CN113741150B

CN113741150B - Adjustable slit structure and exposure device

Info

Publication number: CN113741150B
Application number: CN202010479610.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张民山
Original assignee: Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-29
Filing date: 2020-05-29
Publication date: 2022-05-03
Anticipated expiration: 2040-05-29
Also published as: CN113741150A

Abstract

The invention provides an adjustable slit structure and an exposure device, wherein the adjustable slit is used for the exposure device, and the exposure device comprises an illumination light source and a projection objective; the adjustable slit structure is arranged between the illumination light source and the projection objective and comprises a guide rail body, a first adjusting unit and at least two shading bodies; the guide rail body is connected with the exposure device, each shading body comprises at least one light-transmitting slit, and the shading bodies are movably connected with the guide rail body; the first adjusting unit is connected with the shading body and is configured to adjust the relative position between the shading bodies so as to control the widths of the at least two adjustable slits; the adjustable slits are illumination fields formed by one of the light-transmitting slits and at least one other of the shading bodies. The adjustable slit structure and the exposure device provided by the invention simplify the dose control flow of the projection objective, the widths of the adjustable slits can be adjusted simultaneously, and the precision of exposure dose control is improved.

Description

Adjustable slit structure and exposure device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of semiconductors, in particular to an adjustable slit structure and an exposure device.

Background

A conventional lithography machine is an apparatus that exposes an image on a mask onto a substrate. The single-view field objective is used, and the accuracy of exposure dose is realized by controlling a shutter switch in the exposure process. This requires precise calibration of the shutter opening and closing times. With the continuous progress and development of the lithography technology, the projection objective lens group is more and more widely used because it can realize the characteristic of a larger exposure area while maintaining good imaging characteristic. As shown in fig. 1A and 1B, the lithographic apparatus includes an illumination source (not shown in fig. 1A and 1B for clarity of illustration, the illumination source being located above a reticle), a mask stage 300 for carrying the reticle 400, projection

objective lens groups

500c and 500d, a workpiece stage 600 for carrying a substrate 700. In an actual lithography process, a plurality of projection

objective lens groups

500c and 500d may be exposed simultaneously, for example, shutters of their respective exposure fields may have different opening/closing times due to mechanical installation errors, motor performance errors, and opening/closing time errors, and actual doses of different exposure fields are not completely consistent, so that the exposure dose of the projection objective lens groups is often controlled to meet actual working condition requirements.

In the prior art, two commonly used solutions are as follows, one of them is to directly change the illumination of the light source, and the uniformity and stability of the solution have insufficient precision in continuous control, and the other one adopts a slit light shielding plate 910 with a light-transmitting slit 911 as shown in fig. 1A, wherein the width of the light-transmitting slit 911 is not adjustable, and during static exposure, the fixed slit control dose needs to change the scanning speed of the slit light shielding plate 910, i.e. the exposure dose is controlled by controlling the movement speed of the fixed slit light shielding plate 910, and the relationship between the exposure dose and the movement speed is as follows:

wherein D is exposure dose, I is luminous flux (illumination intensity) of unit area, D is width of slit, and v is synchronous motion speed of motion platform during scanning exposure; and in static exposure, the moving speed of the slit light shielding plate along the width direction of the light-transmitting slit.

In practical applications, a single slit is not suitable for a multi-objective working condition, and in order to control the exposure dose of the projection objective 500c and the projection objective 500d, two stepping processes are required, and the dose control process is complicated.

In order to reduce the complexity of the dose control process, an improved scheme shown in fig. 1B is proposed on the basis of the foregoing scheme, and a combined control mode of a slit light shielding plate 910 and a slit light shielding plate 920 with two slit light shielding plates is adopted, wherein a light transmitting slit 911 on the slit light shielding plate 910 is used for controlling the exposure dose of the projection objective 500c, a light transmitting slit 921 on the slit light shielding plate 920 is used for controlling the exposure dose of the projection objective 500d, and the two motors respectively move the slit light shielding plate 910 and the slit light shielding plate 920 synchronously to realize the dose control of the

projection objective

500c and 500 d.

Further, in the prior art, by moving the fixed slit light shielding plate, it is difficult to avoid the occurrence of shielding the alignment mark during exposure or shielding the pattern during alignment, so that the shielding stroke is limited. And shielding exists during alignment and exposure, avoidance is needed, and the exposure process needs to be controlled. Moreover, the projection objective should be shielded by the light shielding plate during the shutter opening and closing process to prevent light leakage, so there is a shutter opening and closing time constraint: the shutter opening and closing time is shorter than the ratio of the fast width of the light-shielding baffle to the scanning speed.

It is noted that the information disclosed in this background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the technical problems of complex control flow of exposure dose and low dose control precision of a projection objective group of an exposure device.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an adjustable slit structure and an exposure apparatus.

