KR102456281B1 - Auxiliary exposure device - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary exposure apparatus capable of increasing exposure resolution.
An auxiliary exposure apparatus according to an embodiment is an auxiliary exposure apparatus that is disposed on a front or rear end side of an exposure apparatus that performs exposure processing on a target substrate, and performs exposure processing locally on a target substrate, comprising: a conveying unit; , and a light source unit. The transport unit transports the processing target substrate in the scanning direction. The light source unit irradiates a line-shaped light having a longitudinal direction intersecting the scanning direction with respect to the processing target substrate conveyed in the scanning direction. Further, the light source unit is configured to include a digital micromirror device in which a plurality of movable micromirrors are arranged.

Description

Auxiliary exposure device {AUXILIARY EXPOSURE DEVICE}

The disclosed embodiment relates to an auxiliary exposure apparatus.

Conventionally, there has been known an auxiliary exposure apparatus that performs a local exposure treatment on a resist film applied on a substrate to be processed, separately from a normal exposure apparatus that transfers, for example, a pattern of a mask. According to such an auxiliary exposure apparatus, the film thickness and the uniformity of the line width of the resist pattern after the development process in photolithography can be improved.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an auxiliary exposure apparatus provided with a light source unit formed by arranging a plurality of LED (Light Emitting Diode) elements in a line shape.

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-186191

However, the exposure resolution in the case of using the LED element is limited by the size of the LED element body (eg, about 5 mm). For this reason, there exists room for further improvement in the point of raising the exposure resolution in the above-mentioned prior art.

One aspect of the embodiment aims to provide an auxiliary exposure apparatus capable of increasing exposure resolution.

An auxiliary exposure apparatus according to an aspect of the embodiment is an auxiliary exposure apparatus disposed on the front or rear end side of an exposure apparatus that performs exposure treatment on a target substrate, and performs exposure treatment locally on a target substrate, A carrying unit and a light source unit are provided. The transport unit transports the processing target substrate in the scanning direction. The light source unit irradiates a line-shaped light having a longitudinal direction intersecting the scanning direction with respect to the processing target substrate conveyed in the scanning direction. Further, the light source unit is configured to include a digital micromirror device in which a plurality of movable micromirrors are arranged.

According to one aspect of the embodiment, it is possible to increase the exposure resolution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure which shows the structure of the substrate processing system which concerns on embodiment.
It is a flowchart which showed the processing procedure of the pre-process with respect to 1 sheet of glass substrates in a substrate processing system.
It is a figure which shows the format which partitions the product area|region on a glass substrate in matrix form in embodiment.
3B is a diagram showing a structure for calculating and mapping measured values of a film thickness or line width of a resist pattern for each unit region of a matrix section on a glass substrate.
3C is a diagram illustrating a structure in which a corrected exposure amount is calculated and mapped for each unit area of a matrix section on a glass substrate.
3D is a diagram illustrating a structure in which a target value of illuminance is calculated and mapped for each unit area of a matrix section on a glass substrate.
4 is a diagram showing the configuration of an auxiliary exposure apparatus according to an embodiment.
5 is a view showing an irradiation area of ultraviolet rays irradiated from a light source unit.
6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a light source unit.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, embodiment of the auxiliary exposure apparatus disclosed by this application is described in detail. In addition, this invention is not limited by embodiment shown below.

[Configuration of substrate processing system]

The substrate processing system 100 shown in Fig. 1 is installed in a clean room, for example, a glass substrate G for a liquid crystal display (LCD) is used as a substrate to be processed, and is cleaned during a photolithography process in an LCD manufacturing process. , a series of processes such as resist coating, pre-bake, development and post-baking are performed. The exposure processing is performed by an external exposure apparatus 20 (EXP) installed adjacent to the substrate processing system 100 .

The substrate processing system 100 includes a cassette station 1 , a carry-in unit 2 (IN PASS), a cleaning device 3 (SCR), a first drying unit 4 (DR), and a first A cooling unit 5 (COL), an application device 6 (COT), a second drying unit 7 (DR), a pre-bake unit 8 (PRE BAKE), and a second cooling unit 9 ) (COL) and an interface station (10). Further, the substrate processing system 100 includes an auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 (AE), a developing apparatus 12 (DEV), a post-baking unit 13 (POST BAKE), and a third cooling unit 14 . (COL), the inspection part 15 (IP), the carrying out part 16 (OUT PASS), and the control part 17 are provided.

