Exposure method and device for non-standard semiconductor substrate

Abstract

The present application provides an exposure method and device for a non-standard semiconductor substrate. During the first exposure, based on the contour information of the substrate to be exposed, the maximum inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed is determined; based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit, the effective exposure area and the layout data of the exposure unit are determined; the vertex on the specified orientation of the effective exposure area is selected as the starting exposure marking point, and the marking point data is constructed based on the starting exposure marking point and the vertices on the remaining orientations of the effective exposure area; according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the marking point data and the preset exposure direction, the S-shaped path algorithm is used to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed; along the exposure path, the substrate to be exposed is exposed within the effective exposure area starting from the starting exposure marking point. The present application dynamically determines the effective exposure area according to the actual contour of the substrate, thereby dynamically planning the exposure path, and further improving the utilization rate of the substrate and the production efficiency of the chip.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing technologies, and in particular, to an exposure method and apparatus for non-standard semiconductor substrates. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of semiconductor technologies and the continuous improvement of the integration density of integrated chips, the manufacturing process of chips has become increasingly complex. To ensure a high yield rate, the requirements for the entire process flow and equipment will be more stringent. During the manufacturing process of integrated chips, multiple processes such as material preparation, masking, lithography, cleaning, etching, etc. are experienced, and among them, the lithography process is the most critical, which determines the advanced degree of the manufacturing process and the finished product quality of the integrated chips.

[0003] As an important step in the semiconductor device manufacturing process, lithography utilizes the characteristic that the photoresist or etching resist forms corrosion resistance after being exposed to light due to a photochemical reaction, and engraves the pattern on the mask plate onto the surface of the wafer to be processed. During the exposure process, since the area size that can be exposed by the exposure system at one time is limited, it is necessary to divide a substrate into multiple exposure units for exposure imaging respectively during exposure. Nowadays, various arrangement methods for exposure units in standard substrates have also been proposed, where the standard substrate is a wafer with a standard size of 4 - 12 inches.

[0004] However, when the shape and size of the substrate to be exposed are non-industry-standard wafers, the existing arrangement methods for exposure units are not applicable. To solve the problem of the exposure path for non-standard substrates, it is usually necessary to manually set the exposure area and each exposure path. Due to the size differences of substrates in the same batch, only square substrates can be defined according to the minimum specification shape. However, the manufacturing process of non-standard substrates is complex and the materials are expensive, and this method will cause great production waste. And if an exposure area is defined for each substrate, the production efficiency will be greatly reduced. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of this, the purpose of the present application is to provide an exposure method and apparatus for non-standard semiconductor substrates, which dynamically determine the effective exposure area according to the actual contour of the substrate, thereby making a dynamic exposure path plan, and further improving the utilization rate and production efficiency of the substrate.

[0006] The embodiment of the present application provides an exposure method for non-standard semiconductor substrates, and the exposure method includes:

[0007] When it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is for the first exposure, based on the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed, determine the largest inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed;

[0008] Based on the dimensions of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the dimensions of the exposure unit, determine the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit; the area of the effective exposure area is an integer multiple of the area of the exposure unit, and the effective exposure area is the area within the maximum inscribed rectangle that contains the most exposure units;

[0009] Select the vertex at a specified orientation of the effective exposure area as the starting exposure marker point, and construct marker point data based on the starting exposure marker point and the vertices at the remaining orientations of the effective exposure area;

[0010] According to the layout data of the exposure unit, the marker point data, and a preset exposure direction, use the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed;

[0011] According to the exposure path, start from the starting exposure marker point and expose the substrate to be exposed within the effective exposure area.

[0012] Optionally, before using the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed according to the layout data of the exposure unit and the preset exposure direction, the exposure method further includes:

[0013] Bind the layout data of the exposure unit and the marker point data to the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed;

[0014] Store the bound layout data of the exposure unit and the marker point data in the exposure process database.

[0015] Optionally, determine whether the substrate to be exposed is being exposed for the first time through the following steps:

[0016] Locate the position of the identity identifier in the obtained image of the surface to be exposed to determine the identity identifier information area;

[0017] Perform character recognition or barcode recognition on the identity identifier information area to obtain the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed;

[0018] Based on the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed, search in the exposure process database to check if there is exposure planning data for the substrate to be exposed; the exposure process data includes the layout data of the exposure unit and the marker point data;

[0019] When the result is no, determine that the substrate to be exposed is being exposed for the first time;

[0020] When the result is yes, determine that the substrate to be exposed is not being exposed for the first time.

