WO2002041373A1

WO2002041373A1 - Electron beam correction method and electron beam exposure system

Info

Publication number: WO2002041373A1
Application number: PCT/JP2001/009814
Authority: WO
Inventors: Shinichi Hamaguchi; Hiroshi Yasuda
Original assignee: Advantest Corporation
Priority date: 2000-11-15
Filing date: 2001-11-09
Publication date: 2002-05-23
Also published as: TW522466B; JP4401556B2; JP2002151398A

Abstract

An electron beam correction method for correcting irradiation positions of at least two electron beams in an electron beam exposure system for exposing wafers by at least two electron beams, the method comprising a detection step for detecting at least one of coordinates of the irradiation position of at least one electron beam out of at least two electron beams, and a calculating step for calculating a correction value for correcting the irradiation position of at least one electron beam other than the one electron beam having its coordinates detected.

Description

Description Electron beam correction method and electron beam exposure apparatus

The present invention relates to an electron beam correction method and an electron beam exposure device. This application is related to the following Japanese patent application. For those designated countries that are allowed to be incorporated by reference to the literature, the contents described in the following application are incorporated into this application by reference and are incorporated as a part of the description of this application.

Japanese Patent Application No. 2 0 0 0— 3 4 8 4 6 2 Filing Date Heisei 12 January 1 15 Background Technology

With the recent miniaturization of semiconductor devices, there has been a demand for faster exposure processing and correction processing of electron beam irradiation positions for use in mass production of electron beam exposure apparatuses.

However, the conventional electron beam exposure apparatus needs to detect all the irradiation positions of the electron beams in order to correct the irradiation positions of all the electron beams. There is a demand for a method of correcting the irradiation position of the electron beam with time. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electron beam correction method and an electron beam exposure apparatus that can solve the above-mentioned problems. This object is achieved by a combination of features described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous embodiments of the present invention. Disclosure of the invention

In order to achieve such an object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an irradiation position of two or more electron beams is corrected in an electron beam exposure apparatus that exposes a wafer with two or more electron beams. An electron beam correction method, wherein two or more electrons Detecting at least one of the coordinates of the irradiation position of at least one of the beams of the electron beam; and, based on the detected coordinates, at least one other electron other than the one electron beam whose coordinates have been detected. Calculating a correction value for correcting a beam irradiation position.

The electron beam exposure apparatus includes storage means for preliminarily storing a positional relationship between one electron beam and another electron beam, and the calculating step includes irradiating another electron beam using the positional relationship stored in the storage means. A correction value for correcting the position may be calculated.

The electron beam exposure apparatus includes an electron beam generation unit that generates two or more electron beams, and a member having two or more openings through which each of the two or more electron beams passes. One of the coordinates of the irradiation position of one of the one or more electron beams is detected, and the calculation step is based on the detected coordinates. A correction value for correcting a shift in the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam at which one coordinate of the irradiation position is detected may be calculated.

In the detection step, the irradiation position of the electron beam at which one coordinate is detected is detected, and in the calculation step, irradiation is performed based on the detected irradiation position by uniformly stretching and rotating the entire members of the electron beam exposure apparatus. A correction value for correcting a shift in the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam whose position has been detected may be calculated.

In the detection step, the irradiation position of the electron beam at which one coordinate is detected is detected, and in the calculation step, the irradiation position is detected based on the detected irradiation position due to the parallel movement of the members of the electron beam exposure apparatus. A correction value for correcting a shift in the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam may be calculated.

The electron beam generator generates three or more electron beams, the member has three or more openings through which each of the three or more electron beams passes, and the detecting step includes the three or more electron beams. Detecting the irradiation positions of the two electron beams of the beams, and calculating the position by uniformly expanding, contracting, rotating, and translating the members of the electron beam exposure apparatus based on the irradiation positions of the two electron beams. An electron beam other than the two electron beams A correction value for correcting the deviation of the irradiation position may be calculated.

The electron beam generating section generates four or more electron beams, the member has four or more openings through which each of the four or more electron beams passes, and the detecting step includes the four or more electron beams. Detecting the irradiation positions of the three electron beams of the beams, and calculating, based on the irradiation positions of the three electron beams, rotation, translation, and two orthogonal movements of the members of the electron beam exposure apparatus. A correction value for correcting a shift in the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the three electron beams due to expansion and contraction in each of the directions may be calculated.