In order to achieve the first object of the present invention, the present invention provides an adjustable slit structure, which is implemented by the following technical solutions: an adjustable slit structure for an exposure apparatus comprising an illumination source and a projection objective;

the adjustable slit structure is arranged between the illumination light source and the projection objective and comprises a guide rail body, a first adjusting unit and at least two shading bodies movably connected with the guide rail body;

the two shading bodies comprise a first shading body and a second shading body; the first shading body is provided with a first light-transmitting slit, and the second shading body is provided with a second light-transmitting slit;

along a first direction, the first shading body is used for shading the second light-transmitting slit, and the first light-transmitting slit and the second shading body form a first adjustable slit; the second shading body is used for shading the first light-transmitting slit, and the second light-transmitting slit and the first shading body form a second adjustable slit;

the first adjusting unit is connected with the at least two shading bodies and is configured to adjust the relative position between the at least two shading bodies so as to control the widths of the at least two adjustable slits;

wherein the at least two adjustable slits include the first adjustable slit and the second adjustable slit, and the first direction is a beam propagation direction.

Optionally, each light shielding body is further provided with at least one slit control guide rail, and the slit control guide rail is connected to the first adjusting unit and used for guiding the movement of the light shielding body.

Alternatively,

the first adjusting unit is used for adjusting the relative position between the shading bodies so as to control the size of the adjustable slit,

in a second direction, the first adjusting unit is configured to adjust the first light shielding body and the second light shielding body to be away from or close to each other, thereby simultaneously changing widths of the first adjustable slit and the second adjustable slit;

wherein the second direction has a non-zero included angle with the first direction.

Optionally, along the first direction, a side close to the illumination light source is defined as an upper side, a side close to the projection objective is defined as a lower side, the first light shielding body is disposed above the guide rail body, and the second light shielding body is disposed below the guide rail body.

Optionally, the light-transmitting slit penetrates through one end of the light-shielding body along the first direction, and the other end of the light-shielding body is a first blade fixing end;

along the second direction, the first blade opening fixing end of the first shading body is far away from the first blade opening fixing end of the second shading body; along the first direction, a first adjustable slit is formed by the first light-transmitting slit and the first blade fixing end of the second shading body, and a second adjustable slit is formed by the second light-transmitting slit and the first blade fixing end of the first shading body.

Optionally, the first and second adjustable slits have the same width.

Optionally, the shading device further comprises a first knife edge and a second knife edge which are fixedly arranged on the shading body, wherein the first knife edge is fixedly arranged at a first knife edge fixing end, the second knife edge is fixedly arranged at a second knife edge fixing end, and the second knife edge fixing end is far away from the first knife edge fixing end and is positioned on the inner wall of the light-transmitting slit;

the second knife edge arranged on the first shading body and the first knife edge arranged on the second shading body form the first adjustable slit;

the first knife edge arranged on the first shading body and the second knife edge arranged on the second shading body form the second adjustable slit.

Optionally, the shading device further comprises a knife edge fixing piece matched with the knife edge, and the knife edge is detachably fixed on the shading body through the knife edge fixing piece.

Optionally, the light shielding body further comprises a first extending portion and a second extending portion extending along the first direction, the first extending portion is close to the first blade fixing end, and the second extending portion is close to the second blade fixing end;

the first knife edge is fixedly arranged on the first extending part, and the second knife edge is fixedly arranged on the second extending part.

Optionally, in the first direction, when the first adjustable slit is closed, the second blade edge of the first shutter body and the first blade edge of the second shutter body are in contact; when the second adjustable slit is closed, the first blade edge of the first shutter body and the second blade edge of the second shutter body are in contact.

Optionally, the tool further comprises a pressure sensor, wherein the pressure sensor is arranged on the first extension part close to the first knife edge or arranged on the second extension part close to the second knife edge.

Optionally, the first light-shielding body includes a first light-shielding portion and a second light-shielding portion, the first light-shielding portion and the second light-shielding portion are distributed in a comb-tooth shape along a third direction, the first light-transmitting slit is located between the first light-shielding portion and the second light-shielding portion, and one end of the first light-transmitting slit is a first open end;

the second shading body comprises a third shading part and a fourth shading part, the third shading part and the fourth shading part are distributed in a comb-tooth shape along the third direction, the second light-transmitting slit is positioned between the third shading part and the fourth shading part, and the second light-transmitting slit is provided with a second opening end;

the second shading part of the first shading body is embedded into the second light-transmitting slit through the second opening end, and the third shading part of the second shading body is embedded into the first light-transmitting slit through the first opening end;

the width of the first light-transmitting slit is larger than that of the third light-shielding part, and the width of the second light-transmitting slit is larger than that of the second light-shielding part;

the third direction is perpendicular to the second direction, the first direction is perpendicular to a plane formed by the second direction and the third direction, and the first shading body and the second shading body are located at the same height along the first direction;

the guide rail body comprises a first sub-guide rail and a second sub-guide rail which extend along the second direction, and the first shading part and the second shading part are movably arranged between the first sub-guide rail and the second sub-guide rail.

