Shutter device, exposure system and lithography machine

Abstract

The present invention provides a shutter device, comprising a shading unit, a motion execution unit, an adapter unit and a cover unit with a light-through hole. The adapter unit has an inclined surface, and the motion execution unit is installed on the inclined surface of the adapter unit. The motion execution unit is connected to the shading unit and drives the shading unit to move. When the motion execution unit is powered off, due to the effect of gravity of the motion execution unit, the shading unit installed on the motion execution unit can automatically close to achieve the purpose of blocking the light path of the light-through hole, thereby playing the role of automatic protection of the entire lithography machine when the power is off.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of photolithography machines, and in particular to a shutter device, an exposure system and a photolithography machine. Background Art

[0002] Photolithography is a technique used to print a pattern of features onto a substrate surface. Commonly used substrates are silicon or glass wafers coated with a photosensitive medium. During the photolithography process, the substrate is placed on a carrier, and the exposure device within the lithography apparatus projects the feature pattern onto the substrate surface.

[0003] With the increasing demand for high-yield lithography machines and the advancement of lithography light source technology, the power of the light sources used in lithography machines has become increasingly higher. For example, the power of ultraviolet GHI mercury lamps has increased from a few hundred watts to tens of thousands of watts. Therefore, the dose control module, or shutter device, of the lithography machine must face the problem of preventing light leakage.

[0004] In the prior art, an open-loop shutter device uses two blades, each driven by a voice coil motor. By adjusting the shutter acceleration and deceleration times, the opening and closing time of the two shutter blades can be controlled, with the opening or closing time reaching 20ms. However, when the shutter aperture is 40mm, the output constant of this voice coil motor design is relatively small, and the motor coil requires a large amount of cooling gas to cool it. Furthermore, when the blades are closed, there will be severe light leakage at the overlapping blades when using a light source with a power greater than 2500W, affecting the exposure quality of the lithography machine.

[0005] Patent US6188193B1 discloses a multi-blade closed-loop controlled shutter, but this shutter is suitable for the film printing industry and has very low light power requirements. The patent mentions that if the light power reaches 1000W, other additional devices will be needed for auxiliary light shielding, otherwise light leakage will be serious. At the same time, its use of multi-axis closed-loop motion control makes the cost relatively high.

[0006] In the existing shutter device, the shutter device includes an executive motion mechanism and blades. The executive motion mechanism is used to drive the blades to move to cover the light hole. When the executive motion mechanism is powered off, the blades installed on the motion executive structure cannot automatically close to cover the light path of the light hole, and cannot play the role of automatic protection when the entire lithography machine is powered off.

[0007] In addition, in the existing shutter device, the moving cable is used to connect the sector coil to provide current to the sector coil. Since the sector coil performs reciprocating motion, the moving cable may bend, affecting the reliability of the moving cable.

[0008] Therefore, the existing shutter device has the problem of serious light leakage from multiple blades, and the existing shutter device lacks automatic power-off protection; the moving cable is easily bent, which shortens the life of the movement. Summary of the Invention

[0009] The object of the present invention is to provide a shutter device to solve the problems of the above-mentioned existing shutter devices, such as serious light leakage, lack of automatic power-off protection, and easy bending of the moving cable, which shortens the life of the movement.

[0010] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a shutter device for a photolithography machine exposure system, comprising a shading unit, a motion execution unit, a transfer unit and a cover unit with a light-through hole, wherein the transfer unit has an inclined surface, the motion execution unit is installed on the inclined surface of the transfer unit, the motion execution unit is connected to the shading unit and drives the shading unit to move, and when the motion execution unit is not powered on, the shading unit covers the light-through hole.

[0011] Optionally, a motion cable adapter post is provided on the housing unit, and the motion cable adapter post is arranged at an angle to the horizontal plane.

[0012] Optionally, the shutter device is a coil motion shutter, and the shutter device also includes a coil motion cable, one end of the coil motion cable is connected to the motion cable adapter column, and the other end of the coil motion cable is connected to the motion execution unit, and the coil motion cable is arranged in a U shape.

[0013] Optionally, the cover unit includes multiple metal cover shells, and the surfaces of the metal cover shells are treated by anodizing or micro-arc oxidation process.

[0014] Optionally, two metal covers are provided on the front and rear sides of the shading unit, and the gap between the two metal covers and the shading unit is 0.1 mm-1 mm.

[0015] Optionally, the motion execution unit includes a rotating shaft mechanism and an encoder, the rotating shaft mechanism includes a rotating shaft, and the encoder is located on one side of the rotating shaft and is used to detect the position of the rotating shaft.