The electron beam generator generates five or more electron beams, the member has five or more openings through which each of the five or more electron beams passes, and the detecting step includes the five or more electron beams. Detecting an irradiation position of at least four electron beams of the beam, and calculating, based on the irradiation positions of the at least four electron beams, rotation, translation, non-linear expansion, It is also possible to calculate a correction value for correcting a shift of the irradiation position of an electron beam other than at least four electron beams due to expansion and contraction in each of two directions orthogonal to each other.

A re-detection step of re-detecting at least one of the coordinates of the irradiation position of one electron beam, and a correction value is calculated again based on the coordinates detected in the detection step and the coordinates detected in the re-detection step. And a recalculation step.

The method may further include a calibration step of calibrating each of the two or more electron beams, and the calculating step may calculate a correction value based on the calibration irradiation positions of the two or more calibrated electron beams.

The electron beam exposure apparatus further includes a wafer stage on which a wafer is mounted, and the stage has a mark portion for detecting an irradiation position of the two electron beams. May be detected using the same mark portion.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electron beam exposure apparatus for exposing a wafer with two or more electron beams, and an electron gun for generating two or more electron beams, A deflecting unit for independently deflecting two or more electron beams, a wafer stage on which a wafer is mounted, and an irradiation position of at least one of the two or more electron beams provided on the wafer stage. A mark portion for detection, an electron detection portion that detects reflected electrons of at least one electron beam applied to the mark portion, and outputs a detection signal corresponding to the amount of the detected reflected electrons; A position detecting unit that detects at least one of the coordinates of the irradiation position of at least one electron beam based on the detected coordinates, and a position detection unit that detects an irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam whose coordinates are detected based on the detected coordinates. A calculation unit that calculates a correction value to be corrected; and a deflection control unit that controls the deflection unit to deflect an electron beam other than the electron beam whose coordinates are detected based on the correction value. Prepare.

A slit portion having two or more slits for shaping the cross-sectional shape of each of the two or more electron beams; and an electron lens portion having two or more electron lenses for focusing each of the two or more electron beams. The calculating unit is configured to perform, on the basis of the detected coordinates, at least one of expansion, contraction, rotation, and translation of at least one of the deflection unit, the slit unit, and the electron lens unit, other than the electron beam whose coordinates have been detected. A correction value for correcting a shift in the irradiation position of the electron beam may be calculated.

The above summary of the present invention does not list all of the necessary features of the present invention, and a sub-combination of these features may also be an invention.

Brief description of the drawings ''

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an electron beam exposure apparatus 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the entire operation of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the operation of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 in the irradiation position correction step (S600).

FIG. 4 shows an example of the arrangement of the electron guns 104 and an example of the wafer stage 46.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a method for detecting the irradiation position of the electron beam in the irradiation position detection step (S80). BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and all combinations of the features described in the embodiments are examples of the invention. It is not always necessary for the solution.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an electron beam exposure apparatus 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The electron beam exposure apparatus 100 includes an exposure unit 150 that performs a predetermined exposure process on the wafer 44 by an electron beam, and a control system 140 that controls the operation of each component included in the exposure unit 150. Prepare.

The exposure unit 150 generates an electron beam inside the housing 8, and forms an electron beam forming means 110 for shaping the cross-sectional shape of the electron beam as desired. Irradiation switching means 1 1 2 for independently switching the irradiation power or not for each electron beam, and wafer projection system 1 for adjusting the direction and size of the image of the pattern transferred to wafer 44 An electron optical system including 14 is provided. The exposure unit 150 includes a stage system including a wafer stage 46 on which a wafer 44 whose pattern is to be exposed is mounted, and a wafer stage driving unit 48 for driving the wafer stage 46. Further, the exposure section 150 is used to detect secondary electrons and reflected electrons emitted from the mark section 56 by the electron beam applied to the mark section 56 provided on the wafer stage 46. A detection unit 40 is provided. The electron detection unit 40 outputs a detection signal corresponding to the detected amount of backscattered electrons to the backscattered electron processing unit 94.

The electron beam shaping means 110 includes an electron beam generator 10 for generating a plurality of electron beams, and a plurality of openings for shaping the cross-sectional shape of the irradiated electron beam by passing the electron beam. (1) Molded member (14) and second molded member (22), first multi-axis electron lens (16) that focuses a plurality of electron beams independently and adjusts the focus of the plurality of electron beams, and first molded member (14) A first shaping deflecting section 18 and a second shaping deflecting section 20 for independently deflecting a plurality of electron beams that have passed through.