Between the cassette station 1 and the interface station 10, a conveyance outward path for conveying the glass substrate G from the cassette station 1 to the interface station 10 is formed, and on this conveyance outgoing path, The carrying-in part 2, the washing|cleaning apparatus 3, the 1st drying part 4, the 1st cooling part 5, the application|coating apparatus 6, the 2nd drying part 7, the pre-baking part 8 and the agent 2 The cooling unit 9 is installed in this order from the cassette station 1 toward the interface station 10 .

Further, between the cassette station 1 and the interface station 10, a conveyance return path for conveying the glass substrate G from the interface station 10 to the cassette station 1 is formed, and on this conveyance return path, The auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 , the developing apparatus 12 , the post-baking unit 13 , the third cooling unit 14 , the inspection unit 15 , and the discharging unit 16 are connected from the interface station 10 to the cassette station 1 . ) in this order. On the other hand, the conveyance outbound path and the conveyance return path are constituted by, for example, a roller conveyance path or the like.

The cassette station 1 is a port which carries in and carries out the cassette C which stacked the glass substrate G in multiple stages, and accommodated multiple sheets. Cassette station 1 includes, for example, four cassette stages 1a that can be arranged side by side in one horizontal direction (Y-axis direction), and a glass substrate G with respect to a cassette C on the cassette stage 1a. A conveying device 1b is provided. The conveyance apparatus 1b has the conveyance arm which hold|maintains the glass substrate G, is operable by 4 axes of X, Y, Z, and (theta), and the cassette stage 1a adjacent, the carrying-in part 2, and carrying out. The glass substrate G can be transferred between the part 16 and the part 16 .

The interface station 10 includes a conveying device 10a. The conveyance apparatus 10a has the conveyance arm which holds the glass substrate G, is operable in 4 axes of X, Y, Z, and (theta), and the adjacent 2nd cooling part 9 and the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11. ) and the exposure apparatus 20 so that the glass substrate G can be transferred. In addition, in the interface station 10, other than the conveyance apparatus 10a, apparatuses, such as a peripheral exposure apparatus and a titler, may be arrange|positioned, for example. The peripheral exposure apparatus performs exposure processing for removing the resist adhering to the peripheral part of the glass substrate G at the time of development. A titler records predetermined information on the predetermined site|part on the glass substrate G.

The control unit 17 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and controls the entire substrate processing system 100 by reading and executing a program (not shown) stored in a storage unit (not shown). The control unit 17 may be configured only by hardware without using a program.

FIG. 2 : is a flowchart which showed the process sequence of the pre-process with respect to 1 sheet of glass substrate G in the substrate processing system 100. As shown in FIG. First, in the cassette station 1, the conveying apparatus 1b takes out the glass substrate G from any one of the cassettes C on the cassette stage 1a, and transfers the taken out glass substrate G to the carrying-in part 2 ) (step S101).

The glass substrate G carried in to the carrying-in part 2 is conveyed on a conveyance outbound path, it is carried in to the washing|cleaning apparatus 3, and a washing|cleaning process is performed (step S102). Here, the cleaning device 3 removes particulate dirt from the substrate surface by brushing or blow cleaning the glass substrate G moving horizontally on the conveyance outward path, and then rinsing. do. When a series of washing processes in the washing|cleaning apparatus 3 are complete|finished, the glass substrate G is carried in to the 1st drying part 4 .

Then, after a predetermined drying process is performed in the 1st drying part 4 (step S103), the glass substrate G is carried in to the 1st cooling part 5 and is cooled to predetermined temperature (step S103). S104). Then, the glass substrate G is carried in to the coating device 6 .

In the coating apparatus 6, a resist liquid is applied to the glass substrate G on the upper surface of the substrate (the surface to be processed) by, for example, a spinless method using a slit nozzle (step S105). Then, the glass substrate G is carried in to the 2nd drying part 7, and receives the drying process of normal temperature by pressure_reduction|reduced_pressure, for example (step S106).

