Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7878755?dq=%22melissa+white%22
Timestamp: 2015-02-01 22:50:02
Document Index: 245771775

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 2004', 'Application No. 2004', 'Application No. 10', 'Application No. 2004', 'Application No. 2004100326869', 'Application No. 200401159', 'Application No. 093106320']

Patent US7878755 - Load lock and method for transferring objects - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsA load lock is constructed and arranged to transfer a substrate between a first environment and a second environment and to maintain each of the first environment and the second environment therein. The load lock includes a load lock chamber provided with at least two mutually distinct substrate supports...http://www.google.com/patents/US7878755?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7878755 - Load lock and method for transferring objectsAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7878755 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 12/068,072Publication dateFeb 1, 2011Filing dateFeb 1, 2008Priority dateMar 11, 2003Also published asCN1570761A, CN100533269C, US7359031, US20040263823, US20080138177Publication number068072, 12068072, US 7878755 B2, US 7878755B2, US-B2-7878755, US7878755 B2, US7878755B2InventorsAlbert Jan Hendrik Klomp, Jan Frederik Hoogkamp, Josephus Cornelius Johannes Antonius Vugts, Robert Gordon Livesey, Johannes Hendrikus Gertrudis FranssenOriginal AssigneeAsml Netherlands B.V.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (114), Non-Patent Citations (29), Referenced by (2), Classifications (14), Legal Events (1) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetLoad lock and method for transferring objectsUS 7878755 B2Abstract A load lock is constructed and arranged to transfer a substrate between a first environment and a second environment and to maintain each of the first environment and the second environment therein. The load lock includes a load lock chamber provided with at least two mutually distinct substrate supports positioned one above the other. Each of the substrate supports includes a substrate displacement element. The load lock also includes an evacuation device constructed and arranged to evacuate the load lock chamber, and a door constructed and arranged to close the load lock chamber during evacuation and for opening the load lock chamber.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/797,725, filed Mar. 11, 2004 (that issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,359,031 on Apr. 15, 2008), the entire contents of which are both incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD The present invention relates to a lithographic projection assembly. In particular, the present invention relates to a lithographic projection assembly comprising an object handler comprising a handler chamber and a lithographic projection apparatus comprising a projection chamber, wherein the projection chamber and the handler chamber can communicate for transferring objects to be processed from the handler chamber to the projection chamber and vice versa, the objects being in particular substrates such as silicon wafers or patterning devices such as masks or reticles.
SUMMARY A lithographic projection apparatus typically comprises in general: a radiation system for supplying a projection beam of radiation; a support structure for supporting patterning device, the patterning device serving to pattern the projection beam according to a desired pattern; a substrate table for holding a substrate; and a projection system for projecting the patterned beam onto a target portion of the substrate.
Lithographic projection apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In such a case, the patterning device may generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (e.g. comprising one or more dies) on a substrate (silicon wafer) that has been coated with a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). In general, a single wafer will contain a whole network of adjacent target portions that are successively irradiated via the projection system, one at a time. In current apparatus, employing patterning by a mask on a mask table, a distinction can be made between two different types of machine. In one type of lithographic projection apparatus, each target portion is irradiated by exposing the entire mask pattern onto the target portion in one go; such an apparatus is commonly referred to as a wafer stepper or step-and-repeat apparatus. In an alternative apparatus�commonly referred to as a step-and-scan apparatus�each target portion is irradiated by progressively scanning the mask pattern under the projection beam in a given reference direction (the �scanning� direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate table parallel or anti-parallel to this direction; since, in general, the projection system will have a magnification factor M (generally <1), the speed V at which the substrate table is scanned will be a factor M times that at which the mask table is scanned. More information with regard to lithographic devices as here described can be gleaned, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,792.