The electron beam generator 10 includes a plurality of electron guns 104 and a base on which the electron guns 104 are formed. Material 106. The electron gun 104 is composed of a force sword 12 for generating thermoelectrons and a dalid 102 formed to surround the cathode 12 for stabilizing the thermoelectrons generated by the force sword 12. Have. Preferably, the force sword 12 and the grid 102 are electrically insulated. In the present embodiment, the electron beam generator 10 forms an electron gun array by providing a plurality of electron guns 104 at predetermined intervals on a base material 106. The irradiation switching means 1 1 and 2 are configured to focus the plurality of electron beams independently, adjust the focus of the plurality of electron beams, and to independently deflect the plurality of electron beams. A blanking electrode array 26 that independently switches whether or not each electron beam irradiates the wafer 44, and a plurality of openings through which the electron beams pass; An electron beam shielding member 28 that shields the electron beam deflected by the blanking electrode array 26. In another example, the blanking electrode array 26 may be a blanking, aperture, array 'device.

The wafer projection system 114 focuses a plurality of electron beams independently, and a third multi-axis electron lens 34 that reduces the irradiation diameter of the electron beam, and independently focuses a plurality of electron beams. A fourth multi-axis electron lens 36 that adjusts the focus of the plurality of electron beams; and a deflecting unit 38 that deflects the plurality of electron beams to desired positions on the wafer 44 independently for each electron beam. And a fifth multi-axis electron lens 52 that functions as an objective lens for the lens 44 and independently focuses a plurality of electron beams.

The control system 140 includes a general control unit 130 and an individual control unit 120. The individual control section 120 includes an electron beam control section 80, a multi-axis electron lens control section 82, a shaping deflection control section 84, a blanking electrode array control section 86, and a deflection control section 92. A backscattered electron processing unit 94; and a stage control unit 96. The general control unit 130 has a calculation unit 132, a memory 134, and a position detection unit 133. The general control unit 130 is, for example, a workstation, and performs general control of each control unit included in the individual control unit 120. The electron beam controller 80 controls the electron beam generator 10. Multi: The control unit 82 includes the first multi-axis electronic lens 16, the second multi-axis electronic lens 24, The current supplied to the third multi-axis electronic lens 34, the fourth multi-axis electronic lens 36, and the fifth multi-axis electronic lens 52 is controlled.

The molding deflection control section 84 controls the first molding deflection section 18 and the second molding deflection section 20. The blanking electrode array controller 86 controls the voltage applied to the deflection electrodes included in the blanking electrode array 26. The deflection controller 92 controls the voltage applied to the deflection electrodes of the plurality of deflectors included in the deflection unit 38. The backscattered electron processing unit 94 detects the amount of backscattered electrons based on the detection signal output from the electron detection unit 40, and notifies the general control unit 130. Wafer stage control section 96 controls wafer stage drive section 48 to move wafer stage 46 to a predetermined position.

The operation of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. First, using the mark portion 56 provided on the wafer stage 46, a process of correcting the irradiation positions of a plurality of electron beams is performed. In the correction process, for example, a correction value for correcting a displacement of the irradiation positions of a plurality of electron beams caused by deformation of each member of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 due to expansion, contraction, rotation, translation, or the like is calculated.

First, a predetermined electron beam used for detecting an irradiation position is irradiated on a mark portion 56 provided on the wafer stage 46. The electron detection unit 40 detects reflected electrons of the electron beam applied to the mark unit 56, and outputs a detection signal corresponding to the detected amount of reflected electrons. Then, in the overall control unit 130, the position detection unit 1336 detects at least one of the coordinates of the irradiation position of the electron beam based on the detection signal output by the electron detection unit 40. Then, the calculating unit 132 calculates a correction value for correcting the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam used for detecting the irradiation position, based on the coordinates of the detected irradiation position of the electron beam. The memory 1334 stores the irradiation position of the electron beam detected by the position detection unit 1.36 and the irradiation position of another electron beam detected by the calculation unit 1332.

The calculation unit 1332 includes a first molded member 14, a second molded member 22, a first multi-axis electronic lens 16, a second multi-axis electron lens 24, a member having a plurality of openings. 3 Multi-axis electron lens 34, 4th multi-axis electron lens 36, 5th multi-axis electron lens 52, 1st shaping deflection unit It is preferable to calculate a correction value for correcting a deviation of the irradiation position of the electron beam due to expansion, contraction, rotation, and parallel movement of the second shaping / deflecting unit 20, the deflecting unit 38, and the like.