[0016] Optionally, the motion execution unit includes a voice coil motor, which includes four permanent magnets and a sector coil, and the sector coil is fixed on the rotating shaft.

[0017] Optionally, when the device is powered off, the sector coil drives the shading unit to cover the light hole due to gravity.

[0018] Optionally, the shading unit includes a shutter blade and an adapter plate, and the shutter blade is mounted on the rotating shaft through the adapter plate.

[0019] Optionally, the shading unit includes a shutter blade.

[0020] Optionally, there is an angle between the inclined surface of the adapter unit and the horizontal plane, and the angle ranges from 10 degrees to 30 degrees.

[0021] Optionally, the spatial position of the adapter unit is located obliquely above the light-through hole.

[0022] Based on the same inventive concept, the present invention also provides an exposure system, comprising any of the shutter devices described above.

[0023] Based on the same inventive concept, the present invention also provides a photolithography machine, comprising the exposure system described above.

[0024] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0025] In a shutter device, exposure system and photolithography machine provided by the present invention, the shutter device includes a shading unit, a motion execution unit, an adapter unit and a cover unit with a light-through hole. The motion execution unit is connected to the shading unit and drives the shading unit to move. By providing a slope on the adapter unit and installing the motion execution unit on the slope of the adapter unit, when the motion execution unit is powered off, due to the gravity of the coil in the motion execution unit, the shading unit installed on the motion execution unit can automatically close to achieve the purpose of blocking the light path of the light-through hole, thereby playing the role of automatic protection of the entire photolithography machine when the power is off.

[0026] Furthermore, a motion cable adapter post is provided on the upper portion of the housing unit, the motion cable adapter post being arranged at an angle to the horizontal plane. One end of the coil motion cable is connected to the motion cable adapter post, and the other end of the coil motion cable is connected to the motion execution unit. This allows the coil motion cable to maintain a U-shape, increasing the motion cable's bending radius, improving reliability, and extending the motion life. Furthermore, the shutter device has only one shutter blade, avoiding the problem of severe light leakage at the overlapping points of multiple shutter blades. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] Figure 1 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a partial structure of a shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 3 and Figure 4 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a motion execution unit of a shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 5 2. It is a schematic structural diagram of a voice coil motor of a shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 6 2. It is a schematic diagram of coil motion control of a voice coil motor of a shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the position of the moving cables of the shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 8 1 is a schematic diagram of a shutter motion trajectory and current output of a shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] In the figure,

[0035] 10- housing unit; 10A- metal housing; 10B- metal housing; 10C- metal housing; 10D- metal housing;

[0036] 20A-metal support; 20B-metal support;

[0037] 30-metal base plate;

[0038] 40-DB connector;

[0039] 50-light hole;

[0040] 60-Sports cable adapter column;

[0041] 70-Transfer unit;

[0042] 80 - motion execution unit; 801 - voice coil motor; 8011 - permanent magnet; 8012 - sector coil; 802A - magnet backing plate; 802B - magnet backing plate; 803 - bearing seat; 804A - limit block; 804B - limit block; 805 - encoder; 806A - bearing; 806B - bearing; 807 - rotating shaft; 808 - adapter plate;

[0043] 90-shading unit;

[0044] 100-coil sports cable. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] The following is a detailed description of a shutter device, exposure system, and photolithography machine proposed in the present invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. The advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description and claims. It should be noted that the drawings are highly simplified and not to exact scale, and are intended solely to facilitate and clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention.

[0046] Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a partial structural diagram of a shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 and2 As shown, this embodiment provides a shutter device, which can be used in the exposure system of a lithography machine, the shutter device includes a shading unit 90, a motion execution unit 80, an adapter unit 70 and a cover unit 10 with a light hole, the adapter unit 70 has an inclined surface, the motion execution unit 80 is installed on the inclined surface of the adapter unit 70, the motion execution unit 80 is connected to the shading unit 90 and drives the shading unit 90 to move, when the motion execution unit 80 is stationary, under the action of gravity, the shading unit 90 covers the light hole 50, thereby achieving the purpose of covering the light path of the light hole, and playing the role of automatic protection of the lithography machine when the power is cut off.

[0047] Continue to refer Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, the shutter device further includes a metal base plate 30, on which two metal pillars 20A and 20B are fixedly mounted. The adapter unit 70 is fixedly mounted on the metal pillars 20A and 20B. In this embodiment, the two metal pillars 20A and 20B are both flat plate structures and are arranged parallel to each other.