The glass substrate G carried out from the 2nd drying part 7 is carried in to the pre-bake part 8, and is heated at predetermined temperature in the pre-bake part 8 (step S107). By this process, the solvent which remained in the resist film on the glass substrate G evaporates and is removed, and the adhesiveness of the resist film with respect to the glass substrate G is strengthened.

Then, the glass substrate G is carried in to the 2nd cooling part 9, and is cooled to the predetermined temperature in the 2nd cooling part 9 (step S108). Thereafter, the glass substrate G is loaded into the exposure apparatus 20 by the transfer apparatus 10a of the interface station 10 . In addition, before being carried in to the exposure apparatus 20, glass substrate G may be carried in to the peripheral exposure apparatus which is not shown in figure.

In the exposure apparatus 20, a predetermined circuit pattern is exposed to the resist on the glass substrate G (step S109). And the glass substrate G which has completed pattern exposure is carried out from the exposure apparatus 20 by the conveyance apparatus 10a of the interface station 10, and is carried in to the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11. As shown in FIG. In addition, before being carried in to the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11, glass substrate G may be carried in to the titler which is not shown in figure.

In the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11, a special auxiliary exposure treatment as described below for improving the uniformity of the film thickness and line width of the resist pattern obtained after the developing treatment is performed on the glass substrate G after the exposure treatment (step S110). The glass substrate G after the auxiliary exposure process is carried in to the developing apparatus 12, and a series of development processes of image development, rinsing, and drying are performed in the developing apparatus 12 (step S111).

The glass substrate G after the development process is carried in to the post-baking part 13, and the heat processing after the developing process is performed in the post-baking part 13 (step S112). Thereby, the developing solution and the washing|cleaning liquid which remained in the resist film of the glass substrate G are evaporated and removed, and the adhesiveness of the resist pattern with respect to a board|substrate is reinforced. Then, the glass substrate G is carried in to the 3rd cooling part 14, and is cooled to the predetermined temperature in the 3rd cooling part 14 (step S113).

Then, the glass substrate G is carried in to the inspection part 15. As shown in FIG. In the inspection unit 15, a non-contact line width inspection, a film quality and a film thickness inspection, etc. are performed on the resist pattern on the glass substrate G (step S114). The inspection result in the inspection unit 15 is output to the control unit 17 , and is stored in a storage unit (not shown) by the control unit 17 .

The carrying out unit 16 receives the inspected glass substrate G from the inspection unit 15 , and delivers it to the conveying device 1b of the cassette station 1 . The conveyance apparatus 1b accommodates the processed glass substrate G received from the carrying out part 16 in the cassette C (step S115). By the above, the pre-process of the board|substrate process with respect to 1 sheet of glass substrate G is complete|finished.

The auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 performs a local exposure treatment on the glass substrate G after the exposure treatment, where the film thickness or the line width deviates from the desired film thickness or line width, so that the resist pattern obtained after the development treatment is obtained. The uniformity of the film thickness and line width is improved. The operation of the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 is controlled by the control unit 17 .

The control unit 17 controls the operation of the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 based on the inspection result acquired from the inspection unit 15 . Here, an example of a method of generating control data of the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 from the inspection result of the inspection unit 15 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3D .

It is a figure which shows the format which partitions the product area|region on the glass substrate G in matrix form in embodiment. FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a structure for calculating and mapping the measured values of the film thickness or line width of the resist pattern for each unit region of the matrix section on the glass substrate G. As shown in FIG. FIG. 3C is a diagram illustrating a structure in which a corrected exposure amount is calculated and mapped for each unit area of a matrix section on the glass substrate G. Referring to FIG. FIG. 3D is a diagram illustrating a structure in which a target value of illuminance is calculated and mapped for each unit area of a matrix section on the glass substrate G. Referring to FIG.

The inspection part 15 measures the film thickness and line width of the resist pattern obtained on the glass substrate G after post-baking at several (for example, several dozen) representative points on the glass substrate G, for example. Moreover, the control part 17 is free by interpolation process predetermined based on the measured value in the representative point on the glass substrate G acquired by the inspection part 15 with respect to the film thickness and line|wire width of a resist pattern. A measured value (precisely a guess value) at another position or area on the substrate G is calculated.