Optionally, the first adjusting unit includes a hall sensor for controlling combined positioning of the first light shielding body and the second light shielding body;

the Hall sensor comprises an inductor body and an induction part, the inductor body is fixed on the exposure device, and the induction part is connected with the first shading body, the second shading body and the guide rail body;

along the second direction, the first shading body and the second shading body can be separated to form a third adjustable slit.

Optionally, the shading device further comprises a sliding fixing component, and the shading body is movably connected with the guide rail body through the sliding fixing component.

Optionally, the adjustable rail further comprises a second adjusting unit, the second adjusting unit is connected with the plurality of guide rail bodies, and the second adjusting unit is used for adjusting the positions of the guide rail bodies so as to change the positions of the plurality of adjustable slits simultaneously.

In order to achieve the second object of the present invention, the present invention further provides an exposure apparatus comprising at least one adjustable slit structure as described in any one of the above.

Optionally, the exposure apparatus includes a lithography apparatus, and the lithography apparatus includes, in order along a beam propagation direction, an illumination light source, a mask stage for carrying a mask plate, a projection objective, and a workpiece stage for carrying a substrate, and the adjustable slit structure is disposed between the illumination light source and the mask stage or between the mask stage and the projection objective.

Compared with the prior art, the adjustable slit structure and the exposure device provided by the invention have the following beneficial effects:

the adjustable slit structure provided by the invention comprises a first adjusting unit, wherein the first adjusting unit is connected with the shading bodies, and the first adjusting unit is configured to adjust the relative position between at least two shading bodies, so that the width of at least two adjustable slits is controlled, the width of double slits can be stably controlled, multiple objective lenses can be synchronously exposed, the dose is controlled, the accuracy is improved, the synchronization performance is ensured, the dose control flow is simplified, and the stepping efficiency is improved. In static exposure, the adjustable slit structure has significant advantages over a fixed slit in dose continuous control accuracy.

Further, according to the adjustable slit structure provided by the invention, along the first direction, one side close to the illumination light source is defined as an upper side, one side close to the projection objective is defined as a lower side, the first shading body is arranged above the guide rail body, the second shading body is arranged below the guide rail body, and the first shading body and the second shading body form a double-layer structure, so that stroke interference does not exist, and the adjustable slit structure is not limited by width.

Still further, the adjustable slit structure provided by the invention further comprises a first knife edge and a second knife edge which are fixedly arranged on the shading body, wherein the first knife edge is fixedly arranged at a first knife edge fixing end, the second knife edge is fixedly arranged at a second knife edge fixing end, and the second knife edge fixing end is far away from the first knife edge fixing end and is positioned on the inner wall of the light-transmitting slit. The first adjustable slit and the second adjustable slit form a knife edge design with high parallelism, and the precision is further improved; the knife edges are detachably connected through the knife edge fixing piece, the integrated design is more advantageous in processing effect, and the parallelism of the double knife edges can be further controlled through the assembling and correcting means.

Still further, in the adjustable slit structure provided by the present invention, the first light-shielding body includes a first light-shielding portion and a second light-shielding portion, the first light-shielding portion and the second light-shielding portion are distributed in a comb-tooth shape along a third direction, the first light-transmitting slit is located between the first light-shielding portion and the second light-shielding portion, and one end of the first light-transmitting slit is a first opening end; the second shading body comprises a third shading part and a fourth shading part, the third shading part and the fourth shading part are distributed in a comb-tooth shape along the third direction, the second light-transmitting slit is positioned between the third shading part and the fourth shading part, and the second light-transmitting slit is provided with a second opening end; the second shading part of the first shading body is embedded into the second light-transmitting slit through the second opening end, and the third shading part of the second shading body is embedded into the first light-transmitting slit through the first opening end. Namely, the first shading body and the second shading body form a double F-shaped single-layer structure, and the penumbra is further optimized and the spatial layout is simplified on the basis of inheriting the advantages of the double-layer structure.

Furthermore, the invention provides an adjustable slit structure, which utilizes a Hall sensor to control the combined positioning and can be separated after the interlocking is removed. In the scanning exposure process, the first light-transmitting slit and the second light-transmitting slit are directly aligned with the mark, so that in the process of flow control, the stroke is shortened, and the yield is improved; due to the variable slit structure, the opening is large, the processing and the calibration are easy, and the path is short when the alignment mark is avoided; under the same shutter performance, a higher synchronous motion speed of the motion platform can be adopted, and the yield is improved.