[0021] Optionally, obtain the image of the surface to be exposed through the following steps:

[0022] Obtain a panoramic image of the exposure workpiece platform including the substrate to be exposed;

[0023] Perform image recognition on the panoramic image to determine the image of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed.

[0024] Optionally, when it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is not for the first exposure, the exposure method includes:

[0025] Read the exposure planning data of the substrate to be exposed;

[0026] Based on the fiducial point data in the exposure planning data and the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed, perform exposure positioning on the substrate to be exposed;

[0027] After positioning, according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the fiducial point data and the preset exposure direction, adopt the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed;

[0028] According to the exposure path, start from the starting exposure fiducial point and perform exposure on the substrate to be exposed within the effective exposure area.

[0029] Optionally, the determining the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit includes:

[0030] Round and divide the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit, determine the target area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that can include the most exposure units, and determine the target area as the effective exposure area;

[0031] Based on the size of the effective exposure area and the size of the exposure unit, determine the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit;

[0032] Based on the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit, determine the layout data of the exposure unit.

[0033] Optionally, before rounding and dividing the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit, the exposure method further includes:

[0034] According to the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the preset margin, determine a target rectangle located inside the maximum inscribed rectangle; the margins between the target rectangle and the two adjacent sides of the maximum inscribed rectangle are both the preset margin;

[0035] Determine the target rectangle as the maximum inscribed rectangle to be rounded and divided.

[0036] The embodiment of the present application further provides an exposure device for a non-standard semiconductor substrate, and the exposure device includes:

[0037] A first determination module, configured to, when determining that the substrate to be exposed is exposed for the first time, determine the maximum inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed based on the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed;

[0038] A second determination module, configured to determine the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit; the area of the effective exposure area is an integer multiple of the area of the exposure unit, and the effective exposure area is the area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that contains the most exposure units;

[0039] A construction module, configured to select the vertex at a specified orientation of the effective exposure area as the starting exposure mark point, and construct mark point data based on the starting exposure mark point and the vertices at the remaining orientations of the effective exposure area;

[0040] A path determination module, configured to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed by using the S-shaped path algorithm according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the mark point data, and a preset exposure direction;

[0041] A control module, configured to expose the substrate to be exposed in the effective exposure area starting from the starting exposure mark point according to the exposure path.

[0042] Optionally, the exposure device further includes a storage module, and the storage module is configured to:

[0043] Bind the layout data of the exposure unit and the mark point data to the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed;

[0044] Store the bound layout data of the exposure unit and the mark point data in an exposure process database.

[0045] Optionally, the exposure device further includes a first exposure determination module, and the first exposure determination module is configured to:

[0046] Locate the position of the identity identifier in the obtained image of the surface to be exposed to determine the identity identifier information area;

[0047] Perform character recognition or barcode recognition on the identity identifier information area to obtain the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed;

[0048] Based on the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed, look up in the exposure process database whether there is exposure planning data for the substrate to be exposed; the exposure process data includes the layout data of the exposure unit and the fiducial point data;

[0049] When the result is negative, determine that the substrate to be exposed is for the first exposure;

[0050] When the result is positive, determine that the substrate to be exposed is not for the first exposure.

[0051] Optionally, the first exposure determination module is further configured to:

[0052] Obtain a panoramic image of the exposure workpiece platform including the substrate to be exposed;

[0053] Perform image recognition on the panoramic image to determine the image of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed.

[0054] Optionally, when it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is not for the first exposure, the first exposure determination module is further configured to:

[0055] Read the exposure planning data of the substrate to be exposed;

[0056] Based on the fiducial point data in the exposure planning data and the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed, perform exposure positioning on the substrate to be exposed;

[0057] After positioning, according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the fiducial point data, and the preset exposure direction, use the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed;

[0058] According to the exposure path, start from the starting exposure fiducial point and perform exposure on the substrate to be exposed within the effective exposure area.

[0059] Optionally, when the second determination module is used to determine the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit, the second determination module is configured to:

[0060] Round and divide the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit to determine the target area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that can include the most exposure units, and determine the target area as the effective exposure area;

[0061] Based on the size of the effective exposure area and the size of the exposure unit, determine the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit;

[0062] Determine the layout data of the exposure unit based on the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit.

[0063] Optionally, the second determination module is further configured to:

[0064] Determine a target rectangle located inside the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and a preset margin; the margins between the target rectangle and two adjacent sides of the maximum inscribed rectangle are both the preset margin;

[0065] Determine the maximum inscribed rectangle that needs to be rounded and segmented as the target rectangle.