For example, the control unit 17 divides the product area PA on the glass substrate G in a matrix form as shown in Fig. 3A, and the film thickness of the resist pattern for each unit area (i, j) of the matrix division. A measured value (or an estimated value obtained by interpolation) Ai,j of the spiral line width is calculated, and mapped as shown in FIG. 3B on a table built in memory. In addition, in the figure, in order to make understanding easy, the matrix division is shown by 9 columns (j=1-9). In reality, both the number of rows and the number of columns of the matrix section are at least several tens or more, and in a large-sized substrate for FPD, there are hundreds or more.

Subsequently, the control unit 17 calculates the corrected exposure amount Bi,j for each unit region (i,j) of the matrix section on the glass substrate G, for example, on a table constructed in the memory, as shown in Fig. 3C map Here, the corrected exposure amount Bi,j is an exposure amount for bringing the difference (error) between the measured value and the set value close to zero with respect to the film thickness or line width of the resist pattern in each unit region (i,j).

Subsequently, the control unit 17 calculates the target value Ci,j of the illuminance for each unit region (i,j) of the matrix section on the glass substrate G, for example, as shown in Fig. 3D on a table constructed in the memory. map as Here, assuming that the ultraviolet irradiation time per each unit region (i, j) of the matrix section in the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 is tS, Ci,j = Bi,j/tS.

[Configuration of auxiliary exposure apparatus]

Next, the structure of the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 which concerns on embodiment is demonstrated with reference to FIG.4 and FIG.5. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 according to the embodiment. In addition, FIG. 5 is a view showing an irradiation area of ultraviolet rays irradiated from the light source unit 32 .

As shown in FIG. 4 , the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 includes a flat flow conveyance unit 30 that conveys the glass substrate G in the scanning direction (X-axis negative direction), and this flat flow conveyance unit 30 . ), a light source unit 32 for irradiating light, specifically, ultraviolet rays (UV) of a predetermined wavelength to the resist on the glass substrate G carried by the ? In addition, the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 includes an illuminance measuring unit 38 that measures the illuminance of the light irradiated by the light source unit 32 , a control unit 17 for controlling each part in the apparatus, and a control unit 17 . A memory 42 for accumulating or storing various programs and data to be used is provided.

The flat conveyance section 30 includes, for example, a roller conveyance path 46 formed by laying a large number of rollers 44 in the conveying direction, and each roller ( It has a scanning drive part 50 which rotationally drives 44 through the transmission mechanism 48 which has a belt, a gear, etc., for example. The roller conveyance path 46 constitutes a part of the conveyance return path from the interface station 10 to the cassette station 1 in the substrate processing system 100 shown in FIG.

The parallel flow conveyance part 30 carries in the glass substrate G after exposure processing into the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 by a flow path, and carries out the glass substrate G for scanning of the auxiliary exposure process in the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11. It conveys by a parallel flow, and the glass substrate G which finished the auxiliary exposure process is carried out to the developing apparatus 12 by a parallel flow. On the other hand, the control part 17 detects thru|or grasps the present position of the glass substrate G through the position sensor (not shown) arrange|positioned here and there in the roller conveyance path 46.

The light source unit 32 is disposed above the roller conveyance path 46 and is supported by a support member (not shown). As shown in FIG. 5 , the light source unit 32 has a width in a direction (Y-axis direction) crossing the scanning direction is shorter than the glass substrate G, and the glass in this direction (Y-axis direction) is It is arrange|positioned at the center part of the board|substrate G (in other words, of the roller conveyance path 46). This light source unit 32 irradiates line-shaped light whose longitudinal direction is a direction (Y-axis direction) intersecting the scanning direction with respect to the glass substrate G conveyed in the scanning direction (X-axis negative direction). .

As shown in FIG. 4 , the light source unit 32 according to the present embodiment is configured to include a digital micro-mirror device (hereinafter, referred to as DMD) 325 .

The DMD 325 is a spatial light modulator having a plurality of movable micromirrors (hereinafter referred to as mirrors). The mirror size of one mirror is, for example, several tens of micrometers, and in the DMD 325, several tens to several million such mirrors are arranged in a matrix form.