The exposure device provided by the invention comprises the photoetching equipment, wherein the photoetching equipment comprises an adjustable slit structure, the adjustable slit structure can be arranged between the mask plate and the projection objective, the structure of the traditional photoetching machine is not required to be changed, and the space is saved and the structure is simplified. Moreover, the adjustable slit structure provided by the invention can also be arranged between the illumination light source and the mask plate, so that different users can provide various choices.

Drawings

FIG. 1A is a schematic top view of a prior art lithographic apparatus;

FIG. 1B is a schematic top view of another prior art lithographic apparatus;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a front view (closed state) of an adjustable slit structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a front view (opened state) of an adjustable slit structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an adjustable slit structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic top view (in a closed state) of an adjustable slit structure according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic top view (in an open state) of an adjustable slit structure according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an adjustable slit structure according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention showing a structure of an adjustable slit structure after being de-interlocked;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a lithographic apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

wherein the reference numerals are as follows:

100-adjustable slit structure, 200-illumination light source, 300-mask table, 400-mask plate, 500a, 500b, 500c, 500 d-projection objective lens group, 600-workpiece table, 700-substrate, 800-mask alignment mark, 910, 920-slit shading plate, 911, 921-light-transmitting slit;

110-a first shading body, 111-a first light-transmitting slit, 112-a first shading part, 113-a second shading part;

120-second shading body, 121-second light-transmitting slit, 122-third shading part, 123-fourth shading part;

112. 122-first knife-edge securing end, 114, 124-first extension, 115, 125-second extension, 101, 102-pressure sensor;

131-a first adjustment unit, 131 a-a sensor body, 131b1, 131b2, 131b 3-a sensing part, 140-a rail body, 141-a first sub-rail, 142-a second sub-rail, 151, 152-a slit control rail;

161-first adjustable slit, 162-second adjustable slit, 163-third adjustable slit;

171a, 171 b-first edge, 172a, 172 b-second edge;

181. 182, 183, 184-knife edge holder;

191a, 191b, 192a, 192 b-a sliding fixed component.

Detailed Description

To make the objects, advantages and features of the present invention more apparent, the adjustable slit structure and the exposure apparatus according to the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be noted that the drawings are in a very simplified form and are not to precise scale, which is merely for the purpose of facilitating and distinctly claiming the embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale, showing the particular construction of the invention, and that illustrative features in the drawings, which are used to illustrate certain principles of the invention, may also be somewhat simplified. Specific design features of the invention disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and configurations, will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment. In the embodiments described below, the same reference numerals are used in common between different drawings to denote the same portions or portions having the same functions, and a repetitive description thereof will be omitted. In this specification, like reference numerals and letters are used to designate like items, and therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, further discussion thereof is not required in subsequent drawings.

These terms, as used herein, are interchangeable where appropriate. Similarly, if the method described herein comprises a series of steps, the order in which these steps are presented herein is not necessarily the only order in which these steps may be performed, and some of the described steps may be omitted and/or some other steps not described herein may be added to the method.

< example one >

The embodiment provides an adjustable slit structure for an exposure device, wherein the exposure device comprises an illumination light source and a projection objective; the adjustable slit structure is arranged between the illumination light source and the projection objective and comprises a guide rail body, a first adjusting unit and at least two shading bodies movably connected with the guide rail body; the two shading bodies comprise a first shading body and a second shading body; the first shading body is provided with a first light-transmitting slit, and the second shading body is provided with a second light-transmitting slit; along a first direction, the first shading body is used for shading the second light-transmitting slit, and the first light-transmitting slit and the second shading body form a first adjustable slit; the second shading body is used for shading the first light-transmitting slit, and the second light-transmitting slit and the first shading body form a second adjustable slit; the first adjusting unit is connected with the at least two shading bodies and is configured to adjust the relative position between the at least two shading bodies so as to control the widths of the at least two adjustable slits; wherein the at least two adjustable slits include the first adjustable slit and the second adjustable slit, and the first direction is a beam propagation direction. Preferably, each of the light shielding bodies is further provided with at least one slit control guide rail, and the slit control guide rail is connected with the first adjusting unit and used for guiding the movement of the light shielding body.

Specifically, in one exemplary embodiment, referring to fig. 2 and 3, the adjustable slit structure includes a rail body 140, a first adjusting unit 131, and first and second

light shielding bodies

110 and 120. The guide rail body 140 is connected to the exposure apparatus, and in one embodiment, the guide rail body 140 is fixedly disposed on a main structure of the exposure apparatus.

Preferably, in the present embodiment, the first light shielding body 110 has a first light transmitting slit 111, and the second light shielding body 120 has a second light transmitting slit 121, which obviously is not a limitation of the present invention.