[0066] An embodiment of the present application further provides an electronic device, including: a processor, a memory, and a bus. The memory stores machine-readable instructions executable by the processor. When the electronic device runs, the processor communicates with the memory through the bus. When the machine-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the above exposure method are executed.

[0067] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium. A computer program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program is run by a processor, the steps of the above exposure method are executed.

[0068] An exposure method and device for a non-standard specification semiconductor substrate provided by an embodiment of the present application include: when it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is exposed for the first time, determine the maximum inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed based on the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed; determine the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit; the area of the effective exposure area is an integer multiple of the area of the exposure unit, and the effective exposure area is the area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that contains the most exposure units; select the vertex in the specified direction of the effective exposure area as the starting exposure mark point, and construct mark point data based on the starting exposure mark point and the vertices in the other directions of the effective exposure area; according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the mark point data, and a preset exposure direction, use the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed; and expose the substrate to be exposed in the effective exposure area starting from the starting exposure mark point according to the exposure path.

[0069] In this way, the present application obtains the actual outer contour of the non-standard specification substrate through image recognition technology, and dynamically determines the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed identified according to the actual outer contour, so as to perform dynamic exposure path planning, thereby improving the utilization rate and production efficiency of the substrate.

[0070] To make the above objects, features, and advantages of the present application more obvious and understandable, the following provides preferred embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and describes them in detail as follows. Description of the Drawings

[0071] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show some embodiments of the present application and should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other related drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0072] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of an exposure method for a non-standard semiconductor substrate provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] Figure 2(a) is one of the schematic diagrams of the method for determining the effective exposure area of the present application;

[0074] Figure 2(b) is another schematic diagram of the method for determining the effective exposure area of the present application;

[0075] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the target rectangle determined in the embodiment of the present application;

[0076] Figure 4 It is one of the structural schematic diagrams of an exposure device for a non-standard semiconductor substrate provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] Figure 5 It is another structural schematic diagram of an exposure device for a non-standard semiconductor substrate provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] Figure 6 It is a structural schematic diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application. Detailed Embodiments

[0079] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Usually, the components of the embodiments of the present application described and shown in the drawings here can be arranged and designed in various different configurations. Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present application provided in the drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the present application to be protected, but only represents the selected embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments of the present application, every other embodiment obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts belongs to the scope of protection of the present application.

[0080] As an important step in the semiconductor device manufacturing process, lithography uses the property that the photoresist or etching resist forms corrosion resistance due to photochemical reactions after being exposed to light, and transfers the pattern on the mask to the surface of the wafer to be processed. During the exposure process, since the area that can be exposed in one exposure by the exposure system is limited, the substrate needs to be divided into multiple exposure units for exposure imaging separately when exposed. Nowadays, various arrangement methods for exposure units in wafers with a standard size of 4 - 12 inches have also been proposed.

[0081] However, when the shape and size of the exposed substrate are non - standard wafers in the industry, the existing arrangement methods for exposure units are not applicable. To solve the problem of the exposure path for non - standard substrates, it is usually necessary to manually set the exposure area and each exposure path. However, due to the size differences of substrates in the same batch, only square substrates can be defined according to the minimum specification shape. Since the manufacturing process of non - standard substrates is complex and the materials are expensive, this method will cause great production waste. And if an exposure area is defined for each substrate, the production efficiency will be greatly reduced.

[0082] Based on this, the embodiments of this application provide an exposure method for non - standard semiconductor substrates, which dynamically determines the effective exposure area according to the actual contour of the substrate, thereby making dynamic exposure path planning, and then improving the utilization rate of the substrate and production efficiency.

[0083] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 which is a flowchart of an exposure method for non - standard semiconductor substrates provided by the embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 1 ,the exposure method provided by the embodiments of this application includes:

[0084] S101. When it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is for the first exposure, based on the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed, determine the maximum inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed.

[0085] Here, the substrate to be exposed can be a non - standard semiconductor substrate, that is, the shape and size of the substrate to be exposed can be other than 4 - 12 inches.

[0086] The contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed refers to the contour information of the actual physical shape of the specified surface that needs to be exposed. For example, when the specified surface is the upper surface of the substrate to be exposed, the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed is the contour information of the upper surface of the substrate to be exposed. Among them, the contour information includes the side length of the surface to be exposed, the actual physical shape, the position information of each contour point in the actual shape, etc. It should be noted that the contour information of the exposure surface of the substrate to be exposed is determined before it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is for the first exposure.

[0087] The maximum inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed can be calculated based on the contour point information in the contour information. In this way, multiple inscribed rectangles can be determined, and then the one with the largest area is selected to obtain the maximum inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed.