Each mirror is displaceable between an on-angle which reflects light toward the glass substrate G, and an off-angle which reflects light toward places other than the glass substrate G.

The control unit 17 controls the operation of each mirror of the DMD 325 and adjusts the on-angle and off-angle time ratio for each mirror, so that for each unit area on the glass substrate G corresponding to each mirror, the unit Adjust the illuminance of the light irradiated to the area.

Specifically, the control unit 17 determines that the illuminance of each unit region (i,j) is the target value Ci,j with respect to the unit region (i,j) on the glass substrate G passing through the light source unit 32 . Adjust the time ratio of the on-angle and off-angle for each mirror so that The control part 17 synchronizes with the movement to the scanning direction of the glass substrate G by the roller conveyance path 46, and performs the said process for every column of the unit area|region lined up in the direction intersecting a scanning direction. Auxiliary exposure processing is performed with respect to the whole unit area|region in glass substrate G.

In the DMD 325 , each of the smallest mirrors can correspond to a unit area on the glass substrate G. As shown in FIG. In other words, by using the DMD 325, the size of the unit region set on the glass substrate G can be made small in accordance with the size of the mirror. Therefore, according to the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 which concerns on this embodiment, compared with the conventional auxiliary exposure apparatus which is restricted by the size (about 5 mm) of an LED element main body, exposure resolution can be raised.

[Configuration of light source unit]

Next, an example of the configuration of the light source unit 32 including the DMD 325 described above will be described with reference to FIG. 6 . 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the light source unit 32 . In addition, the structure of the light source unit 32 is not limited to the structure shown in FIG.

6 , the light source unit 32 includes a light source 321 , a first lens 322 , a reflector 323 , a second lens 324 , a DMD 325 , and a projection A lens 326 and a light trap 327 are provided.

The light source 321 emits ultraviolet (UV) light. As the light source 321, for example, an LED, a laser beam generator, or the like can be used. The first lens 322 is disposed on the optical path between the light source 321 and the DMD 325 , and expands the light emitted from the light source 321 . The reflector 323 is disposed on the optical path between the first lens 322 and the DMD 325 , and reflects the light expanded by the first lens 322 toward the DMD 325 . On the other hand, the angle of this reflection mirror 323 is fixed.

The second lens 324 is disposed on the optical path between the reflection mirror 323 and the DMD 325 , and uniformizes the distribution of light reflected by the reflection mirror 323 . The DMD 325 has a plurality of rectangular mirrors M, and by driving each mirror M under the control of the control unit 17, the illuminance of the light irradiated onto the glass substrate G is adjusted for each unit area. do.

The projection lens 326 is disposed on the optical path between the DMD 325 and the glass substrate G, and lines the light reflected by the DMD 325 toward the glass substrate G with respect to the glass substrate G. Enlarged and projected. The light trap 327 is disposed on the optical path of the light reflected by the off-angle mirror M, and absorbs this light.

In this way, the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 according to the embodiment includes a single light source unit 32 having a single light source 321 . Therefore, compared with the conventional auxiliary exposure apparatus using a plurality of LED elements as light sources, a complicated process of adjusting the illuminance of each light source in consideration of, for example, overlapping of lights emitted from different light sources becomes unnecessary.

In addition, the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 may be equipped with the some light source unit 32. As shown in FIG. Even in this case, since the DMD 325 included in the light source unit 32 can reflect light in a rectangular shape by the rectangular mirror M, for example, a conventional device having an LED element irradiating light in a circular shape. Compared with the auxiliary exposure apparatus of , the lights irradiated from different light source units 32 are less likely to overlap each other. Therefore, the complicated process of adjusting the illuminance of each light source in consideration of the overlap of lights is unnecessary.

Also, as shown in FIG. 1 , the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 according to the present embodiment is disposed on the rear end side of the exposure apparatus 20 and on the front end of the developing apparatus 12 . That is, even if the precision of the exposure process is high, when the precision of the developing process performed thereafter is low, there is a possibility that a deviation may occur in the film thickness or the line width. Therefore, in order to properly correct the deviation of the film thickness or the line width, as in the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 according to the present embodiment, after all the steps before the development process have been completed, that is, immediately before the developing apparatus 12, the auxiliary exposure apparatus ( 11) is preferred. According to the substrate processing system 100 which concerns on this embodiment, the film thickness and line|wire width of the glass substrate G after development are inspected by the inspection unit 15, and the inspection result is fed back to the auxiliary exposure processing immediately before the development. By doing so, the film thickness and line width can be appropriately corrected.