For ease of understanding and description, the direction of propagation of the light beam is defined as a first direction, and the second direction has a non-zero angle with the first direction, preferably 90 ° with the second direction.

Along the first direction, the first light shielding body 110 is used for shielding the second light transmitting slit 121, and the first light transmitting slit 111 and the second light shielding body 120 form a first adjustable slit 161; the second light shielding body 120 is used for shielding the first light transmitting slit 111, and the second light transmitting slit 121 and the first light shielding body 110 form a second adjustable slit 162, so that the first adjustable slit 161 and the second adjustable slit 162 form a double-knife-edge structure, and the dose accuracy can be controlled by the controllable slit structure without affecting the yield.

In the second direction, the first adjusting unit 131 is configured to adjust the first and second

light shielding bodies

110 and 120 to be away from or close to each other, thereby simultaneously changing the widths of the first and second

adjustable slits

161 and 162. Namely: the first light shielding body 110 and the second light shielding body 120 can move back and forth along the guide rail body 140 under the control of the first adjusting unit 131, so as to synchronously change the relative positions of the first light transmitting slit 111 and the second light shielding body 120 in the second direction and the relative positions of the second light transmitting slit 121 and the first light shielding body 110 in the second direction, thereby synchronously adjusting the width of the first adjustable slit 161 and the width of the second adjustable slit 162, not only simplifying the dose control flow and improving the precision; and the synchronous exposure of the double objective lenses can be realized, and the stepping yield is improved. In one embodiment, the first adjusting unit 131 includes a control motor and a sensor.

Preferably, in the first direction, a side close to the illumination light source is defined as an upper side, a side close to the projection objective is defined as a lower side, the first light shielding body 110 is disposed above the rail body 140, and the second light shielding body 120 is disposed below the rail body 140. Along the first direction, the first light shielding body 110 and the second light shielding body 120 form a double-layer structure, which greatly improves the adjustment range of the illumination field.

Further, the light-transmitting slit penetrates through one end of the shading body along the first direction, and the other end of the shading body is a first knife edge fixing end. Specifically, in the second direction, the first aperture fixing end 112 of the first light shielding body 110 is disposed away from the first aperture fixing end 122 of the second light shielding body 120; along the first direction, the first light-transmitting slit 111 and the first slit-fixing end 122 of the second light-shielding body 120 form a first adjustable slit 161, and the second light-transmitting slit 121 and the first slit-fixing end 112 of the first light-shielding body 110 form a second adjustable slit 162.

Preferably, the first light shielding body 110 is provided with a slit control guide rail 151, the second light shielding body 120 is provided with a slit control guide rail 152, and the slit

control guide rails

151 and 152 are connected to the first adjusting unit 131 for guiding the movement of the light shielding bodies, thereby controlling the widths of the first adjustable slit 161 and the second adjustable slit 162.

Preferably, the widths of the first adjustable slit 161 and the second adjustable slit 162 are the same.

In an exemplary embodiment, the adjustable slit structure further includes a first blade and a second blade, which are fixedly disposed on the light shielding body, wherein the first blade is fixedly disposed at a first blade fixing end of the light shielding body, and the second blade is fixedly disposed at a second blade fixing end of the light transmitting slit, wherein the second blade fixing end is far away from the first blade fixing end and is located on an inner wall of the light transmitting slit. Specifically, with continuing reference to fig. 2 and fig. 3, in the present embodiment, the first light shielding body 110 is provided with a first blade 171a and a second blade 172a, wherein the first blade 171a is disposed on the first blade fixing end 112, and the second blade 172a is fixedly disposed on a second blade fixing end (not labeled in the figure), which is far away from the first blade fixing end 112 and is located on the inner wall of the first light-transmitting slit 111. The second light-shielding body 120 is provided with a first blade 171b and a second blade 172b, wherein the first blade 171b is disposed at the first blade fixing end 122, the second blade 172b is fixedly disposed at the second blade fixing end (not shown), and the second blade fixing end is far away from the first blade fixing end 122 and is located on the inner wall of the second light-transmitting slit 121. Further, a second blade 172a provided on the first light shielding body 110 and a first blade 171b provided on the second light shielding body 120 form the first adjustable slit 161; the first blade 171a provided on the first shutter body 110 and the second blade 172b provided on the second shutter body 120 form the second adjustable slit 162. The double-edge design of the first adjustable slit 161 and the second adjustable slit 162 adopts a high-parallelism edge, so that the slit is adjustable, the synchronization performance is guaranteed, the synchronous exposure of the double objectives can be realized, and the stepping yield is improved.

