Laser machining apparatus and method of the same

Abstract: A laser machining apparatus includes a laser beam source (1), such as of excimer laser, which produces a laser beam to be projected on a work piece or a sample (13), first and second illumination light sources (16, 17) which have wavelengths substantially equal to the wavelength of the laser beam and illuminate the entire image and the laser beam, respectively, a first beam splitter (17) which guides the image produced by the illumination light to an observation unit, a second beam splitter (10) which guides the laser beam from the laser beam source to an objective lens, and a controller which controls the machining condition including the relative positioning between the sample and the laser beam depending on the result of observation. The laser beam guide path structure from the laser beam source to the sample has its interior wall (63) made of laser-transparent material such as glass, and the transparent material is enclosed by a laser blocking material (67, 68) such as a metal or water.

Description: The present invention relates to the technology of high-power laser application apparatus such as laser machining apparatus and a method of the same. More particularly, the invention relates to laser machining apparatus, laser lithography apparatus, and a method thereof using an excimer laser beam with a wavelength of invisible vacuum ultraviolet rays. A conventional laser machining apparatus has the observation wavelength made different from the wavelength of the machining laser beam, as described in a Japanese literature "Laser Machining", pp. 84-85, by Susumu Nanba, et al., published on Nov. 30, 1972 by Nikkan Kogyo Shinbun. and in JP-A-58-135788 Fig. 2 is the most simplified illustration of the conventional laser machining apparatus. In the figure, a near infrared light beam with a 1.06 µm wavelength produced by a laser oscillator 31 is reflected by a mirror 32 which reflects the laser and transmits the visible light, and guided to an objective lens 33 by which the laser beam is focused on a work piece 34 placed on a table 35 so that it is machined. For the observation of machining, the image of the work piece 34 received by the objective lens 33 is transmitted through the mirror 32 and focused on the operator's eye by an objective lens 36 so that the operator adjusts the laser beam to maintain the machining accuracy. However, the conventional technique uses different wavelengths for the machining laser beam and observation light, and therefore color matching is needed for the objective lens or a compensation for color matching by some means is required for accurate observation, compare f.e. JP-A-62-212 091. Various application techniques of the excimer laser, which include excimer doping of semiconductor, thin film formation and laser fabrication, pertaining to this invention are disclosed in Japanese publication "Machine Tool Series, Laser Machining", pp. 135-154, which is a separate issue of "Applied Mechanics", published on Sept. 10, 1990. The frontier technology of excimer laser is introduced in publication "Precision Engineering" (JSPE), by Ueda, No. 5, pp. 837-840, published in 1989, and the current topics and prospect of submicron lithography based on excimer laser is introduced in "Applied Physics", Vol. 56, No. 9, pp. 44-48, published in 1987. The present invention is intended to solve the foregoing problem, and its object is to provide a laser machining apparatus and a method thereof which enable the observation of machining even in the case of using a laser source with a wavelength far from the visible wavelength range, while accomplishing high-accuracy machining. This object is achieved according to the invention by an an apparatus as defined in claim 1 and by a method as defined in claim 15. Advantageous embodiments are mentioned in dependent claims 2 to 14 and 16. In the present invention, the machining wavelength and observation wavelength are made equal so that there is no displacement between the machining focal position and the observation image position, and consequently accurate positioning and accurate machining are possible. Because of the use of the same wavelength, color matching for the machining objective lens is not needed, which facilitates the design of optical system, particularly for invisible ultraviolet and infrared rays, and it becomes possible to accomplish a high-precision machining optical system in the range of vacuum ultraviolet rays that has scarcely been attempted in the past due to the severe restriction in the availability of material for the optical system. Through proximity color matching, instead of the equal one, a laser machining optical system that has been difficult, if not impossible, in the past can be accomplished. In the following, embodiments of the invention in relation to the drawings are described. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an arrangement of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a basic structure of a conventional laser machining apparatus; Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are diagrams showing an observation system of the apparatus based on other embodiments of the present invention; Figs. 5A-5C are diagrams showing individual beam processing modules according to embodiments of the present invention; Fig. 6, Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 are diagrams showing the arrangements of the laser beam shaping units used in the inventive apparatus, each figure showing by model the light path on the cross section of the unit. An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 1. A vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) laser beam 2 with a wavelength of 193 nm produced by an excimer laser oscillator 1 is shaped to have a rectangular cross section by a beam shaper 3, adjusted for its transmission power by a transmittance filter 4, adjusted for its power density through enlargement or reduction of the beam size by a zoom optical system 5, uniformed for the beam intensity distortion by a beam integrator 6, reflected in its 85% proportion by a first splitter 7, and directed to a rectangular aperture slit 8. The laser beam 9 shaped by the rectangular aperture slit 8 has its 85% component transmitted by a second split filter 10 and is incident on an objective lens 11 which is tuned to a 193 nm wavelength. The objective lens 11 projects the laser beam with the shape of the rectangular aperture slit 8 on a work piece 13 placed on an XYZ fine movement table set 12, and the work piece 13 is machined. The 15% laser beam component which transmits the first splitter 7 is absorbed by a first beam damper 14. The 15% laser beam component reflected by the second splitter 10, out of the laser beam 9, is absorbed by a second beam damper 15. A heavy hydrogen lamp 16, which illuminates the rectangular aperture slit 8 to produce a projection image, has its output light conducted through the first splitter 7, rectangular aperture slit 8 and second splitter 10, and converged by the objective lens 11 and projected on the work piece 13. A heavy hydrogen lamp 17 for general illumination has its 50% component of light output reflected by a third splitter 18, and is further reflected for its 15% component by the second splitter 10 and projected on to the work piece 13 through the objective lens 11. These images of work piece and slit are collected by the objective lens 11, reflected by the second splitter 10, transmitted by the third splitter 18, and focused by a focusing lens 19 on a light-sensitive screen 21 of a ultraviolet image pickup tube 20. The image pickup tube 20 converts the image into an electrical signal, which is processed by an image signal processor 21, and a resultant observation image is displayed on a display unit 22. In this manner, the laser beam for machining and the light for observation have the same wavelength, and accordingly there arises no displacement between their images and the work piece is machined accurately. The objective lens 11 is tuned to a single color of 193 nm, which eliminates the difficulty of color matching between the vacuum ultraviolet rays (193 nm) and another color such as color of a visible light and facilitates the development of high-performance lenses. In Fig. 1, the structure and component parts enclosed by the dot-dash line are accommodated in a hermetically sealed enclosure which will be explained in detail in the following embodiments. Although the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 is pertinent to a vacuum ultraviolet laser machining apparatus, it is apparently applicable also to a visible laser and infrared laser machining apparatus. By choosing the lens system and observation system appropriately, it is apparently applicable also to a soft X-ray machining apparatus. In the case of focal plane machining such as steel plate machining for example, the illumination lamp 16 and aperture slot 8 in the foregoing arrangement are unnecessary. Fig. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention pertinent to the observation system of the laser machining apparatus. The image of the work piece provided by the focusing lens 19 is received by the light sensitive screen 24 of a ultraviolet image intensifier 23 so that the resulting visible light image can be observed directly by the eye 26 of the operator through an eyepiece lens 25. In this case, the controller and display unit can be eliminated. Owing to a large electrical amplification, even a faint observation image can fairly be seen. Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the observation system. The image of the work piece provided by the focusing lens is received by the light sensitive screen 24 of a ultraviolet image intensifier 23 having a 60 dB amplification, and the resultant visible light image is focused by a relay lens 27 on the light sensitive screen 29 of an image pickup tube 28, which converts the image into an electrical signal. The image signal is processed by an image signal processor 21, which displays a resultant observation image on a display unit 22. This system is capable of eliminating the background noise, and a faint image of work piece can be seen at high resolution. By providing an image emphasizing module 30 in the image signal processor 21, the quality of image can further be improved. Figs. 5A-5C show embodiments of individual sections of the inventive apparatus. Fig. 5A shows the beam shaper 3 and transmittance filter 4. The beam shaper 3 is made up of a convex bar lens and a concave bar lens. It receives a laser beam with a 30-by-10 mm rectangular cross section to produce a laser