[0088] In an embodiment of the present application, the following steps are used to determine whether the substrate to be exposed is exposed for the first time: locate the position of the identity mark on the image of the surface to be exposed obtained, and determine the identity mark information area; perform character recognition or barcode recognition on the identity mark information area to obtain the identity mark of the substrate to be exposed; based on the identity mark of the substrate to be exposed, search in the exposure process database to check whether there is exposure planning data for the substrate to be exposed; the exposure process data includes the layout data of the exposure unit and the mark point data; when the result is negative, it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is exposed for the first time; when the result is positive, it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is not exposed for the first time.

[0089] This step is the implementation step for determining whether the substrate to be exposed is exposed for the first time, and specifically includes: First, obtain an image of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed that needs to be lithographed, and perform identity mark position positioning based on the obtained image of the surface to be exposed, and the image can be divided into regions, determining multiple regions, and thus, according to the pre-specified orientation, the region corresponding to this orientation is determined as the identity mark information area; Then, use character recognition or barcode recognition methods to identify the determined identity mark information area, and determine the identity mark of the substrate to be exposed based on the recognized information; Finally, using the identity mark of the substrate to be exposed as an index, search in the exposure process database to check whether there is exposure planning data for the substrate to be exposed. If the exposure planning data for the substrate to be exposed is found, it is considered that the substrate to be exposed is not exposed for the first time. If the exposure planning data for the substrate to be exposed is not found, it is considered that the substrate to be exposed is exposed for the first time.

[0090] The layout data of the exposure unit and the mark point data are automatically planned data after it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is exposed for the first time.

[0091] Exemplarily, the positioning of the identity mark position on the obtained image of the surface to be exposed to determine the identity mark information area can be: cut the image into 4 parts, and when performing the identity mark position positioning, determine the lower left sub-image as the identity mark information area. Here, the reason for directly determining the image at a certain position as the identity mark information area is that before the exposure operation on the substrate to be exposed, the staff can know the specific position where the identity mark is written. Thus, the position of the substrate can be adjusted to ensure that the identity mark exists in the specified orientation of the image of the surface to be exposed, which also enables the identity mark information area to be determined more quickly when performing the identity mark position positioning.

[0092] It should be noted that the identity identification information of the substrate to be exposed is pre-written on the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed. Here, the reason for the need for the identity identification information area is to improve the identification efficiency of the identity information of the substrate to be exposed. This is because the identity identification information of the substrate to be exposed written on the surface to be exposed is generally small, and if the identity identification is performed on the entire image, the identification efficiency is low.

[0093] In addition, when searching in the exposure process database for the exposure planning data of the substrate to be exposed based on the identity identification of the substrate to be exposed, the exposure parameter data of the substrate to be exposed is extracted from the exposure process database at the same time. The exposure parameter data is used to determine the exposure thickness, exposure time, etc. during the exposure process.

[0094] In another embodiment of the present application, the image of the surface to be exposed is obtained through the following steps: obtaining a panoramic image of the exposure workpiece platform carrying the substrate to be exposed; performing image recognition on the panoramic image to determine the image of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed.

[0095] Here, before determining the image of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed, a panoramic image of the workpiece platform carrying the substrate to be exposed is obtained by a CCD camera installed above the workpiece platform, and then the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed is identified through image recognition technology to determine the image of the surface to be exposed.

[0096] S102. Based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit, determine the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit; the area of the effective exposure area is an integer multiple of the area of the exposure unit, and the effective exposure area is the area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that contains the most exposure units.

[0097] Here, the effective exposure area refers to the area on the surface to be exposed where exposure operations can be performed. The layout data of the exposure unit includes the arrangement direction, arrangement quantity, number of rows of the exposure unit, number of arrangement columns of the exposure unit, etc. within the effective exposure area.

[0098] In an implementation manner of the present application, determining the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit includes: rounding and dividing the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit to determine a target area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that can include the most exposure units, and determining the target area as the effective exposure area; determining the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit based on the size of the effective exposure area and the size of the exposure unit; and determining the layout data of the exposure unit based on the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit.

[0099] Here, the shape of the exposure unit is rectangular, but the area of the maximum inscribed rectangle is not necessarily an integer multiple of the exposure unit. Therefore, in order to prevent ineffective exposure, it is necessary to determine the effective exposure area. When determining the effective exposure area, the inscribed rectangle is divided into cells from one side of the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit, and multiple division methods can be determined; then, the division method that can divide the most complete exposure units is determined from multiple division methods. Finally, the area surrounded by all the exposure units divided by this division is determined as the effective exposure area, and the size of the effective exposure area is determined at the same time.

[0100] After the effective exposure area is determined, since the effective exposure area includes an integer number of exposure units, based on the size of the effective exposure area and the size of the exposure unit, the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit for constructing the layout data of the exposure unit can be determined, so as to obtain the layout data of the exposure unit.

[0101] Among them, rounding and dividing the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit, determining a target area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that can include the most exposure units, and determining the target area as the effective exposure area includes: determining a first long side of the maximum inscribed rectangle, a first short side of the maximum inscribed rectangle, a first long side of the exposure unit, and a first short side of the exposure unit; dividing the first long side of the exposure unit by the first long side of the maximum inscribed rectangle and taking the integer, obtaining a value one; dividing the first short side of the exposure unit by the first short side of the maximum inscribed rectangle and taking the integer, obtaining a value two; dividing the first long side of the exposure unit by the first short side of the maximum inscribed rectangle and taking the integer, obtaining a value three; dividing the first short side of the maximum inscribed rectangle by the first short side of the exposure unit and taking the integer, obtaining a value four; multiplying the value one and the value two, obtaining a value five; multiplying the value three and the value four, obtaining a value six; taking the maximum value from the value five and the value six; determining the area where all exposure units are located when determining the maximum value as the effective area.

[0102] After determining the effective exposure area, the effective exposure area is located inside the maximum inscribed rectangle. The effective exposure area and the maximum inscribed rectangle can have at least one vertex coinciding, and the effective exposure area and the maximum inscribed rectangle can also have the center points coinciding.

[0103] For example, please refer to FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b). FIG. 2(a) is one of the schematic diagrams of the method for determining the effective exposure area in the present application, and FIG. 2(b) is another schematic diagram of the method for determining the effective exposure area in the present application. As shown in FIG. 2(a), according to the contour 200 of the surface to be exposed, the maximum inscribed rectangle 210 in the surface to be exposed is determined. Through the arrangement mode of the exposure units shown in FIG. 2(a), 16 exposure units can be arranged in the maximum inscribed rectangle 210. As shown in FIG. 2(b), through the arrangement mode of the exposure units shown in FIG. 2(b), 18 exposure units can be arranged in the maximum inscribed rectangle 210. In this way, the determined effective exposure area is the area where 18 exposure units are located in FIG. 2(b), and the determined layout data of the exposure units is that the arrangement direction of the exposure units is with the short side upward, the number of rows of the exposure units is 2, and the number of columns of the exposure units is 9. In addition, it should be noted that when the arrangement direction (parallel arrangement or vertical arrangement) of the exposure units is predetermined, the exposure units are arranged in the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the predetermined arrangement direction, so as to determine the effective exposure area.

[0104] In another embodiment of the present application, before rounding and dividing the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit, the exposure method further includes: determining a target rectangle located inside the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and a preset margin; the margins between the target rectangle and two adjacent sides of the maximum inscribed rectangle are both the preset margin; and determining the target rectangle as the maximum inscribed rectangle to be rounded and divided.

[0105] During the process of controlling the exposure device to expose the substrate, there may be a certain deviation between the starting exposure position of the exposure device and the desired position, which may also result in the situation of exposing outside the substrate, forming ineffective exposure. Therefore, in order to avoid this situation, it is necessary to determine a target rectangle with a size smaller than that of the maximum inscribed rectangle, and re-determine the target rectangle as the one to be rounded and divided to determine the maximum inscribed rectangle of the effective exposure area.

[0106] Here, the target rectangle coincides with the center point of the maximum inscribed rectangle before rounding and dividing, and the margins between two adjacent sides of the two rectangles are both the preset margin; the preset margin is selected according to the position deviation during the exposure process.

[0107] For example, please refer to Figure 3 , Figure 3 which is a schematic diagram of the target rectangle determined in the embodiment of the present application. As Figure 3 shown, based on the maximum inscribed rectangle 210 and the preset margin a, the target rectangle 240 is determined.

[0108] S103. Select the vertex at the specified orientation of the effective exposure area as the starting exposure marking point, and construct marking point data based on the starting exposure marking point and the vertices at the other orientations of the effective exposure area.

[0109] Here, the marking point data can be used for positioning during subsequent exposure and determining the starting exposure position. The specified orientation can be selected according to the position of the exposure device so that the route for the exposure device to move from the current position to the starting exposure position is the shortest when starting the exposure.

[0110] Among them, since the effective exposure area is a rectangle, there are 4 vertices in the effective exposure area. When the specified orientation is the upper left, the upper left vertex is determined as the starting exposure marking point.