After calculating the correction value for the electron beam irradiation position by the above operation, the wafer 44 is subjected to exposure processing using the correction value. Hereinafter, the operation of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 in the exposure processing will be described. In the above-described correction processing, the operation of irradiating the mark portion 56 with the electron beam is performed by irradiating the wafer 44 with the electron beam in the exposure processing. This operation may be substantially the same as the operation performed.

The electron beam generator 10 generates a plurality of electron beams. The first molded member 14 is provided with a plurality of electron beams generated by the electron beam generating unit 10 and applied to the first molded member 14, by a plurality of openings provided in the first molded member 14. To form. In another example, a plurality of electron beams may be generated by further including means for dividing the electron beam generated in the electron beam generation unit 10 into a plurality of electron beams.

The first multi-axis electron lens 16 independently focuses a plurality of rectangularly shaped electron beams, and independently adjusts the focus of the electron beam on the second formed member 22 for each electron beam. The first shaping / deflecting unit 18 independently deflects the plurality of electron beams formed into a rectangular shape in the first shaping member 14 so as to irradiate a desired position on the second shaping member.

The second shaping deflection unit 20 deflects the plurality of electron beams deflected by the first shaping deflection unit 18 in directions substantially perpendicular to the second shaping member 22, respectively. Illuminate. Then, the second forming member 22 including the plurality of openings having the rectangular shape is configured to irradiate the wafer 44 with the plurality of electron beams having the rectangular cross-sectional shape applied to the second forming member 22. Is further shaped into an electron beam having a cross-sectional shape of

The second multi-axis electron lens 24 independently focuses the plurality of electron beams and adjusts the focus of the electron beam on the blanking electrode array 26 independently. The plurality of electron beams whose focus has been adjusted by the second multi-axis electron lens 24 are

'Pass through a plurality of apertures contained in the electrode array 26. The blanking electrode array control unit 86 controls whether or not to apply a voltage to a deflection electrode provided near each aperture in the blanking electrode array 26. The blanking electrode array 26 switches whether to irradiate the wafer 44 with the electron beam based on the voltage applied to the deflection electrode.

The electron beam not deflected by the blanking electrode array 26 passes through the third multi-axis electron lens 34. Then, the third multi-axis electron lens 34 reduces the electron beam diameter of the electron beam passing through the third multi-axis electron lens 34. The reduced electron beam passes through an opening included in the electron beam shielding member 28. Further, the electron beam shielding member 28 shields the electron beam deflected by the blanking electrode array 26. The electron beam that has passed through the electron beam shielding member 28 is incident on the fourth multi-axis electron lens 36. Then, the fourth multi-axis electron lens 36 independently focuses the incident electron beams, and adjusts the focus of the electron beams with respect to the deflection unit 38, respectively. The electron beam whose focus has been adjusted by the fourth multi-axis electron lens 36 is incident on the deflection unit 38.

The deflection control unit 92 controls a plurality of deflectors included in the deflection unit 38 based on the correction value calculated by the calculation unit 132, and controls each of the deflectors that have entered the deflection unit 38. The electron beam is independently deflected to a position to be irradiated on the wafer 44. The fifth multi-axis electron lens 52 adjusts the focal point of each electron beam passing through the fifth multi-axis electron lens 52 with respect to the wafer 44. The fifth multi-axis electron lens 52 has a cross-sectional shape to be irradiated on the wafer 44. Each electron beam is applied to a desired position to be applied to the laser beam 44.