In addition, arrangement|positioning of the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 is not limited to the above-mentioned example, If it is the rear end side of the coating apparatus 6 and the front end side of the developing apparatus 12, it can arrange|position at arbitrary positions.

[Irradiance distribution adjustment processing]

By the way, when the reflected light of the DMD 325 is expanded to the width|variety of the glass substrate G, we are concerned about the illuminance distribution becoming non-uniform|heterogenous. Specifically, among the line-shaped lights irradiated from the light source unit 32 , there is a possibility that the illuminance on the side farther from the DMD 325 is lowered compared with the illuminance at the central portion close to the DMD 325 . In particular, when a single light source unit 32 is used as in the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 according to the present embodiment, non-uniformity of the illuminance distribution as described above tends to occur.

Therefore, in the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11, the illuminance measuring unit 38 is provided, and a process of measuring the irradiation distribution of the line-shaped light irradiated from the light source unit 32 using the illuminance measuring unit 38 is performed in advance. You may make it determine the command value to the light source unit 32 in an auxiliary exposure process in consideration of the result.

The illuminance measuring unit 38 includes, for example, an illuminance meter for measuring the illuminance of ultraviolet rays, and a moving mechanism for moving the illuminance meter in the irradiation line direction (Y-axis direction) directly under the light source unit 32 . The illuminometer has a photoelectric conversion element, such as a photodiode, near its top, and generates an electric signal (illuminance measurement signal) corresponding to the light intensity of ultraviolet rays incident on the light-receiving surface. The illuminance measurement signal output from the illuminance meter is sent to the control part 17 through an analog-to-digital converter, for example.

The moving mechanism mounts the illuminometer on the carriage so that the light receiving part of the illuminometer is at the same height as the surface of the glass substrate G at the time of moving on the roller conveyance path 46, and parallel to the light source unit 32 (Y-axis direction) The carriage and the illuminometer are arbitrarily moved in both directions by a linear motor, for example, on an extended rail, and the illuminometer can be stopped or stopped at any position on the rail.

The control unit 17 controls the DMD 325 to drive each mirror M at the same time ratio (eg, on angle:off angle=1:1), and controls the illuminance measuring unit 38 to Measure the illuminance at each position while moving the illuminometer in the irradiation line direction (Y-axis direction). Thereby, the illuminance distribution of the line-shaped light irradiated by the light source unit 32 is acquired. The control unit 17 stores the acquired illuminance distribution in the memory 42 .

The control unit 17 refers to the illumination map as shown in FIG. 3D and the illuminance distribution stored in the table of the memory 42 prior to the auxiliary exposure process, and each unit area ( The command value Vi,j is calculated for each i,j) and mapped on a table constructed in the memory 42, for example.

And the control part 17 controls the light source unit 32 and the roller conveyance path 46, and makes it scan between the glass substrate G and the light source unit 32 for auxiliary exposure processing. In this scan, when the unit regions (i,1) to (i,9) of the i-th row of the matrix section on the glass substrate G pass directly under the light source unit 32 , the light source unit 32 is For each command value Vi,1 to Vi,9 for the i-th row are given. As a result, the unit regions (i,1) to (i,9) of the i-th row are irradiated with linear light from the light source unit 32 at an independent illuminance for each unit region for a fixed period of time.

In this way, when the glass substrate G passes directly under the light source unit 32, auxiliary exposure of independent illuminance or exposure amount is performed for each unit area (i,j) on the irradiation line (each row of the matrix division).

In this way, the control unit 17 of the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 uniformly controls the measurement result of at least one of the film thickness and the line width of the glass substrate G after the development and the plurality of mirrors M. In this case, the operation of each mirror M may be controlled based on the illuminance distribution of the line-shaped light irradiated from the light source unit 32 . By doing in this way, the precision fall of the auxiliary exposure process which generate|occur|produces by the nonuniformity of an illuminance distribution can be suppressed.