[0111] In one embodiment of the present application, the exposure method further includes: binding the layout data of the exposure unit and the marking point data with the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed; and storing the bound layout data of the exposure unit and the marking point data in the exposure process database.

[0112] Generally, a semiconductor substrate needs to be exposed multiple times. Therefore, when performing the first exposure, the layout data of the exposure unit of the substrate to be exposed and the mark point data are determined, and these two types of data are bound to the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed, and the bound layout data of the exposure unit and the mark point data are stored in the exposure process database. In this way, when the substrate to be exposed is a candidate for exposure, the corresponding exposure planning data can be quickly found based on the identity identifier, and the exposure path can be determined based on the exposure planning data, and then the exposure operation can be performed based on the exposure path.

[0113] S104. According to the layout data of the exposure unit, the mark point data, and the preset exposure direction, use the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed.

[0114] Here, the mark point data can be used for exposure positioning and determining the exposure starting position; the layout data can be used for determining the respective movements in the horizontal and vertical directions; the preset exposure direction can be used for determining whether to perform the moving exposure in the left-right direction or the up-down direction.

[0115] Among them, the preset exposure direction can be determined based on the movement characteristics of the exposure device and the optimized yield algorithm. For example, if the exposure device moves faster from left to right, which also speeds up the exposure speed of the substrate and improves the production efficiency, the preset exposure direction is to move from left to right at this time.

[0116] For example, please continue to refer to Fig. 2(b). When the starting exposure mark point is the upper left vertex of the effective exposure area and the preset exposure direction is to move from left to right, the determined exposure path of the substrate to be exposed is the path indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2(b).

[0117] S105. According to the exposure path, start from the starting exposure mark point and expose the substrate to be exposed within the effective exposure area.

[0118] Here, after determining the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed, control the exposure device to start from the starting exposure mark point and perform the exposure on the substrate to be exposed within the effective exposure area according to the movement direction of the exposure path and the exposure process requirements. The exposure parameter data records the exposure process requirements.

[0119] In an implementation manner of the present application, when it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is not for the first exposure, the exposure method includes: reading the exposure planning data of the substrate to be exposed; performing exposure positioning on the substrate to be exposed based on the fiducial point data in the exposure planning data and the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed; after positioning, determining the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed by using an S-shaped path algorithm according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the fiducial point data, and a preset exposure direction; and performing exposure on the substrate to be exposed in the effective exposure area starting from the starting exposure fiducial point according to the exposure path.

[0120] Here, when it is determined that there is exposure planning data of the substrate to be exposed in the exposure process data, that is, it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is not for the first exposure. Then, the exposure planning data of the substrate to be exposed is extracted, and an exposure positioning operation is performed according to the fiducial point data in the exposure planning data and the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the identified substrate to be exposed to ensure that the position of this exposure is the same as that of the first exposure; then, according to the exposure planning data and a preset exposure method, the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed is determined; finally, based on the exposure path, the exposure device is controlled to start from the starting exposure fiducial point and perform exposure on the substrate to be exposed in the effective exposure area according to the exposure process requirements in the moving direction of the exposure path.

[0121] An exposure method for a non-standard semiconductor substrate provided by an embodiment of the present application includes: when it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is for the first exposure, determining the largest inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed based on the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed; determining the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the largest inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit; the area of the effective exposure area is an integer multiple of the area of the exposure unit, and the effective exposure area is the area in the largest inscribed rectangle that contains the most exposure units; selecting the vertex at a specified orientation of the effective exposure area as the starting exposure fiducial point, and constructing fiducial point data based on the starting exposure fiducial point and the vertices at the other orientations of the effective exposure area; determining the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed by using an S-shaped path algorithm according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the fiducial point data, and a preset exposure direction; and performing exposure on the substrate to be exposed in the effective exposure area starting from the starting exposure fiducial point according to the exposure path.

[0122] In this way, the present application obtains the actual outer contour of the non-standard substrate through image recognition technology, and dynamically determines the effective exposure area of the identified substrate to be exposed according to the actual outer contour, so as to perform dynamic exposure path planning, thereby improving the utilization rate of the non-standard substrate and the production efficiency of the chip.