During the exposure processing, it is preferable that the wafer stage driving section 48 continuously moves the wafer stage 46 in a fixed direction based on an instruction from the wafer stage control section 96. Then, according to the movement of ゥヱ C 44, the cross-sectional shape of the electron beam is shaped into a shape that should irradiate the wafer 44, and the aperture for passing the electron beam to be irradiated to 4C 44 is defined. A desired circuit pattern can be exposed on the wafer 44 by deflecting each electron beam to a position where the electron beam 44 should be irradiated by the unit 38. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the entire operation of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. This flowchart starts in S10. In the stage position calibration stage (S20), the stage position of the wafer stage 46 provided with the mark portion 56 is calibrated. In the irradiation position configuration step (S30), the irradiation positions of all the electron beams are detected by irradiating all the electron beams to the mark section 56, and the irradiation positions of the individual electron beams are calibrated. In the exposure processing stage (S40), a predetermined number of exposure processes are performed based on the calibration values determined in the stage position calibration stage (S20) and the irradiation position calibration stage (S30). In S50, it is determined whether the desired number of exposure processes has been completed. If it is determined in S50 that the desired number of exposure processes have not been completed, the irradiation position correction stage (S60) detects a predetermined electron beam irradiation position and determines the position of the electron beam used in the exposure process. The irradiation position is corrected. By using the calibration values determined in the stage position calibration step (S20) and the irradiation position calibration step (S30) to irradiate the mark portion 56 with an electron beam for detection, the deviation of the irradiation position of a plurality of electron beams can be achieved. Calculate the correction value for correcting. Then, in the exposure processing step (S40), a predetermined exposure processing is performed based on the correction value calculated in the irradiation position correction step (S60). If it is determined in S50 that the desired number of exposure processes has been completed, the flow chart ends in S70. The correction of the irradiation position of the electron beam in the irradiation position correction step (S60) is preferably performed, for example, for each lot or each wafer.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 in the irradiation position correction stage (S60). In the irradiation position detection step (S80), the mark portion 56 is irradiated with a detection electron beam that is a predetermined electron beam of the plurality of electron beams used for the exposure processing, and the detection electron beam is detected. The coordinates of the irradiation position are detected. In the irradiation position storing stage (S90), the coordinates of the detected irradiation position are stored in the memory 1 34 of the overall control unit 130. In S100, it is determined whether or not the coordinates of the required electron beam irradiation position have been detected. If it is determined in S100 that the coordinates of the required irradiation position of the electron beam have not been detected, the process returns to the irradiation position detection step (S80), and the coordinates of the irradiation position of another detection electron beam are detected and irradiation is performed. In the position storage stage (S90), the irradiation position detected Store the coordinates. If it is determined in S100 that the coordinates of the required electron beam irradiation position have been detected, then in the correction value calculation step (S110), based on the detected coordinates, other than the electron beam for detection is used. A correction value for correcting the irradiation position of the electron beam is calculated. In the present embodiment, the memory 134 of the general control unit 130 stores the positional relationship between the irradiation positions of the respective electron beams, and in the correction value calculation stage (S110), the memory 133 is used. A correction value for correcting the irradiation position of another electron beam may be calculated using the positional relationship stored in the.

The deformation of the member having a plurality of openings of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 includes uniform uniform expansion and contraction, rotation, parallel movement, nonlinear expansion and contraction, and expansion and contraction in each of two orthogonal directions. The part 130 preferably determines the number of coordinates of the irradiation position of the electron beam to be detected, according to the combination of the deformations to be considered. Specifically, in the irradiation position detection step (S80), one of the coordinates of the irradiation position of one electron beam, for example, the direction in which the wafer stage 46 is continuously moved during the exposure processing is set in the X direction, In the xy coordinate system in which the direction substantially perpendicular to the X direction is the y direction, the X coordinate or the y coordinate of the irradiation position with respect to the reference point is detected, and based on the detected coordinates in the correction value calculation step (S110) The displacement of the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam at which one coordinate of the irradiation position is detected due to one of uniform expansion and contraction and rotation of the member having a plurality of openings of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 May be calculated. 'In the irradiation position detecting step (S800), the irradiation position of one electron beam, for example, the X coordinate and the y coordinate in the XY coordinate system described above are detected, and the correction value calculating step (S110) Then, based on the detected irradiation position, an electron beam other than the electron beam whose irradiation position has been detected due to the uniform uniform expansion and contraction and rotation of the member having the plurality of openings of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 based on the detected irradiation position. A correction value for correcting the deviation of the irradiation position may be calculated. In the irradiation position detection step (S800), the irradiation position of one electron beam is detected, and in the correction value calculation step (S110), the electron beam exposure device is used based on the detected irradiation position. A correction value for correcting a shift in the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam whose irradiation position is detected due to the parallel movement of a member having a plurality of openings of 100 is calculated. You may.

In the irradiation position detection step (S800), the irradiation positions of the two electron beams are detected. In the correction value calculation step (S110), the electron beam exposure is performed based on the irradiation positions of the two electron beams. A correction value for correcting a shift in the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the two electron beams due to uniform expansion and contraction, rotation, and parallel movement of a member having a plurality of openings of the apparatus 100 may be calculated. .

