Tokyo Electron Limited

Makoto Hayakawa

Hiroshi Tomita

Takuya Mori

Tatsuhei Yoshida

Akira Miyata

Shinichi Hayashi

Nobuaki Matsuoka

Suguru Enokida

Seiji Nagahara

Masaru Tomono

Ryo Shimada

Teruhiko Moriya

Norihisa Koga

Tadashi Nishiyama

Kazuya Hisano

A substrate inspection method in a substrate treatment system including a plurality of treatment apparatuses each performing a predetermined treatment on a substrate, includes: imaging a surface of a substrate before being treated in the treatment apparatuses to acquire a first substrate image; extracting a predetermined feature amount from the first substrate image; selecting an inspection recipe corresponding to the feature amount extracted from the first substrate image, from a storage unit in which a plurality of inspection recipes each set corresponding to the feature amount in a different range are stored; imaging the surface of the substrate after being treated in the treatment apparatuses to acquire a second substrate image; and determining presence or absence of a defect of the substrate, based on the selected inspection recipe and the second substrate image.

Substrate inspection method, substrate treatment system, and computer storage medium

An optical processing apparatus includes: a housing; a stage; and a light irradiation unit configured to cause a light source unit to emit light so as to form a strip-like irradiation area extending over an area wider than a width of a substrate in a right and left direction. The stage and the light irradiation unit are moved by a moving mechanism relatively to each other in a back and forth direction. Light emitted from the light irradiation unit is deviated by a light-path changing unit from a relative movement area of a substrate. When a substrate is relatively moved below the light irradiation unit without the intension of being subjected to a light irradiation process, a control unit outputs a control signal such that an irradiation area is not formed on a surface of the substrate by the light-path changing unit, while the light source unit emitting light.

Optical processing apparatus and substrate processing apparatus

An exposure apparatus includes a stage on which a substrate is placed, a plurality of light irradiation units configured to emit light independently of each other to different positions in a right and left direction on a surface of the substrate, so as to form a strip-like irradiation area extending from one end of the surface of the substrate to the other end of the substrate, a stage moving mechanism configured to move the stage in a back and forth direction relative to the irradiation area, such that the whole surface of the substrate is exposed, and a light receiving unit configured move in the irradiation area between one end and the other end of the irradiation area in order to detect an illuminance distribution of the irradiation area in a longitudinal direction of the irradiation area.

Exposure apparatus, exposure apparatus adjustment method and storage medium

A method of inspecting a substrate to be repeatedly treated along a predetermined transfer way in a plurality of kinds of different treatment apparatuses, includes: imaging a substrate that has been treated in one of the treatment apparatuses, to acquire a first substrate image; imaging a substrate that has been an object for imaging the first substrate image and further treated in another treatment apparatus different from the one treatment apparatus after treated in the one treatment apparatus, to acquire a second substrate image; then performing defect inspection, based on the first substrate image and the second substrate image; and identifying, depending on whether or not a defect detected from the second substrate image is not detected from the first substrate image, whether or not the defect is caused by a treatment after the first substrate image is acquired and a treatment before the second substrate image is acquired.

Substrate inspection method, computer storage medium and substrate inspection apparatus

The method includes a step of executing a rotation treatment in a rotation treatment apparatus; a step of imaging a substrate on which the rotation treatment has been executed, in an inspection apparatus; a step of acquiring change amount information stored in advance, being information on an amount of change in orientation of the substrate while the substrate is moved from the rotation treatment apparatus to the inspection apparatus; a step of acquiring, as an execution result information, information on an execution result of the rotation treatment along a circumferential direction of the substrate, based on an imaging result in the inspection apparatus; and a step of correcting a position of the substrate at a time of the rotation treatment, based on the change amount information and the execution result information.

Substrate position adjustment method, storage medium and substrate treatment system

In one embodiment, a coating and developing apparatus includes a processing block having two early-stage coating unit blocks, two later-stage coating unit blocks and two developing unit blocks, each unit blocks being vertically stacked on each other, The apparatus has at least two operation modes Mand Madapted for abnormality. In mode Mthe processing module that processed the abnormal substrate in the developing unit blocks is identified, and subsequent substrates are transported to the processing module or modules, of the same type as the identified processing module, other than the identified processing module. In mode Mthe developing unit block that processed the abnormal substrate is identified, and subsequent substrates are transported to the developing unit block other than the identified developing unit block.

Coating and developing apparatus and method

In one embodiment, a substrate inspection apparatus performs, in its maintenance mode, operations including: guiding a light emitted from an illuminating unit to an imaging device via a light-guiding member disposed in a casing; judging whether or not a level of a brightness signal obtained by the imaging device falls within a predetermined allowable range when a light emitted from the illuminating unit falls on the imaging device via the light-guiding member; and alarming, if it is judged that the value of the brightness signal is out of the predetermined allowable range, that replacement of the illuminating unit is required.

Substrate inspection apparatus and method for operating the same

A coating and developing treatment apparatus includes a substrate transfer mechanism; and a defect inspection section. A transfer control part controls transfer of a substrate. A defect classification part classifies a defect based on the state of the defect. A storage part stores a transfer route of the substrate by the substrate transfer mechanism when the substrate has been treated by treatment sections. A defective treatment specification part specifies, based on a kind of the defect classified by the defect classification part and the transfer route of the substrate stored in the storage part, a treatment section which is a cause of occurrence of the classified defect, and judges presence or absence of an abnormality of the specified treatment section. The transfer control part controls the substrate transfer mechanism to transfer a substrate bypassing the treatment section which has been judged to be abnormal by the defective treatment specification part.

Substrate treatment apparatus, method of transferring substrate, and non-transitory computer storage medium

In one embodiment, a coating and developing apparatus includes a processing block having two early-stage coating unit blocks, two later-stage coating unit blocks and two developing unit blocks, each unit blocks being vertically stacked on each other. The apparatus has at least two operation modes Mand Madapted for abnormality. In mode Mthe processing module that processed the abnormal substrate in the developing unit blocks is identified, and subsequent substrates are transported to the processing module or modules, of the same type as the identified processing module, other than the identified processing module. In mode M, the developing unit block that processed the abnormal substrate is identified, and subsequent substrates are transported to the developing unit block other than the identified developing unit block.

In the present invention, an image of a substrate is picked up by an image pickup unit with the substrate being held by a transfer member. A drive unit for the transfer member is controlled by a driving signal from a first controller. A driving signal outputted to the first controller is outputted also to a second controller so that the second controller controls the image pickup unit based on the driving signal, thereby synchronizing drive of the transfer member with the image pickup by the image pickup unit. According to the present invention, the throughput in performing a defect inspection for the substrate is improved and a precise image is captured and subjected to accurate inspection.

Defect inspection method, defect inspection system, and computer readable storage medium

In the present invention, an image pickup device moving by drive of a drive unit picks up an image of a substrate on a mounting table. The drive unit is controlled by a driving signal from a first controller. The driving signal outputted to the first controller is outputted also to a second controller, so that the second controller controls the image pickup device based on the driving signal. The movement of the image pickup device itself is synchronized with the image pickup by the image pickup device. According to the present invention, at the time when the mounting table mounting the substrate thereon and the image pickup device are relatively moved to capture the image of the substrate, a precise image without image distortion can be captured for accurate inspection.

Defect inspection method, defect inspection apparatus having a mounting table with a substrate thereon and an image pickup device are relatively moved for capturing the image of the substrate, and computer readable storage medium storing a program for performing the method

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Koshi, Japan

Makoto Hayakawa