[0123] Please refer toFigure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 4 is one of the structural schematic diagrams of an exposure device for a non-standard semiconductor substrate provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 is the second of the structural schematic diagrams of an exposure device for a non-standard semiconductor substrate provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 4 shown, the exposure device 400 includes:

[0124] A first determination module 410, configured to, when it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is exposed for the first time, determine the maximum inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed based on the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed;

[0125] A second determination module 420, configured to determine the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit; the area of the effective exposure area is an integer multiple of the area of the exposure unit, and the effective exposure area is the area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that contains the most exposure units;

[0126] A construction module 430, configured to select the vertex at a specified orientation of the effective exposure area as the starting exposure marking point, and construct marking point data based on the starting exposure marking point and the vertices at the remaining orientations of the effective exposure area;

[0127] A path determination module 440, configured to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed by using an S-shaped path algorithm according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the marking point data, and a preset exposure direction;

[0128] A control module 450, configured to expose the substrate to be exposed in the effective exposure area starting from the starting exposure marking point according to the exposure path.

[0129] Optionally, as Figure 5 shown, the exposure device 400 further includes a storage module 460, and the storage module 460 is configured to:

[0130] Bind the layout data of the exposure unit and the marking point data to the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed;

[0131] Store the bound layout data of the exposure unit and the marking point data in an exposure process database.

[0132] Optionally, the exposure device 400 further includes a first exposure determination module 470, and the first exposure determination module 470 is configured to:

[0133] Locate the position of the identity identifier in the acquired image of the surface to be exposed to determine the identity identifier information area;

[0134] Perform character recognition or barcode recognition on the identity identification information area to obtain the identity identification of the substrate to be exposed;

[0135] Based on the identity identification of the substrate to be exposed, search in the exposure process database to check if there is exposure planning data for the substrate to be exposed; the exposure process data includes the layout data of the exposure unit and the fiducial mark data;

[0136] When the result is negative, determine that the substrate to be exposed is for the first exposure;

[0137] When the result is positive, determine that the substrate to be exposed is not for the first exposure.

[0138] Optionally, the first exposure determination module 470 is further configured to:

[0139] Obtain a panoramic image of the exposure workpiece platform including the substrate to be exposed;

[0140] Perform image recognition on the panoramic image to determine the image of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed.

[0141] Optionally, when it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is not for the first exposure, the first exposure determination module 470 is further configured to:

[0142] Read the exposure planning data of the substrate to be exposed;

[0143] Based on the fiducial mark data in the exposure planning data and the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed, perform exposure positioning on the substrate to be exposed;

[0144] After positioning, according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the fiducial mark data and the preset exposure direction, use the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed;

[0145] According to the exposure path, start from the starting exposure fiducial mark and perform exposure on the substrate to be exposed within the effective exposure area.

[0146] Optionally, when the second determination module 420 is used to determine the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit, the second determination module is configured to:

[0147] Perform rounding and segmentation on the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit, determine the target area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that can include the most exposure units, and determine the target area as the effective exposure area;

[0148] Determine the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit based on the size of the effective exposure area and the size of the exposure unit;

[0149] Determine the layout data of the exposure unit based on the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit.

[0150] Optionally, the second determination module 420 is further configured to:

[0151] Determine a target rectangle located inside the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and a preset margin; the margins between the target rectangle and two adjacent sides of the maximum inscribed rectangle are both the preset margin;

[0152] Determine the target rectangle as the maximum inscribed rectangle that needs to be rounded and segmented.

[0153] Please refer to Figure 6 , Figure 6 , which is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 6 shown in, the electronic device 600 includes a processor 610, a memory 620, and a bus 630.

[0154] The memory 620 stores machine-readable instructions executable by the processor 610. When the electronic device 600 runs, the processor 610 communicates with the memory 620 through the bus 630. When the machine-readable instructions are executed by the processor 610, the steps of the method in the method embodiment as described above can be executed. The specific implementation manner can refer to the method embodiment and will not be elaborated here. Figures 1 to 3 shown, and the details will not be described herein again.

[0155] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium. A computer program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program is run by a processor, the steps of the method in the method embodiment as described above can be executed. The specific implementation manner can refer to the method embodiment and will not be elaborated here. Figures 1 to 3 shown, and the details will not be described herein again.

[0156] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be elaborated here.

[0157] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods can be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For another example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the displayed or discussed coupling or direct coupling or communication connection to each other can be through some communication interfaces. The indirect coupling or communication connection of the devices or units can be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0158] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated. The components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place or distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0159] In addition, in each embodiment of the present application, the functional units can be integrated in a processing unit, or each unit can exist physically alone, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit.

[0160] If the function is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium executable by a processor. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a part of this technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.