In the irradiation position detection step (S800), the irradiation positions of the three electron beams are detected. In the correction value calculation step (S110), the electron beam exposure is performed based on the irradiation positions of the three electron beams. A correction value for correcting a shift in the irradiation position of an electron beam other than three electron beams due to rotation, parallel movement, and expansion and contraction of a member having a plurality of openings of the apparatus 100 in each of two orthogonal directions. May be calculated.

Further, in the irradiation position detecting step (S800), the irradiation positions of at least four electron beams are detected, and in the correction value calculating step (S110), based on the irradiation positions of the at least four electron beams. Of the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 having a plurality of openings by rotation, parallel movement, nonlinear expansion and contraction, and expansion and contraction in each of two orthogonal directions. A correction value for correcting the displacement of the irradiation position may be calculated.

In the first irradiation position correction step (S60) after the irradiation position calibration step (S30), the overall control unit 130 performs the stage position calibration step (S20) and the irradiation position calibration step. Based on the calibration value determined in (S30), it is preferable to detect the irradiation position by irradiating a detection electron beam and calculate a correction value. In a plurality of irradiation position correction steps (S 60), which is a plurality of times after the irradiation position calibration step (S 30), the general control unit 130 performs the previous irradiation position correction step of the predetermined time. It is preferable that the irradiation position is detected by irradiating a detection electron beam based on the correction value calculated in (S60), and the correction value is calculated.

Further, in the irradiation position correction step (S 60) of a plurality of predetermined times, the gun control unit 130 executes the irradiation in the previous irradiation position detection step (S 80) of the predetermined time. The coordinates of the irradiation position of the electron beam similar to the electron beam whose irradiation position has been detected are detected again, and in the correction value calculation step (S110), in the previous irradiation position detection step (S800) of the predetermined time, It is preferable that the correction value be calculated again based on the detected coordinates and the coordinates detected in the predetermined irradiation position detecting step (S80). At this time, the coordinates detected in the previous irradiation position detection step (S80) of the predetermined time are extracted from the memory 1334 of the overall control unit 130.

When detecting the irradiation positions of a plurality of detection electron beams, it is preferable to detect the irradiation positions of the plurality of electron beams using the same mark portion 56. By detecting the irradiation position of the electron beam using the same mark portion 56, it is possible to reduce the error of the correction value based on the characteristic between the mark portions 56.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the arrangement of the electron guns 104 and an example of the stage 46. FIG. 4A shows a substrate 106 on which 69 electron guns 104 are arranged. As shown in FIG. 4B, the wafer stage 46 has a mark portion 56 and a mirror portion 58. Further, the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 further includes a laser interferometer 60 outside the stage 4, and uses the mirror section 58 and the laser interferometer 60 to calibrate the position of the wafer stage 46. . The operation of calibrating the stage position in the stage position calibration stage (S20) in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). The laser interferometer 60 irradiates the mirror 58 provided on the wafer stage 46 with a plurality of lasers, receives the reflected light of the laser, and sets the wafer based on the optical path difference between the irradiated laser and the reflected light. The parameters such as the position and inclination of the stage 46 and the inclination and warpage of the mirror 58 are detected. The overall control unit 130 calculates a calibration value for calibrating the stage position of the wafer stage 58 based on the parameters, and thereafter moves the wafer stage 46 to a desired position using the calibration value. Note that, during the exposure processing, the direction in which the wafer stage 46 is continuously moved is defined as the X direction, and the direction substantially perpendicular to the X direction is defined as the y direction.

FIG. 5 shows an example of an electron beam irradiation position detection method in the irradiation position detection step (S80). In this example, a case will be described in which the irradiation positions of three electron beams are detected, and the irradiation positions of electron beams other than the three electron beams are calculated. Fig 5 As shown in (a), FIG. 5 (b), and FIG. 5 (c), the irradiation positions of the three electron beams are detected using the same mark portion 56. By detecting the irradiation positions of a plurality of electron beams using the same mark portion 56, the relative position between the plurality of electron beams can be measured with high accuracy. In another example, the irradiation positions of a plurality of electron beams may be detected using a plurality of mark portions, and the irradiation positions of the electron beams may be detected using marks provided on a wafer for detecting the irradiation position. May be detected.