Preferably, the adjustable slit structure further comprises a knife edge fixing piece matched with the knife edge, and the knife edge is detachably fixed on the shading body through the knife edge fixing piece. In this embodiment, the knife

edge fixing members

181 and 182 fix the first knife edge 171a and the second knife edge 172a to the first light shielding body 110, respectively; knife

edge fixing members

183 and 184 fix the first knife edge 171b and the second knife edge 172b to the second light shielding body 120, respectively. The detachable knife edge design reduces the complexity of manufacturing the adjustable slit structure, facilitates the replacement of the knife edge, has more advantages than an integrated design in both the manufacturing stage and the using stage, not only improves the precision, but also saves the manufacturing cost. Furthermore, the relation between the control width of the adjustable slit and the RSCS is calibrated, and the exposure and shielding of the edge with any width can be realized through shutter time sequence control. The variable slit structure is suitable for the field diaphragm at the tail end of the multi-projection objective lens group, the dose continuous control is equivalent to or even superior to the conventional VS, the shutter control precision meets the requirement, and the scanning exposure graph shielding is compatible.

< example two >

The present embodiment provides an adjustable slit structure, and the difference from the first embodiment is that the light shielding body of the adjustable slit structure provided in the present embodiment further has an extension portion. Preferably, the light shielding body further comprises a first extension part and a second extension part extending along the first direction, the first extension part is close to the first blade fixing end, and the second extension part is close to the second blade fixing end; the first knife edge is fixedly arranged on the first extending part, and the second knife edge is fixedly arranged on the second extending part. So that the first light shielding body 110 and the second light shielding body 120 form a stepped structure.

Preferably, in an exemplary embodiment, referring to fig. 4, in the first direction, the first light shielding body 110 includes a first extending portion 114 and a second extending portion 115, wherein the first extending portion 114 is close to the first blade fixing end of the first light shielding body 110, and the second extending portion 115 is close to the second blade fixing end of the first light shielding body 110; the first blade edge 171a is disposed on the first extension 114, and the second blade edge 172a is even on the second extension 115. The second light shielding body 120 comprises a first extension portion 124 and a second extension portion 125, wherein the first extension portion 124 is close to a first blade fixing end of the second light shielding body 120, and the second extension portion 125 is close to the second blade fixing end of the second light shielding body 120; the first blade 171b is disposed on the first extension 124, and the second blade 172b is disposed on the second extension 125.

Preferably, in the first direction, when the first adjustable slit is closed 161, the second blade 172a of the first light shielding body 110 and the first blade 171b of the second light shielding body 120 are in contact; when the second adjustable slit 162 is closed, the first blade edge 171a of the first light shielding body 110 and the second blade edge 172b of the second light shielding body 120 are in contact. Namely, the first extension portion 114 and the second extension portion 125, and the second extension portion 115 and the first extension portion 124 are located at the same height in the first direction. Therefore, the consistency of the knife edge surface can be better ensured, and the collimation requirement on the illumination light source is reduced.

Preferably, in one of the exemplary embodiments, the adjustable slit structure further comprises a pressure sensor disposed on the first extension near the first knife edge or on the second extension near the second knife edge. In this embodiment, two

pressure sensors

101 and 102 are included, wherein the pressure sensor 101 is disposed on the first extension portion 115 of the first light shielding body 110 near the rear end of the second blade 172a, and the pressure sensor 102 is disposed on the second extension portion 125 of the second light shielding body 120 near the rear end of the second blade 172 b. When the first adjustable slit 161 and the second adjustable slit 162 are closed, the pressure sensor 101 can prevent the second blade 172a and the first blade 171b from being damaged due to collision overpressure; the pressure sensor 102 can prevent the first blade 171a and the second blade 172b from being damaged by collision overpressure.

< example three >

Referring to fig. 5 and 6, the present embodiment provides another adjustable slit structure, which is different from the concept of the double-layer structure (i.e. the first light shielding body is located at the upper layer, and the second light shielding body is located at the lower layer) of the adjustable slit structure of the above embodiments along the first direction, and the adjustable slit structure provided by the present embodiment is a single-layer structure, i.e. the first light shielding body and the second light shielding body are located at the same layer, and only the difference will be described below.