[0161] Finally, it should be noted that the above-described embodiments are only specific implementation manners of the present application, used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than limiting it. The protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that any person skilled in the technical field of the present application can still modify the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or can easily think of changes, or perform equivalent replacements on some of the technical features; and these modifications, changes or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and should all be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An exposure method for non-standard semiconductor substrates, characterized in that, the exposure method includes: When it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is for the first exposure, based on the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed, determine the largest inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed; Based on the size of the largest inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit, determine the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit; the area of the effective exposure area is an integer multiple of the area of the exposure unit, and the effective exposure area is the area in the largest inscribed rectangle that contains the most exposure units; Select the vertex at the specified orientation of the effective exposure area as the starting exposure mark point, and construct mark point data based on the starting exposure mark point and the vertices at the other orientations of the effective exposure area; According to the layout data of the exposure unit, the mark point data and the preset exposure direction, use the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed; According to the exposure path, start from the starting exposure mark point and expose the substrate to be exposed within the effective exposure area.

2. The exposure method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Before using the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed according to the layout data of the exposure unit and the preset exposure direction, the exposure method further includes: Bind the layout data of the exposure unit and the mark point data to the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed; Store the bound layout data of the exposure unit and the mark point data in the exposure process database.

3. The exposure method according to claim 2, characterized in that, Determine whether the substrate to be exposed is for the first exposure through the following steps: Locate the position of the identity identifier in the obtained image of the surface to be exposed to determine the identity identifier information area; Perform character recognition or barcode recognition on the identity identifier information area to obtain the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed; Based on the identity identifier of the substrate to be exposed, search in the exposure process database to find whether there is exposure planning data for the substrate to be exposed; The exposure process data includes the layout data of the exposure unit and the mark point data; When the answer is no, determine that the substrate to be exposed is for the first exposure; When the answer is yes, determine that the substrate to be exposed is not for the first exposure.

4. The exposure method according to claim 3, characterized in that, Obtain the image of the surface to be exposed through the following steps: Obtain a panoramic image of the exposure workpiece platform including the substrate to be exposed; Perform image recognition on the panoramic image to determine the image of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed.

5. The exposure method according to claim 3, characterized in that, When it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is not for the first exposure, the exposure method includes: Read the exposure planning data of the substrate to be exposed; Based on the mark point data in the exposure planning data and the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed, perform exposure positioning on the substrate to be exposed. After positioning, according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the mark point data, and the preset exposure direction, use the S-shaped path algorithm to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed; According to the exposure path, start from the starting exposure mark point and expose the substrate to be exposed within the effective exposure area.

6. The exposure method according to claim 1, wherein, the determining the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit includes: Round and divide the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit, determine the target area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that can include the most exposure units, and determine the target area as the effective exposure area; Based on the size of the effective exposure area and the size of the exposure unit, determine the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit; Based on the number of rows of the exposure unit, the number of columns of the exposure unit, and the arrangement direction of the exposure unit, determine the layout data of the exposure unit.

7. The exposure method according to claim 6, wherein, before rounding and dividing the maximum inscribed rectangle according to the size of the exposure unit, the exposure method further includes: According to the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the preset margin, determine a target rectangle located inside the maximum inscribed rectangle; the margins between the target rectangle and two adjacent sides of the maximum inscribed rectangle are both the preset margin; Determine the target rectangle as the maximum inscribed rectangle to be rounded and divided.

8. An exposure device for non-standard semiconductor substrates, wherein, the exposure device includes: A first determination module, configured to, when it is determined that the substrate to be exposed is exposed for the first time, determine the maximum inscribed rectangle in the surface to be exposed based on the contour information of the surface to be exposed of the substrate to be exposed; A second determination module, configured to determine the effective exposure area of the substrate to be exposed and the layout data of the exposure unit based on the size of the maximum inscribed rectangle and the size of the exposure unit; the area of the effective exposure area is an integer multiple of the area of the exposure unit, and the effective exposure area is the area in the maximum inscribed rectangle that contains the most exposure units; A construction module, configured to select the vertex at a specified orientation of the effective exposure area as the starting exposure mark point, and construct mark point data based on the starting exposure mark point and the vertices at the remaining orientations of the effective exposure area; A path determination module, configured to determine the exposure path of the substrate to be exposed by using the S-shaped path algorithm according to the layout data of the exposure unit, the mark point data, and the preset exposure direction; A control module, configured to expose the substrate to be exposed within the effective exposure area starting from the starting exposure mark point according to the exposure path.

9. An electronic device, wherein, includes: A processor, a memory, and a bus, wherein the memory stores machine-readable instructions executable by the processor. When the electronic device operates, the processor communicates with the memory via the bus. When the machine-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the exposure method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 are performed.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, a computer program is stored on the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the exposure method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 are performed.

Images