Next, an example of a method of calculating the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the detection electron beam based on the irradiation position of the detection electron beam will be described. First molded member 14, Second molded member 22, First multi-axis electron lens 16, Second multi-axis electron lens 24, Third multi-axis electron lens 34, Fourth multi-axis electron lens 36, Fifth multi-axis electron The variation amount ΔVX, ΔVy of the irradiation position of one electron beam due to expansion, contraction, rotation, and parallel movement of the lens 52, the first shaping deflection unit 18, the second shaping deflection unit 20, the deflection unit 38, etc.

Δ V X = g X * C + r x * Cy + o x

Δ Vy = g y * C y + r y * Cx + o y

And AVx and AVy are displacements between the position to be irradiated by the electron beam and the irradiation position of the detected electron beam. Cx and Cy are relative coordinates of the plurality of electron guns 104 and are known values. Also, g x and gy are unknown expansion and contraction coefficients, r x and ry are unknown rotation coefficients, and ox and oy are unknown translation coefficients. Here, in the present embodiment, since the deviation of the irradiation position of the electron beam, which occurs independently of each of the plurality of electron beams, is smaller than the fluctuation amounts AVx and AVy, the calculation unit 132 of the overall control unit 130 calculates Based on 1) and (2), a correction value for correcting the irradiation position of the electron beam is calculated. Therefore, by detecting the irradiation positions of the three electron beams, six unknown values are obtained, and the irradiation positions of a plurality of electron beams other than the three electron beams can be calculated. Then, based on the calculated irradiation positions of the plurality of electron beams, a correction value for correcting the irradiation position of each electron beam can be calculated.

In addition, when the parallel movement of the member having a plurality of openings is not considered, the equations (1) and (2) are V x = gx * C x + rx * C y

Δ V y: g y * C y + r y * C x

By detecting the irradiation positions of the two electron beams, four unknown values are obtained, and the irradiation positions of a plurality of electron beams other than the two electron beams can be calculated. Further, by detecting the irradiation positions of the two electron beams, it is possible to calculate a correction value for correcting a shift of the irradiation positions of the electron beams due to expansion and contraction and rotation. Similarly, by detecting the irradiation position of one electron beam, it is possible to calculate a correction value for correcting a shift of the irradiation position of the electron beam due to one of expansion, contraction, rotation, and translation.

According to the electron beam correction method and the electron beam exposure apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, it is possible to calculate the irradiation positions of many electron beams by detecting the irradiation positions of a few electron beams. Therefore, a correction value for correcting the irradiation positions of many electron beams can be calculated in a short time without detecting the irradiation positions of many electron beams.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the technical scope of the present invention according to the present application is not limited to the above embodiments. The invention described in the claims can be implemented by adding various changes to the above embodiment. It is also apparent from the scope of the claims that such an invention belongs to the technical scope of the invention according to the present application.

Industrial applicability

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, an electron beam correction method and an electron beam correction method for correcting the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam by detecting the irradiation position of the predetermined electron beam An exposure apparatus can be provided.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. An electron beam correction method for correcting an irradiation position of the two or more electron beams in an electron beam exposure apparatus for exposing a wafer with two or more electron beams,

A detecting step of detecting at least one of coordinates of an irradiation position of at least one of the two or more electron beams;

A calculating step of calculating, based on the detected coordinates, a correction value for correcting an irradiation position of at least one other electron beam other than the one electron beam whose coordinates have been detected;

An electron beam correction method comprising:

2. The electron beam exposure apparatus includes a storage unit that stores a positional relationship between the one electron beam and the other electron beam in advance,

The calculating step calculates the correction value for correcting the irradiation position of the another electron beam using the positional relationship stored in the storage unit.

2. The electron beam correction method according to claim 1, wherein:

3. The electron beam exposure apparatus includes an electron beam generation unit that generates two or more electron beams, and a member that has two or more openings through which each of the two or more electron beams passes. ,

The detecting step detects one of coordinates of an irradiation position of one of the two or more electron beams, and the calculating step includes the step of exposing the electron beam based on the detected coordinates. Calculating the correction value for correcting a shift of the irradiation position of the electron beam other than the electron beam at which the one of the coordinates of the irradiation position is detected due to one of the entire uniform expansion and contraction and rotation of the member of the apparatus.