Preferably, as one of the exemplary embodiments, the adjustable slit structure has an i-shaped shape. Specifically, the first light shielding body 110 includes a first light shielding portion 112 and a second light shielding portion 113, and along a third direction, the first light shielding portion 112 and the second light shielding portion 113 are distributed in a comb-tooth shape, the first light transmitting slit (not shown in the figure) is located between the first light shielding portion 112 and the second light shielding portion 113 (because of being partially overlapped with the second light transmitting slit), and one end of the first light transmitting slit is a first opening end (not shown in the figure); the second light shielding body 120 includes a third light shielding portion 122 and a fourth light shielding portion 123, along the third direction, the third light shielding portion 122 and the fourth light shielding portion 123 are distributed in a comb-tooth shape, the second light transmitting slit (not shown in the figure because of being partially overlapped with the first light transmitting slit) is located between the third light shielding portion 122 and the fourth light shielding portion 123, and the second light transmitting slit 121 has a second open end (not shown in the figure); the second light shielding portion 113 of the first light shielding body 110 is inserted into the second light transmitting slit through the second opening end, and the third light shielding portion 122 of the second light shielding body 120 is inserted into the first light transmitting slit through the first opening end; the width of the first light-transmitting slit is greater than that of the third light-shielding portion 122, and the width of the second light-transmitting slit 121 is greater than that of the second light-shielding portion 113; wherein the third direction is perpendicular to the second direction, the first direction is perpendicular to a plane formed by the second direction and the third direction, and the first light-shielding body 110 and the second light-shielding body 120 are located at the same height along the first direction; the rail body 140 includes a first sub-rail 141 and a second sub-rail 142 extending in the second direction, and the first light shielding portion 112 and the second light shielding portion 113 are movably disposed between the first sub-rail 141 and the second sub-rail 142. In the second direction, the first adjusting unit 131 adjusts the first light shielding body 110 and the second light shielding body 120 to be away from or close to each other, thereby simultaneously adjusting the widths of the first adjustable slit 161 and the second adjustable slit 162, thereby changing the size of the illumination field and further controlling the exposure dose. The adjustable slit structure provided by the embodiment is I-shaped in appearance, and can completely avoid interference from a penumbra. The double F-shaped single-layer structure further optimizes the penumbra and simplifies the spatial layout on the basis of inheriting the advantages of the double-layer structure.

In fig. 5, the part shown by the dashed line box is a schematic diagram in the state that the adjustable slits are closed, the dashed line box positioned above is the first adjustable slit 161, and the dashed line box positioned below is the second adjustable slit 162.

Preferably, the adjustable slit structure further comprises a sliding fixing component, and the shading body is movably connected with the guide rail body through the sliding fixing component. Specifically, referring to fig. 6, the sliding fixing

members

191a and 191b in the present embodiment are used to movably connect the first light shielding body with the guide rail body 140; the sliding fixing component 192a and the sliding fixing component 192b are used for movably connecting the second shade body 120 with the guide rail body 140. In particular, in the present embodiment, the first open end of the first light-transmitting slit 111 is the end away from the sliding

fixing components

191a and 191 b; the second open end of the second light-transmitting slit 121 is an end away from the sliding

fixing components

192a and 192 b.

Preferably, the adjustable slit structure further comprises a second adjusting unit, the second adjusting unit is connected with the guide rail body, and the second adjusting unit is used for adjusting the position of the guide rail body, so that the positions of the plurality of adjustable slits are changed simultaneously. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the second adjustable unit (not shown in the figure) is connected to the rail body 140 for controlling the position of the rail body 140.

< example four >

Referring to fig. 7 and 8, in the present embodiment, unlike the above embodiments, the hall sensor is used to control the combined positioning, and the two-blade structure can be separated after the interlock is removed. Specifically, the first adjusting unit of the adjustable slit structure provided by this embodiment includes a hall sensor for controlling the combined positioning of the first light shielding body 110 and the second light shielding body 120; the hall sensor includes a sensor body 131a and sensing parts 131b1, 131b2, and 131b3, the sensor body 131a is fixed to the exposure apparatus, and the sensing parts are connected to the first light shielding body 110, the second light shielding body 120, and the rail body 140; along the second direction, as shown in fig. 8, the first light shielding body 110 and the second light shielding body 120 can move back and forth to separate from or approach each other, when the first light shielding body 110 and the second light shielding body 120 are far away from each other, a third adjustable slit 163 can be formed, the first light transmitting slit 111 and the second light transmitting slit can be used as an alignment pattern region, and the third adjustable slit 163 can be used as an exposure pattern region. Obviously, the step-like design in the second embodiment can also be adopted to further control the zero-returning error of the hall sensor.

< example five >

This embodiment provides an exposure apparatus comprising at least one adjustable slit structure as described in any of the above embodiments.