In a manufacturing process using a lithographic projection apparatus, a pattern (e.g. in a mask) is imaged onto a substrate that is at least partially covered by a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). Prior to this imaging step, the substrate may undergo various procedures, such as priming, resist coating and a soft bake. After exposure, the substrate may be subjected to other procedures, such as a post-exposure bake (PEB), development, a hard bake and measurement/inspection of the imaged features. This array of procedures is used as a basis to pattern an individual layer of a device, e.g. an IC. Such a patterned layer may then undergo various processes such as etching, ion-implantation (doping), metallization, oxidation, chemo-mechanical polishing, etc., all intended to finish off an individual layer. If several layers are needed, then the whole procedure or a variant thereof, will have to be repeated for each new layer. Eventually, an array of devices will be present on the substrate (wafer). These devices are then separated from one another by a technique such as dicing or sawing, whence the individual devices can be mounted on a carrier, connected to pins, etc. Further information regarding such processes can be obtained, for example, from the book �Microchip Fabrication: A Practical Guide to Semiconductor Processing�, Third Edition, by Peter van Zant, McGraw Hill Publishing Co., 1997.
For the sake of simplicity, the projection system may hereinafter be referred to as the �lens�; however, this term should be broadly interpreted as encompassing various types of projection system, including refractive optics, reflective optics, and catadioptric systems, for example. The radiation system may also include components operating according to any of these design types for directing, shaping or controlling the projection beam of radiation, and such components may also be referred to below, collectively or singularly, as a �lens�. Further, the lithographic apparatus may be of a type having two or more substrate tables (and/or two or more mask tables). In such �multiple stage� devices the additional tables may be used in parallel, or preparatory steps may be carried out on one or more tables while one or more other tables are being used for exposures. Dual stage lithographic apparatus are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,441 and WO 98/40791.
The support plate of a size about equal to or larger than the object to be supported means that in case of a substrate, the supported side of the substrate is prevented from contact with the gas volume adjacent to the substrate or, when the support plate is a pimpled plate�known as such from the prior art-, the supported side has a limited contact with the gas volume present between the supported side of the substrate, the support plate and the pimples of the support plate. The ceiling plate, which can be a separate plate element arranged in the load lock chamber as well as a wall of the load lock chamber or a flat surface of any element present in the load lock chamber, and also to have a size of about equal to or larger than the substrate in order to be able to minimise the gas volume adjacent to the upper surface of the substrate.
This aspect is achieved according to the invention in a lithographic projection assembly, comprising: at least two load locks for transferring substrates between a first environment and a second environment, the second environment having a lower pressure than the first environment; a substrate handler comprising a handler chamber in which the second environment prevails; a lithographic projection apparatus comprising a projection chamber; the handler chamber and the projection chamber communicating via, on the one hand, a load position for entering a substrate from the handler chamber into the projection chamber and, on the other hand, an unload position for removing a substrate from the projection chamber into the handler chamber�in this respect it is to be noted that the load position and unload position can be one and the same position as well as different positions�; the handler chamber being provided with: a pre-processing device, such as prealignment devices and/or thermal treatment devices, for pre-processing of the substrates; and transport devices adapted for transferring substrates from the load locks to the pre-processing device and from the pre-processing device to the load position as well as for transferring substrates from the unload position to the load locks.
The load locks enable entering substrates from a first environment, for example under atmospheric conditions, to a second environment having a lower pressure than the first environment, the second environment being for example a vacuum, or near vacuum. The second environment prevails in a handler chamber. The handler chamber comprises transport devices for transferring substrates from the load locks to the projection chamber and vice versa. The handler chamber also comprises pre-processing devices, such as pre-alignment devices for accurately positioning the substrate�so that later on in the projection chamber the substrate can be processed with extreme accuracy�, and/or thermal treatment devices for thermal treatment of the substrate to bring it to a predetermined temperature and/or to equalize the temperature across the substrate and/or conditioning the temperature of the substrate. The pre-alignment devices in general contain devices for determining and/or correcting the position of the substrate with respect to a certain reference point. By providing at least two load locks, the throughput of substrates to be processed in the projection apparatus as well as of substrates processed in the projection apparatus is increased, which in turn necessarily increases the number of transport devices, such as the number of robots, or increases the handling speed of the transport device.
According to a further embodiment, the substrate can be thermally treated when the substrate is at the pre-processing device. By this one can advantageously make use of the time needed for pre-alignment�which time is relatively long�for subjecting the substrate to a part or all of the thermal treatment necessary.
