JPS60109228A - Projection exposing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to projection exposure technology, and more particularly to a projection exposure apparatus suitable for use in high-speed projection exposure of a reticle pattern onto an exposed object during the manufacture of semiconductor devices. It is.

[Background technology]

In the IJ lithography technology used in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, for example, a technology is required in which a reticle formed in a predetermined pattern is reduced and projected onto a semiconductor wafer for exposure (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 111076/1983). ). Also,
A similar technique is also required when forming a photomask for close contact, as a technique for reducing the size of a reticle pattern and projecting it onto a photomask substrate for exposure. In the case of this reduction projection exposure, the reduced reticle pattern is sequentially and repeatedly exposed multiple times on the wafer or photomask substrate, and a large number of reduced reticle patterns are formed in a square pattern on the wafer or photomask original plate. They are arranged to form.

By the way, a projection aligner is used for this projection exposure, and the wafer (or photomask substrate) as the object to be exposed and the reticle are set one by one in the aligner, and the wafer is moved intermittently while the reduced reticle is moved. Exposure is performed by projecting a turn for each chip.
A number of projection operations equal to the number of hundreds of chips are required, and the time required for the entire exposure is the product of the projection time for one chip and the number of chips formed on the wafer.

Therefore, as the number of chips formed on the wafer increases, the exposure work time increases, and the exposure work can be performed at various stages of the process using IJ lithography technology. , the ratio of exposure work time to the total process time has increased, becoming one of the obstacles to shortening the manufacturing time of semiconductor devices.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to shorten the total exposure time required for reduction projection onto a photomask substrate, and thereby to shorten not only the photolithography technology process but also the manufacturing process time of semiconductor devices. Each technology is provided.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention include:
It will become clear from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Summary of the invention]

A brief overview of typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, two or more reticle pattern imaging systems are installed in a projection exposure apparatus, and these imaging systems form images of the reticle pattern on multiple locations on an object to be exposed, such as a wafer, and simultaneously perform exposure. - From K, the total exposure work time for the object to be exposed can be divided by the number of reticle pattern imaging systems, and from this K, the exposure work time or semiconductor manufacturing time can be shortened. be.

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 shows a front configuration diagram of a projection exposure apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which W indicates a semiconductor wafer as an object to be exposed, and 2 indicates this semiconductor wafer Direction, Y
This is an XY stage that moves intermittently in the directions. 2 The same pattern is formed on both sides of this XY stage 20.
Two reticles 3°4 are held on a table 5. Below these reticles 3.4 are reticles 3.
, 4 are disposed, and imaging optical systems 8, 9 are disposed on the upper side. The illumination systems 6 and 7 illuminate the entire surface of the reticles 3 and 4 using light source lamps 10 and 11 and optical elements not shown. The imaging optical systems 8 and 9 each include three plane mirrors 12.13°14 and 15.16.17.
, one each of concave mirrors 18 and 19 and convex mirrors 20 and 21, each pattern of the reticle 3.4 can be independently projected and imaged onto the wafer W at a reduction ratio of 1=10.

Each imaging optical system 8. LK wobbling imaging pattern PA.

As shown in FIG. 2, pB is set at a position on the plane of the wafer W that is the same in the Y direction and spaced apart by approximately the radial dimension of the wafer W in the X direction.

According to the above configuration, from the reduced patterns PA and PBK of the reticles 3 and 4 projected onto the wafer W, the reticle patterns 3 and 4 are simultaneously exposed on the surface of the wafer W, respectively. Then, when the wafer W is moved by one chip in the X direction (left direction in the figure), each pattern K, p'
are projected next to the FA and PB, and similarly each pattern Pa and ps are exposed simultaneously. Repeat this below,
After moving the wafer W by approximately the radial dimension X, it moves 1 in the Y direction.
After moving by the amount of the chip, the same exposure is completed while moving intermittently in the right X direction. As a result, as shown in Figure 2,
The pattern of the reticle 3 is exposed on the right half of the wafer W, and the pattern of the reticle 4 is exposed on the left half.