Preferably, the exposure apparatus comprises a lithographic apparatus comprising an adjustable slit arrangement as described in any of the embodiments above. As shown in fig. 9, the lithographic apparatus further comprises, in order along the beam propagation direction, an illumination source 200, a mask stage 300 for carrying a mask plate 400, two projection objectives of a set of

projection objectives

500a and 500b, and a stage 600 for carrying a substrate 700. The adjustable slit arrangement may be arranged between the illumination source and the mask table or between the mask table and the projection objective. In the present embodiment, the adjustable slit structure 100 is disposed between the mask stage 300 and the projection

objective lens groups

500a and 500 b. Compared with the solution of placing the adjustable slit structure 100 between the illumination source and the mask stage, placing the adjustable slit structure 100 between the mask stage 300 and the projection

objective lens groups

500a and 500b further improves the space saving and structure simplification of the lithography apparatus without affecting other functions.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may be directly contacting the first and second features or indirectly contacting the first and second features through an intermediate. Also, a first feature "on," "over," and "above" a second feature may be directly or diagonally above the second feature, or may simply indicate that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature being "under," "below," and "beneath" a second feature may be directly under or obliquely under the first feature, or may simply mean that the first feature is at a lesser elevation than the second feature.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above are not necessarily intended to refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, various embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification can be combined and combined by one skilled in the art without contradiction.

In summary, the above embodiments have been described in detail with respect to various configurations of an adjustable slit structure and an exposure apparatus, it is to be understood that the above description is only a description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

Claims

1. An adjustable slit structure for an exposure apparatus comprising an illumination source and a projection objective;

2. The adjustable slit structure of claim 1, wherein each of the light shielding bodies is further provided with at least one slit control guide rail connected to the first adjusting unit for guiding the movement of the light shielding body.

3. The adjustable slit structure of claim 1, wherein the first adjustment unit is configured to adjust a relative position between at least two of the light shielding bodies, such that controlling a size of the adjustable slit comprises,

4. The adjustable slit structure of claim 3, wherein along the first direction, a side adjacent to the illumination light source is defined as an upper side, a side adjacent to the projection objective is defined as a lower side, the first light shielding body is disposed above the rail body, and the second light shielding body is disposed below the rail body.

5. The adjustable slit structure of claim 3, wherein the light-transmitting slit penetrates through one end of the light-shielding body along the first direction, and the other end of the light-shielding body is a first blade-fixing end;

6. The adjustable slit structure of claim 5, wherein the first adjustable slit and the second adjustable slit have the same width.

7. The adjustable slit structure of claim 5, further comprising a first blade and a second blade fixedly disposed on the light shielding body, wherein the first blade is fixedly disposed at a first blade fixing end, and the second blade is fixedly disposed at a second blade fixing end, wherein the second blade fixing end is far away from the first blade fixing end and is located on the inner wall of the light-transmitting slit;

8. The adjustable slit structure of claim 7, further comprising a knife edge fixture matching the knife edge, wherein the knife edge is detachably fixed to the shade body by the knife edge fixture.

9. The adjustable slit structure of claim 7, wherein the shutter body further comprises a first extension and a second extension extending along the first direction, the first extension being proximate to the first blade securing end, the second extension being proximate to the second blade securing end;

10. The adjustable slit structure of claim 9, wherein in the first direction, when the first adjustable slit is closed, the second blade of the first shutter body and the first blade of the second shutter body are in contact; when the second adjustable slit is closed, the first blade edge of the first shutter body and the second blade edge of the second shutter body are in contact.

11. The adjustable slit structure of claim 10, further comprising a pressure sensor disposed on the first extension proximate the first knife edge or on the second extension proximate the second knife edge.

12. The adjustable slit structure of claim 3, wherein the first light shielding body comprises a first light shielding portion and a second light shielding portion, the first light shielding portion and the second light shielding portion are arranged in a comb-shaped manner along the third direction, the first light-transmitting slit is located between the first light shielding portion and the second light shielding portion, and one end of the first light-transmitting slit is a first open end;

the width of the first light-transmitting slit is greater than that of the third light-shielding part, and the width of the second light-transmitting slit is greater than that of the second light-shielding part;

13. The adjustable slit structure of claim 3, wherein the first adjusting unit comprises a Hall sensor for controlling combined positioning of the first light shielding body and the second light shielding body;

the Hall sensor comprises a sensor body and an induction part, the sensor body is fixed on the exposure device, and the induction part is connected with the first shading body, the second shading body and the guide rail body;

14. The adjustable slit structure of claim 1 further comprising a sliding fixture assembly, wherein the shade body is movably connected to the rail body by the sliding fixture assembly.

15. The adjustable slit structure of claim 1, further comprising a second adjusting unit connected to the plurality of guide rail bodies, the second adjusting unit being configured to adjust positions of the guide rail bodies so as to change positions of the plurality of adjustable slits at the same time.

16. An exposure apparatus comprising at least one adjustable slit structure according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

17. The exposure apparatus according to claim 16, characterized in that the exposure apparatus comprises a lithography machine device which comprises, in the beam propagation direction, an illumination light source, a mask stage for carrying a mask plate, a projection objective, and a workpiece stage for carrying a substrate in this order, the adjustable slit structure being arranged between the illumination light source and the mask stage or between the mask stage and the projection objective.