2. The electron beam correction method according to claim 1, wherein:

4. The detecting step is the irradiation position of the electron beam at which the one coordinate is detected. Position is detected,

The calculating step includes, based on the detected irradiation position, an irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam at which the irradiation position has been detected, based on uniform expansion, contraction, and rotation of the entire member of the electron beam exposure apparatus. 4. The electron beam correction method according to claim 3, wherein the correction value for correcting the deviation is calculated.

5. The detecting step includes detecting the irradiation position of the electron beam at which the one coordinate is detected,

The calculating step corrects, based on the detected irradiation position, a shift in the irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam whose irradiation position is detected due to the parallel movement of the member of the electron beam exposure device. Calculate the correction value

4. The electron beam correction method according to claim 3, wherein:

6. The electron beam generator generates three or more electron beams, and the member has three or more openings through which each of the three or more electron beams passes. Detecting an irradiation position of two electron beams of the three or more electron beams,

In the calculating step, based on the irradiation positions of the two electron beams, the irradiation positions of the electron beams other than the two electron beams by uniformly expanding, contracting, rotating, and translating the entire member of the electron beam exposure apparatus Calculate the correction value to correct the deviation

4. The electron beam correction method according to claim 3, wherein:

7. The electron beam generator generates four or more electron beams, and the member has four or more openings through which each of the four or more electron beams passes. Detecting the irradiation positions of three electron beams of the four or more electron beams,

The calculating step includes, based on the irradiation positions of the three electron beams, rotation, translation, and expansion and contraction of the member of the electron beam exposure apparatus in each of two orthogonal directions. No irradiation position of electron beam other than beam Calculate the correction value to correct for this

4. The electron beam correction method according to claim 3, wherein:

8. The electron beam generator generates five or more electron beams, and the member has five or more openings through which each of the five or more electron beams passes.

The detecting step includes detecting an irradiation position of at least four electron beams of the five or more electron beams,

The calculating may include, based on the irradiation positions of the at least four electron beams, rotation, translation, non-linear expansion and contraction of the member of the electron beam exposure apparatus in each of two orthogonal directions. Calculate the correction value for correcting a shift of the irradiation position of the electron beam other than at least four electron beams.

4. The electron beam correction method according to claim 3, wherein:

9.A re-detection step of re-detecting at least one of the coordinates of the irradiation position of the one electron beam;

A recalculation step of calculating the correction value again based on the coordinates detected in the detection step and the coordinates detected in the redetection step.

2. The electron beam correction method according to claim 1, further comprising:

10. The method further comprises a calibration step of calibrating each of the two or more electron beams, and the calculating step calculates the correction value based on the calibrated irradiation positions of the two or more electron beams. Do

2. The electron beam correction method according to claim 1, wherein:

1 1. The electron beam exposure apparatus further includes a wafer stage on which the wafer is mounted,

The stage has a mark for detecting the irradiation position of the two electron beams,

In the detecting step, the irradiation positions of the two electron beams are detected using the same mark portion.

7. The electron beam correction method according to claim 6, wherein:

12. An electron beam exposure apparatus for exposing a wafer with two or more electron beams,

An electron gun for generating the two or more electron beams;

A deflecting unit for independently deflecting the two or more electron beams,

A wafer stage on which the wafer is mounted,

A mark unit provided on the wafer stage for detecting an irradiation position of at least one of the two or more electron beams;

An electron detection unit that detects reflected electrons of the at least one electron beam applied to the mark unit and outputs a detection signal corresponding to the amount of the detected reflected electrons; and A position detection unit that detects at least one of the coordinates of the irradiation position of one electron beam;

A calculating unit that calculates a correction value for correcting an irradiation position of an electron beam other than the electron beam whose coordinates have been detected, based on the detected coordinates.

A deflection control unit that controls the deflection unit to deflect the electron beam other than the electron beam whose coordinates have been detected based on the correction value;

An electron beam exposure apparatus, comprising:

13.A slit portion having two or more slits for shaping the cross-sectional shape of each of the two or more electron beams,

An electron lens unit having two or more electron lenses for focusing each of the two or more electron beams;

Further comprising

The calculation unit detects the coordinates based on at least one of expansion, contraction, rotation, and translation of at least one of the deflection unit, the slit unit, and the electron lens unit based on the detected coordinates. A correction value for correcting a deviation of the irradiation position of the electron beam other than the obtained electron beam.

The electron beam exposure apparatus according to claim 12, wherein: