism RA having two arms shown in FIG.

The two arms RA7 and RA shown in FIG.
When the work transfer mechanism provided with 7 'is used, it is possible to continuously exchange the processed work and the unprocessed work in each processing unit, so that the throughput can be improved. That is, in each of the cassette stage CS, the work stage WS, and the rough alignment section FA, the work is carried out by one of the arms after the respective processes are completed.
The other arm is transported so as to carry in the unprocessed work. A conventional procedure for performing the work transfer and exposure processing described in FIG. 1 using the work transfer mechanism shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to FIG. Note that n-1, n, and n + 1 in FIG.
This represents the + 1st work. In the following description, the work holding arm RA7 is described as the arm 1 and the work holding arm RA7 'is described as the arm 2.

(1) The (n-1) th work is roughly aligned in the rough alignment section FA (FIG. 11A), and the (n-2) th work is exposed on the work stage WS (FIG. 11). b). Meanwhile, the arm 1 of the work transfer mechanism RA takes out the n-th work from the work cassette, and moves the work transfer mechanism RA to the coarse alignment section F.
Rotate in the direction of A (c in FIG. 11). (2) When the alignment of the (n-1) th work is completed, the arm 2 of the work transfer mechanism RA takes out the (n-1) th work from the rough alignment unit FA (d in FIG. 11). Subsequently, the arm 1 carries the n-th work into the rough alignment section FA (e in FIG. 11).

(3) The rough alignment of the n-th work is performed (f in FIG. 11). The work transport mechanism RA rotates in the direction of the work stage WS, and the arm 1 takes out the (n-2) -th work that has been processed from the work stage WS (g in FIG. 11). In the work stage WS where the work has disappeared, the mask mark detection / storage processing PA is performed (h in FIG. 11). Waiting for the end of the mask mark detection / storage processing PA in the work stage WS,
The arm 2 moves the (n-1) th work to the work stage WS
(I in FIG. 11), and performs exposure processing on the (n-1) th work (j in FIG. 11). (4) The work transport mechanism RA is rotated in the direction of the cassette stage CS, and the arm 1 is exposed to the work cassette n-2.
The second work is stored (k in FIG. 11). Subsequently, the arm 1 of the work transport mechanism RA takes out the (n + 1) th work from the work cassette. Hereinafter, the above operation is repeated.

FIGS. 12 and 13 are flow charts showing the processing procedure of the main control unit MC (see FIG. 2) for controlling the entire exposure apparatus. explain. The figure shows a case where the work is already carried into the rough alignment section FA and the work stage WS, and starts from a state where the rough alignment and the exposure processing are being performed. In step S1 in FIG. 12, it is checked whether there is any unprocessed work, and if there is no unprocessed work, the process ends. If there is an unprocessed work, in step S2, the main control unit MC instructs the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 and the cassette stage control unit C3 to take out the unprocessed work (the n-th work) by the arm 1. I do. As a result, the work transfer mechanism RA changes its direction toward the cassette stage CS, and the arm 1 takes out the work from the work cassette of the cassette stage CS. In step S3, the main control unit MC waits for the rough alignment completion signal of the (n-1) th work to rise from the rough alignment control unit C1.

When the rough alignment is completed, step S
4, the main control unit MC includes a work transfer mechanism control unit C
Instruct the arm 4 to take out the coarsely aligned work (the (n-1) th work) by the arm 2. Thereby, the work transfer mechanism RA is moved by the arm 2 to the coarse alignment section F.
Take out the workpiece from A. In step S5, the main control unit MC instructs the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 to carry the unprocessed work (n-th work) held by the arm 1 into the rough alignment unit FA. Thereby, the work transport mechanism RA carries the unprocessed work into the rough alignment section FA by the arm 2. In step S6, the main control unit MC instructs the rough alignment control unit C1 to perform rough alignment of the unprocessed work (the n-th work). Thus, the rough alignment section FA performs the rough alignment of the unprocessed work as described above.

In step S7, the main control unit MC
Wait for the exposure completion signal of the (n-2) th work to come up from the work stage control unit C2. When the exposure is completed, in step S8, the main control unit MC instructs the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 to take out the exposed work (the (n-2) th work) by the arm 1. This allows
The work transport mechanism RA takes out the exposed work by the arm 1.

In step S9 of FIG. 13, the main control unit MC instructs the work stage control unit C2 to start the mask mark detection / storage processing PA.
At 10, the process waits for the detection signal of the mask mark detection / storage completion signal to rise. When the mask mark detection / storage processing PA is completed, in step S11, the main control unit MC instructs the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 to perform the coarsely aligned work (n-1st work) held by the arm 2.
Is carried in to the work stage WS. Thereby, the work transport mechanism RA carries in the work stage WS the coarsely aligned work (n-1st work) held by the arm 2.

In step S12, the main control unit MC
Indicates the work (n-1) to the work stage control unit C2.
To start the exposure of the (th) sheet. As a result, the work stage control unit C2 performs fine alignment and exposure processing of the work as described above. In step S13, the main control unit MC instructs the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 and the cassette stage control unit C3 to collect the exposed work (the (n-1) th work) held by the arm 1 into the cassette stage CS. . As a result, the exposed work held by the arm 1 is stored in the work cassette of the cassette stage CS. Next, in step S14, 1 is added to n, and the process returns to step S2 to repeat the above processing.

Here, the processing time in the cassette stage CS, the rough alignment section FA, and the work stage WS is the same as that in FIG. 10 as shown in FIG. 11, but a work transfer mechanism having two arms. In the case of using RA, the time from the start of the processing of the n-th work to the start of the processing of the (n + 1) -th work, so-called tact, is shortened by 15 seconds from the case of FIG. 10 to 46 seconds. .

[0029]

As described above, by using the work transfer mechanism RA having two arms,
Compared to the case where the work transfer mechanism RA having one arm is used, the work can be transferred more efficiently and the throughput can be improved. However, it cannot be said that the above-described conventional technology fully utilizes the capability of the work transfer mechanism RA having two arms, and a further improvement in throughput is demanded. The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and the object thereof is to:
An object of the present invention is to provide an exposure apparatus capable of fully utilizing the capability of a work transfer mechanism having two arms and further improving throughput.

[0030]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to an exposure apparatus shown in FIG. 1 using a work transfer mechanism having two arms as shown in FIG. The time from when one arm takes out the processed work from the work stage to when the other arm carries the unprocessed work into the work stage (that is, the time during which the mask alignment mark detection / storage processing PA is performed). 2), the processed work taken out of the work stage by one arm is placed and stored in a work cassette placed on a cassette stage. As a result, the time of the arm can be effectively used, the time efficiency can be increased, and the throughput can be improved.

[0031]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A description will now be given, with reference to FIG. 7, of a workpiece transfer and exposure process according to an embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment shows a case where the exposure apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is controlled by the control device shown in FIG. 6 using the work transfer mechanism RA for holding the work by the two arms shown in FIG. . Note that n-1, n, and n + 1 in FIG. 7 represent the (n-1) th, nth, and (n + 1) th works, respectively. In the following description, the work holding arm RA7 is described as the arm 1 and the work holding arm RA7 'is described as the arm 2.

(1) While the exposure process is being performed on the (n−3) th work on the work stage WS (FIG. 7A), the arm 1 of the work transfer mechanism RA is moved from the work cassette to (n−1).
The first work is taken out and carried into the rough alignment section FA (FIG. 7B), and the rough alignment section FA performs rough alignment of the (n-1) th work (FIG. 7C). The (n-2) -th work after the rough alignment is held by the arm 2 of the work transfer mechanism RA. After loading the (n-1) -th work into the rough alignment section FA, the work transfer mechanism RA rotates in the direction of the work stage WS. (2) When the exposure on the work stage WS is completed, the arm 1 takes out the (n−3) th exposed work from the work stage WS. Work stage WS with no work
Then, the above-described mask mark detection / storage processing PA is performed (FIG. 7E). Further, using the time during this time, the arm 1 of the work transfer mechanism RA rotates in the direction of the cassette stage CS, and the arm 1 transfers the processed (n−3) th work taken out from the work stage WS to the cassette stage CS. It is stored in the CS work cassette (d in FIG. 7).

(3) Thereafter, the work transport mechanism RA rotates in the direction of the work stage WS, and places the (n-2) -th work before the exposure processing held by the arm 2 on the work stage WS (FIG. 7f), an exposure process for the (n-2) th work is performed (g in FIG. 7). (4) The work transport mechanism RA rotates again in the direction of the cassette stage CS, and the arm 1 takes out the n-th work from the work cassette (h in FIG. 7). (5) Subsequently, the work transfer mechanism RA is moved to the rough alignment section FA.
And the arm 2 takes out the (n-1) -th workpiece after the rough alignment is completed (i in FIG. 7), and removes the n-th workpiece held by the arm 1 from the rough alignment section FA. (J in FIG. 7). (6) After loading the n-th work into the rough alignment section FA, the work transfer mechanism RA rotates in the direction of the work stage WS. (7) Thereafter, the above (2) to (6) are repeated.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are flow charts showing the processing procedure of the main control unit MC (see FIG. 6) for controlling the entire exposure apparatus. explain. 12 and 13, similarly to the case of FIGS. 12 and 13, a case where the work is already carried into the rough alignment unit FA and the work stage WS, and the process starts from a state where the rough alignment and the exposure process are being performed. . Also,
The processing of the portion surrounded by the dotted line in FIG. 9 is different from the processing of the conventional example 2. The processing shown in FIG. 8 is the same as that in FIG. 12, and will be described briefly below. In step S1 in FIG. 8, it is checked whether there is any unprocessed work. If there is no unprocessed work W, the process ends. If there is an unprocessed work, the main control unit MC
Instructs the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 and the cassette stage control unit C3 to take out the unprocessed work (the n-th work) by the arm 1, and in step S3, from the rough alignment control unit C1 to the (n-1) th work. Wait for the rough alignment completion signal of the workpiece to come up.

When the rough alignment is completed, step S
4, the main control unit MC includes a work transfer mechanism control unit C
Instruct S4 to take out the coarsely aligned work (n-1st work) by the arm 2, and in step S5, transfer the unprocessed work (nth work) held by the arm 1 to the rough alignment unit FA. Instruct import. Step S6
, The main control unit MC includes a coarse alignment control unit C1.
, A rough alignment of the unprocessed work (n-th work) is instructed, and in step S7, the work stage control unit C2 waits for an exposure completion signal of the (n-2) -th work to rise. When the exposure is completed, in step S8, the main control unit MC instructs the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 to take out the exposed work (the (n-2) th work) by the arm 1.

In step S9 of FIG. 9, the main control unit M
C instructs the work stage control unit C2 to start the mask mark detection / storage processing PA. During,
In step S10, the main control unit MC sends a command to the work transfer mechanism control unit C4 and the cassette stage control unit C3.
The collection of the exposed work (the (n-1) th work) held by the arm 1 to the cassette stage CS is instructed. As a result, the exposed work held by the arm 1 is stored in the work cassette of the cassette stage CS. Next, in step S11, the process waits for the detection signal of the mask mark detection / storage completion signal to rise.

When the mask mark detection / storage processing PA is completed, in step S12, the main control unit MC sends the coarsely aligned work (n-1 sheets) held by the arm 2 to the work transfer mechanism control unit C4. Eye) is instructed to be carried into the work stage WS. Thereby, the work transport mechanism RA carries in the work stage WS the coarsely aligned work (n-1st work) held by the arm 2. In step S13, the main control unit MC instructs the work stage control unit C2 to start exposure of the work (n-1) th work. As a result, the work stage control unit C2
Fine alignment and exposure processing of the work are performed as described above. Next, in step S14, 1 is added to n, and the process returns to step S2 to repeat the above processing.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the work of placing and storing the work in the work cassette is performed by the work stage WS.
Is the detection of the mask alignment mark and its storage processing PA
During the waiting time. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, the time for loading and storing the work in the work cassette is reduced to 5 seconds, and the tact time is reduced to 41 seconds, thereby improving the throughput as compared with the case of FIG.

[0039]

As described above, in the present invention, after the processed work is taken out from the work stage,
After the processing for detecting and storing the alignment mark of the mask is completed, the processed work is stored in the work cassette placed on the cassette stage during the waiting time until the next work before processing can be carried in. Therefore, the time for placing and storing the work in the work cassette can be reduced, and the throughput can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an exposure apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a rough alignment unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a work transfer mechanism that holds a work by one arm.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the operation of the work transfer mechanism of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a work transport mechanism that holds a work by two arms.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system for controlling the exposure apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a process of transport, coarse alignment, and exposure processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart (part 1) showing a processing procedure of a main control unit MC in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating a processing procedure of the main control unit MC in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing steps of conventional transport, coarse alignment, and exposure processing (conventional example 1).

FIG. 11 is a view showing a conventional transport / rough alignment / exposure process (conventional example 2).

FIG. 12 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating a processing procedure of a main control unit MC according to Conventional Example 2.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating a processing procedure of the main control unit MC in the conventional example 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

 WS Work stage CS Cassette stage FA Coarse alignment unit RA Work transfer mechanism MC Main control unit C1 Coarse alignment control unit C2 Work stage control unit C3 Cassette stage control unit C4 Work transfer mechanism control unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cassette stage on which a workpiece cassette containing a plurality of workpieces is placed, and an edge of the workpiece are detected, and a detection signal is stored and calculated, whereby a singular point of a shape provided on the peripheral edge of the workpiece is detected. And a center of the work, a direction of the singular point is oriented in a predetermined direction, and a center of the work is moved to a position corresponding to a predetermined position of the work stage. After performing detection and storage processing, there are three processing units, a work stage for performing fine alignment and exposure processing of the work, and a first processing unit that expands and contracts in the same radial direction with the origin at a support shaft at the center of the rotating body. A work transfer mechanism having a second arm for transferring the work held at the tip of each arm; and a control unit for controlling the three processing units and the work transfer mechanism. The control unit controls the three processing units and the work transfer mechanism to take out a work from the work cassette mounted on the cassette stage, and to and from the coarse alignment unit. To the work stage, further in the exposure apparatus for transporting the work from the work stage to the work cassette installed in the cassette stage, to perform coarse alignment and exposure of the work, the control unit, one of the work transfer device The arm takes out the processed work from the work stage and the other arm takes the processed work taken out of the work stage by one arm until the other work carries the next unprocessed work into the work stage. It is controlled so that it can be placed and stored in the work cassette placed on the cassette stage. Exposure apparatus characterized by.