beam with a 10-by-10 mm square cross section, so that the rear-stage optical system can be simplified. The transmittance filter is an alignment of mirrors 43 of dielectric materials with transmittances of 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 50% and 100% tuned to the 193 nm wavelength. The filter can be set to use a section of an intended transmittance thereby to adjust the intensity of laser beam so that a wide range of machining condition can be covered. The reflected unwanted laser beam is directed to a beam damper 44 and absorbed by it. Fig. 5B shows the zoom optical system 5. The system operates to vary the magnification from 1/2 to 2 for the incident image by moving a lens suite 45, allowing arbitrary setting of the laser power density from 1/4 to 4 fold, and the range of machining condition can further be expanded. Fig. 5C shows an embodiment of the structure of the beam integrator 6. The arrangement includes an alignment of seven small convex bar lenses 46, which is followed by a pair of large convex bar lenses 47, so that a uniformed laser beam is collimated. The resulting beam intensity distribution is within a range of plus/minus several percent, and it contributes significantly to uniform machining. Fig. 6 shows, as a first example, the arrangement of the laser beam shaper which is used for the function of the aperture slit 8 in the foregoing embodiment. The figure shows by model a cross section of the device, with the light path being illustrated in it. A parallel laser beam 51 is projected downwardly in the Figure along the optical axis Z-Z. A slit member 52 is disposed perpendicularly to the optical axis Z-Z. The slit member 52 has an aperture 52a having an intended shape, with its peripheral section 52b being formed to function as a prism. The prism section 52b has an upper surface (the side exposed to the laser beam 51) which is a plane orthogonal to the optical axis Z-Z, and has a lower surface which is tapered to form a knife edge around the aperture 52a. The slit member 52 is made of a material which is transparent for the laser beam. Specifically, a material is chosen depending on the wavelength of the laser beam, and it is preferably an optical glass, fusion quartz or synthesized quartz in dealing with a laser beam ranging between near infrared and ultraviolet rays. A beam component, out of the laser beam 51, which enters the aperture 52a of the slit member 52 is formed into a laser beam 53 having the same cross-sectional shape as the aperture 52a. The remaining portion of the laser beam 51, which is incident on the prism section 52c, is refracted by the prism and steered away from the optical axis Z-Z as a refracted laser beam 54. Since the slit member 52 does not block the laser beam, but it merely refracts or transmits the laser beam, it scarcely absorbs energy of the laser beam, and its wear caused by the laser beam is little enough to be neglected practically. This embodiment produces a laser beam 53 having an intended cross-sectional shape, and yet prevents the beam shaping device from wearing. Fig. 7 shows a modification of the embodiment shown in Fig. 6. Like component parts in these Figures are referred to by the common symbols. The modified arrangement differs from the counterpart of Fig. 6 as follows. The slit member 52 has its upper surface (the side exposed to the laser beam 51) tapered to form a prism section 52c. This means that the tapered section has a certain angle with the imaginary plane which is orthogonal to the optical axis Z-Z of the laser beam 51. Accordingly, part of the laser beam 51 reflected on the upper surface 52c-l of the prism does not go back to the laser source along the optical axis Z-Z, and it does not adversely affect the operation of the laser sourcing oscillator. Fig. 8 shows another modification. A slit member 52 is disposed on the light path of the laser beam 51 which is directed downwardly in the Figure along the optical axis Z-Z. The main light path of the laser beam 51 is enclosed by a cylindrical enclosure or casing 55. The Figure shows only the right half portion of the structure which is symmetrical with respect to the optical axis Z-Z. The casing includes a window 56 at the position where the laser beam 54 refracted by the prism section 52c hits, with a laser absorber 57 being attached to the exterior wall to cover the window 56. The laser absorber 57 is provided with heat dissipation fins 58 in this embodiment. The laser beam 54 refracted by the prism section 52c enters the laser absorber 57 through the window 56, and energy possessed by the laser beam is transformed into heat. The slit member in this modification arranged as explained above is transparent for the laser beam and it lets the laser beam transmit through it. Accordingly, the slit member scarcely absorbs energy of the laser beam and it does not wear. The laser beam which enters the aperture of the slit member is shaped to have the same cross section as the aperture, and the rest of the laser beam which is incident on the peripheral prism section is refracted and steered away from the main light path. It becomes possible to shape, as intended, the laser beam with a high power density, and this scheme is advantageous for LSI wiring and mask modification machining which necessitate the projection machining optical system.