Therefore, according to this projection exposure apparatus, two chips are exposed simultaneously on the wafer W, and the exposure of a pattern corresponding to all the chips becomes half of the total number of chips. As a result, the pattern exposure time for the same number of chips can be half that of the conventional method, and the time required for photolithography, semiconductor manufacturing process, or semiconductor manufacturing process can be shortened accordingly.

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 3 shows a front configuration diagram of a projection exposure apparatus which is another embodiment of the present invention. The projection exposure apparatus 30 of this embodiment has one reticle 31 and one illumination system 32 for illuminating the reticle, while two imaging optical systems 33.3 are arranged close to each other.
4, and the pattern of the same reticle 31 is imaged onto the wafer W by each imaging optical system 33, 34 independently. Plane mirrors 35 and 36 forming each imaging optical system 33 and 34
37, 38, 39, 40, concave mirrors 41 and 42, and convex mirrors 43, 44 are arranged adjacent to each other in the Y direction and slightly shifted in the X direction.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, each imaging optical system 33.
The reduced pattern of the reticle 31 imaged by 34 is
As shown by patterns Pa and Pb in FIG.
The images are respectively formed on the plane at positions that are the same in the X direction and spaced apart by approximately half the size of the wafer in the Y direction. This is K
Therefore, by intermittent movement of the wafer W in the X direction and the Y direction, exposure of the upper and lower halves of the wafer W is completed according to the patterns Pa and Pb, as shown in the figure. In this example as well, since the wafer is exposed two chips at a time,
The exposure time for all chips can be reduced to half of the previous exposure time, achieving a reduction in manufacturing process time.

〔effect〕

(1) A plurality of pattern imaging systems are provided for the exposed object, and each imaged pattern is independently projected onto the exposed object and exposure is performed. It is possible to perform pattern exposure according to the imaging system, and as a result, the time to expose the entire exposed area of the exposed object can be significantly shortened compared to conventional methods, thereby achieving a reduction in semiconductor manufacturing process time. can.

(2) Since the same reticle pattern can be imaged at two different locations on the wafer at the same time using one reticle and two optical systems, exposure of exactly the same pattern can be completed in half the time compared to conventional methods.

(3) Since two pattern imaging systems are integrated into one projection exposure device, the space occupied is reduced compared to when two exposure devices are placed side by side. Cost reduction can be achieved by using elements such as the XY stage and illumination system.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained above based on Examples, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above Examples and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. Nor. For example, by combining the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, it is possible to simultaneously project four patterns onto a wafer, and it is also possible to reduce the exposure time to one fourth. be. Also,
A configuration in which more patterns than that are exposed simultaneously is also possible. Note that the configuration of the imaging optical system is not limited to the mirror optical system of the embodiment, but may be an optical system using lenses.

[Application field]

In the above explanation, the invention, which was made attributable to the present inventor, has mainly been explained in relation to the field of application in which it is applied, which is projection exposure of a reticle pattern onto a wafer in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices. Rather, it can be applied to projection exposure onto photomask substrates and other photolithography techniques in general.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a front configuration diagram of a projection exposure apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of a wafer for explaining the exposure method, and Fig. 3 is a projection exposure apparatus which is another embodiment of the invention. A front configuration diagram of the apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a wafer plan view for explaining the exposure method. 1... Projection exposure device, 2... XY stage, 3, 4
... Reticle, 6,7... Illumination system, 8,9... Imaging optical system, 30... Projection exposure device, 31... Reticle, 32... Illumination system, 33.34. ...imaging optical system,
W...Wafer, PA, PA, PB, PB',
Pa, Pb ・” Projection pattern. Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 βi

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a projection exposure apparatus for projecting and exposing a reduced reticle pattern onto an object to be exposed, a plurality of reticle pattern imaging systems are provided, and each pattern imaging system is provided on the object to be exposed. 1. A projection exposure apparatus characterized in that the projection exposure apparatus is configured to be able to independently project and expose reticle patterns according to the invention. 2. The projection exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pattern imaging system includes a plurality of reticles and a projection optical system provided corresponding to each reticle. 3. The projection exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pattern imaging system includes one reticle and a plurality of projection optical systems each independently forming a pattern image on the reticle.