This method makes time efficiently use of the at least two load locks�or alternatively of the at least one load lock (see remark in this respect some paragraphs below)�and transport device for operating, for example, for several days continuously, the lithographic projection assembly according to the invention at a relatively large throughput. In case of, for example, stagnation of substrates in the lithographic projection apparatus occurs or in the feed of substrates to be processed to the load locks, the control device will switch from the normal operation mode to the run empty mode. Depending on the circumstances this run empty mode can be operated for a longer time or for a very short time, such as only one venting cycle of one load lock. When the stagnation is solved, the control device can, depending on the circumstances, switch directly to the normal operation mode or to the startup mode, likely later on followed by a switch to the normal operation mode, although a switch back to the run empty mode is also possible, depending on the circumstances. The startup mode and the run empty mode thus do not only occur at a start of a substrate production or at the en of a substrate production, but also during the production. Thus according to a preferred embodiment one or more of the startup mode, the normal operation mode and the run empty mode are repeated in arbitrary order depending on events occurring during the processing of substrates in the lithographic projection assembly.
The lithographic projection assembly according to this aspect of the invention can also operate with only one load lock, i.e. in the claims the phrase �at least two load locks� can be replaced by �at least one load lock�. Some of the advantages of �at least two load locks� will be lost by this replacement, however many of the other advantages apply also in case of �one load lock�.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings in which corresponding reference symbols or numbers indicate corresponding parts, and in which:
DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 schematically depicts a lithographic projection apparatus (LP) according to a particular embodiment of the invention. The description of this drawing is meant to illustrate the various parts of a lithographic projection apparatus. The apparatus comprises: a radiation system Ex, IL, for supplying a projection beam PB of radiation (e.g. EUV radiation). In this particular case, the radiation system also comprises a radiation source LA; a first object table (mask table) MT provided with a mask holder for holding a patterning device, illustrated in the form of the mask MA (e.g. a reticle), and connected to first positioning device PM for accurately positioning the mask with respect to item PL; a second object table (substrate table) WT provided with a substrate holder for holding a substrate W (e.g. a resist-coated silicon wafer), and connected to second positioning device PW for accurately positioning the substrate with respect to item PL; and a projection system (�lens�) PL (e.g. a reflective mirror system) for imaging an irradiated portion of the mask MA onto a target portion C (e.g. comprising one or more dies) of the substrate W.
With FIG. 5 an advantage of two substrate support positions is easily explained. The load lock LL is vented to the first environment and a first substrate 31 has just been delivered to the first substrate support position 14 a, 15 a while a second substrate�coming from the handler chamber HC and thus already present before venting the load lock�is supported on the second substrate support position 14 b, 15 b. From this situation the following operations can take place: move gripper 30 outside the load lock; move support plate 33 and/or ejector pin 34 between themselves in order to let the support plate 33 fully support the substrate 31; move support plate 35 and/or ejector pin 36 between themselves in order to lift the second substrate 32 from the support plate 35; move gripper 30 or possibly a second gripper (not shown) to the second substrate 32 and subsequently let that gripper grab second substrate 32; move gripper 30 with second substrate 32 or possibly the second gripper (not shown) outside the load lock (first environment); close the door 10, 11 and pump down the load lock.
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093106320, dated May 29, 2007.Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS8061949 *Feb 22, 2010Nov 22, 2011Applied Materials, Inc.Multiple slot load lock chamber and method of operationUS20100247274 *Mar 23, 2010Sep 30, 2010Tokyo Electron LimitedSubstrate exchanging mechanism and method of exchanging substrates* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification414/805, 414/217International ClassificationH01L21/677, B65G25/00, H01L21/027, G03F7/20Cooperative ClassificationG03F7/7075, G03F7/70991, G03F7/70975, G03F7/70858European ClassificationG03F7/70P12, G03F7/70P16, G03F7/70N6D, G03F7/70P6Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionFeb 1, 2008ASAssignmentOwner name: ASML NETHERLANDS B.V., NETHERLANDSFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:KLOMP, ALBERT JAN HENDRIK;HOOGKAMP, JAN FREDERIK;VUGTS, JOSEPHUS CORNELIUS JOHANNES ANTONIUS;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:020517/0667;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040707 TO 20040727Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:KLOMP, ALBERT JAN HENDRIK;HOOGKAMP, JAN FREDERIK;VUGTS, JOSEPHUS CORNELIUS JOHANNES ANTONIUS;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040707 TO 20040727;REEL/FRAME:020517/0667RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services