On the other hand, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which one mirror M is associated with one unit area, but the number of mirrors M to be associated may be different for each unit area.

For example, when the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 is provided with a single light source unit 32, depending on the configuration of the optical system, it is irradiated from one mirror M to the end of the glass substrate G in the line direction. The irradiation range of light may become large compared with the irradiation range of the light irradiated from one mirror M to the center of the glass substrate G in the line direction (that is, just below the light source unit 32).

Therefore, the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 makes one or a plurality of mirrors M correspond to the unit area on the end side in the line direction, and there are more mirrors M for the unit area on the center side in the line direction than the unit area on the end side in the line direction. You may make the mirror M correspond. That is, if the irradiation range of light irradiated from one mirror M to the line direction end side is twice the size of the light irradiation range from one mirror M to the line direction central portion side, One mirror M may be made to correspond to the unit area|region on the side of a line direction edge part, and you may make it correspond two mirrors M to the unit area|region on the side of a line direction center part. By doing in this way, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the precision of the auxiliary exposure process due to the difference in the irradiation range.

Further, in the DMD 325, there is a possibility that the reflection characteristics may change due to heat. Then, the auxiliary exposure apparatus 11 may be equipped with the temperature adjustment part which adjusts the temperature of the DMD325. As the temperature adjusting unit, for example, a heat sink, a Peltier module, or the like can be used.

Moreover, in embodiment mentioned above, the flow conveyance part 30 which conveys the glass substrate G in a flow was provided, and the light source unit 32 was fixed at the fixed position in a scanning direction. However, for example, a scanning method in which the glass substrate G is fixed to a stage and moving the light source unit 32 in the scanning direction on the stage, or a scanning method in which both the glass substrate G and the light source unit 32 are moved. It is possible.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although it was assumed that the target substrate is a glass substrate for FPD, it is not limited to this, Other flat panel display board|substrates, semiconductor wafer, organic electroluminescent, various board|substrates for solar cells, CD board|substrate, photo A mask, a printed circuit board, etc. may be sufficient.

As described above, the auxiliary exposure apparatus according to the embodiment is disposed on the front end side or the rear end side of the exposure apparatus for performing the exposure treatment on the target substrate, and for performing the exposure treatment locally on the processing target substrate. An apparatus comprising: a conveying unit; and a light source unit. The transport unit transports the processing target substrate in the scanning direction. The light source unit irradiates a line-shaped light having a longitudinal direction intersecting the scanning direction with respect to the processing target substrate conveyed in the scanning direction. Further, the light source unit is configured to include a digital micromirror device in which a plurality of movable micromirrors are arranged. Therefore, according to the auxiliary exposure apparatus according to the embodiment, it is possible to increase the exposure resolution.

Further effects and modifications can be easily derived by those skilled in the art. For this reason, the more extensive aspect of this invention is not limited to the specific detail and typical embodiment shown and described as mentioned above. Accordingly, various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit or scope of the overall inventive concept defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

11: auxiliary exposure apparatus 12: developing apparatus
17: control unit 20: exposure apparatus
30: flat conveying unit 32: light source unit
38: roughness measurement unit 46: roller conveyance path
100: substrate processing system 325: DMD

Claims (3)

An auxiliary exposure apparatus disposed on a front or rear end side of an exposure apparatus that performs exposure treatment on a target substrate, and performs exposure treatment locally on the target substrate, the auxiliary exposure apparatus comprising:
A light source unit for irradiating a line-shaped light having a longitudinal direction intersecting a scanning direction with respect to the substrate to be processed
to provide
The light source unit,
a spatial light modulator having a plurality of movable micromirrors;
It is disposed on an optical path between the spatial light modulator having the plurality of movable micromirrors and the target substrate, and transmits light reflected by the spatial light modulator having the plurality of movable micromirrors to the target substrate in the line type. Projection lens that enlarges and projects
Auxiliary exposure apparatus comprising: The auxiliary exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relative positions of the target substrate and the light source unit are changed along the scanning direction. The auxiliary exposure apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a plurality of said light source units.

Images