Tokyo Electron Limited

Koki Nishimuko

Kunie Ogata

Hiroshi Tomita

Yoshio Kimura

Michio Tanaka

Ryouichi Uemura

A resist pattern forming method using a coating and developing apparatus and an aligner being connected thereto which are controlled to form a resist film on a surface of a substrate with a base film and a base pattern formed thereon, followed by inspecting at least one of a plurality of measurement items selected from: reflection ratio and film thickness of the base film and the resist film, line width after a development, an accuracy that the base pattern matches with a resist pattern, a defect on the surface after the development, etc. A parameter subject to amendment is selected based on corresponding data of each measurement item, such as the film thickness of the resist and the line width after the development, and amendment of the parameter is performed. This results in a reduced workload of an operator, and the appropriate amendment can be performed.

Substrate processing method and apparatus

Resist pattern forming method

A resist pattern forming apparatus comprising a controller having a controlling portion that controls a processing of a coating and developing apparatus with a coating unit and a developing unit being provided therewith and an aligner being connected thereto, while an inspecting portion and the like measures at least one of a plurality of measurement items selected from, a reflection ratio and a film thickness of a base film and a resist film, a line width after the development, an accuracy that the base film matches with a resist pattern, a defect after the development, and so on. The measured data is transmitted to the controller. At the controller, a parameter subject to an amendment is selected based on the corresponding data of each of the measurement item such as the film thickness of the resist and the line width after the development, and the amendment of the parameters subject to the amendment is performed. As a result, the amending operation is facilitated by a reduced workload of an operator and in the same time, the appropriate amendment can be performed.

Resist pattern forming apparatus and method thereof

A resist pattern forming method using a coating and developing apparatus and an aligner being connected thereto which are controlled to form a resist film on a surface of a substrate with a base film and a base pattern formed thereon, followed by inspecting at least one of a plurality of measurement items selected from: reflection ratio and film thickness of the base film and the resist film, line width after a development, an accuracy that the base pattern matches with a resist pattern, a defect on the surface after the development, etc. A parameter subject to amendment is selected based on corresponding data of each measurement item, such as the film thickness of the resist and the line width after the development, and amendment of the parameter is performed. This results in a reduced workload of an operator, and an appropriate amendment can be performed.

Inspection equipment for detecting defects in a wafer is provided in a coating and developing system including a plurality of kinds of processing units for performing processing necessary for coating a wafer with a resist and processing necessary for developing the resist on the wafer. The transfer of the wafer between the processing units and the inspection equipment is performed by means of a main transfer device. The inspection equipment sends an inspection result as a detection signal to a controller, and the controller which receives the detection signal controls exposure conditions for an aligner according to the presence or absence of defects and adjusts a frequency regulating mechanism to control inspection frequency. The wafer is transferred between the processing units and the inspection equipment by the main transfer device, whereby the wafer is not artificially contaminated.

Processing apparatus for coating substrate with resist and developing exposed resist including inspection equipment for inspecting substrate and processing method thereof

Growing community of inventors

Kikuchi-gun, Japan

Koki Nishimuko