Claims: A laser machining apparatus comprising a laser source (1) which produces a laser beam (2); mirror means (7) for reflecting the laser beam thereby to vary a light path of the laser beam; objective lens means (11) for converging the laser beam reflected by said mirror means and projecting the laser beam on to a work piece (13); first illumination light means (17) for producing illumination light for illuminating the entireness of said work piece through said objective lens means; a first beam splitter (10) which receives an image of said illuminated work piece through said objective lens means and reflects the image thereby to vary a light path of the image; beam absorbing means (15) for absorbing the laser beam reflected by said first beam splitter (10); and observation means (19-27) for focusing the image reflected by said first beam splitter thereby to display the image, characterized in that said laser beam (2) produced by said laser source (1) and said illumination light produced by said illumination light means (17) being set to have wavelengths determined to be equal to each other. A laser machining apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising beam shaping means (8) disposed between said mirror means (7) and said objective lens means (11), said beam shaping means shaping the laser beam to have a desired shape; second illumination light means (16) for producing second illumination light for illuminating a beam image of said beam shaping means thereby to produce a projection image; and second beam absorbing means (14) for absorbing the laser beam which transmits said mirror means, said mirror means being formed of a second beam splitter (7). A laser machining apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said beam splitter (7) has proportions of splitting for said laser beam and said observation light ranging from 5%-to-90% to 30%-to-70%. A laser machining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said laser beam (2) has a wavelength of invisible light range. A laser machining apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said observation means (19-27) comprises an infrared imaging tube (20). A laser machining apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said observation means (19-27) comprises an image intensifier (23). A laser machining apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said image intensifier (23) has a resultant image thereof imaged with said infrared imaging tube (20). A laser machining apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said observation means (19-27) comprises an image processor (21) which implements such signal processings as multiplication and background noise removal for an image signal produced by said infrared imaging tube (20). A laser machining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said laser source (1) is tuned to a vacuum ultraviolet range, and wherein an optical enclosure is filled with inert gas. A laser machining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said wavelength is an wavelength of vacuum ultraviolet rays. A laser machining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said wavelength is an wavelength of far-infrared rays. A laser machining apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said wavelength is an wavelength of soft X rays. A laser machining apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said beam shaping means comprises a slit member (8, 52) made of laser beam refracting material and disposed on the light path of the laser beam (51), said slit member blocking an unnecessary portion of the laser beam thereby to shape the laser beam to have a desired cross-sectional shape. A laser machining apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said beam shaping means comprises a slit plate member (8,52) made of laser beam transmitting material and disposed on the light path of the laser beam (51), and a prism section (52b, 52c) which is formed in the periphery of said slit (52a) and tapered toward the inside of said slit, said slit plate member and said prism section blocking the peripheral portion of the laser beam thereby to shape the laser beam to have a desired cross-sectional shape. A laser machining method of machining a work piece comprising the steps of: generating an observation light beam having the same wavelength as the wavelength of a laser beam which is projected on the work piece (13); observing the work piece through an objective lens (11) which is tuned to the color of said wavelength; and controlling operating parameters between the work piece and the laser beam depending on the result of observation so that the work piece is machined accurately through the projection of the laser beam through said objective lens. A laser machining method according to claim 15, wherein said wavelength is of vacuum ultraviolet rays.

Inventors: HONGO MIKIO, KATAYAMA KAORU, MARUYAMA SHIGENOBU, MERA KAZUO, MIYAUCHI TATEOKI, MIZUKOSHI KATSUROU, MORITA KOYO, SAKAMOTO HARUHISA, SUZUKI MINORU, HONGO, MIKIO, KATAYAMA, KAORU, MARUYAMA, SHIGENOBU, MERA, KAZUO, MIYAUCHI, TATEOKI, MIZUKOSHI, KATSUROU, MORITA, KOYO, SAKAMOTO, HARUHISA, SUZUKI, MINORU
Applicants: HITACHI LTD, HITACHI, LTD.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: B23K26
IPC codes: B23K26