[0048] The adapter unit 70 is provided with an inclined surface for mounting the motion execution unit 80. The inclined surface forms an angle with the horizontal plane, and the angle is, for example, 10 to 30 degrees. The adapter unit 70 is spatially positioned obliquely above the light aperture 50. When the motion execution unit 80 is powered off, the light shielding unit 90 mounted on the motion execution unit 80 can block the light path of the light aperture 50 due to the gravity of the motion execution unit 80, thereby providing automatic protection for the entire lithography machine when power is off.

[0049] Please continue to refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2The housing unit 10 includes a first metal housing 10A, a second metal housing 10B, a third metal housing 10C, and a fourth metal housing 10D. The first metal housing 10A, the second metal housing 10B, the third metal housing 10C, and the fourth metal housing 10D are all flat-plate structures. The first metal housing 10A and the second metal housing 10B are arranged in parallel, and the third metal housing 10C and the fourth metal housing 10D are arranged in parallel. They are located on the front and rear sides of the light shielding unit 90. In other words, the third metal housing 10C and the fourth metal housing 10D are located on both sides of the light shielding unit in the thickness direction. The first metal housing 10A, the second metal housing 10B, the third metal housing 10C, and the fourth metal housing 10D are fixed to the metal pillars 20A and 20B by screws. The third metal housing 10C defines a first light hole, and the fourth metal housing 10D defines a second light hole. The first and second light holes have the same preset diameter and are located in the same position. The first light through hole and the second light through hole together constitute a light through hole 50 for passing light.

[0050] The materials of the first metal housing 10A, the second metal housing 10B, the third metal housing 10C, and the fourth metal housing 10D may be the same or different. In this embodiment, the first metal housing 10A, the second metal housing 10B, the third metal housing 10C, and the fourth metal housing 10D are all made of aluminum alloy, with a surface treatment of anodizing or micro-arc oxidation, which has a high light absorption rate (reaching over 90%).

[0051] Please continue to refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2 The second metal housing 10B is equipped with a data interface (DB connector) 40 for connecting encoder and motor cables. A motion cable adapter post 60 is fixedly mounted on the first and second metal housings 10A, 10B. The motion cable adapter post 60 is located above the adapter unit 70 and the motion execution unit 80. The motion cable adapter post 60 is, for example, rectangular and has grooves for connecting motion cables.

[0052] Please continue to refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2, the shading unit 90 is a shutter blade, that is, a single-blade structure is adopted. In the preferred embodiment, the material of the shutter blade is, for example, aluminum alloy, the thickness of the shutter blade is, for example, 0.5mm-3mm, the surface of the shutter blade facing the light source is a mirror surface, which can be achieved by polishing or diamond precision turning technology, the roughness of the shutter blade is, for example, less than Ra0.06, and the light reflectivity of the shutter blade can reach more than 90%. The backlight surface of the shutter blade is a rough surface, and the surface treatment is anodizing or micro-arc oxidation. This blade design can greatly reduce the temperature of the shutter device, greatly improve the environmental applicability of the shutter, and make the shutter device applicable to light source scenes with a power of tens of thousands of watts of mercury lamp. The third metal cover 10C and the fourth metal cover 10D are respectively placed on both sides of the shutter blade. The gap between the third metal cover 10C and the fourth metal cover 10D and the shutter blade is, for example, 0.1mm-1mm. The diameter of the light-blocking part of the shutter blade is larger than the diameter of the light-through hole 50. The difference between the diameter of the light-blocking part of the shutter blade and the diameter of the light-through hole 50 is, for example, greater than 10mm. This design can ensure that when the shutter blade covers the light-through hole 50, stray light is absorbed when it is repeatedly reflected in the gap between the shutter blade and the third metal cover 10C and the fourth metal cover 10D, ensuring no light leakage. In addition, one shutter blade avoids the problem of serious light leakage at the overlapping part of two or more shutter blades. It also avoids the problem of slow starting speed of the rotary motor with reciprocating motion of the integrated three blades, which affects the exposure yield.

[0053] Figure 3 and Figure 4 FIG is a schematic diagram of the structure of the motion execution unit of the shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 and Figure 4 As shown, the motion execution unit 80 includes a bearing seat 803, a bearing 806A, a bearing 806B, and a rotating shaft 807. A bearing 806A and a bearing 806B are mounted on each side of the bearing seat 803. The rotating shaft 807 is mounted with the bearings 806A and 806B to enable rotation. The light shielding unit 90 includes a shutter blade and an adapter plate 808. The shutter blade is mounted on the rotating shaft 807 via the adapter plate 808 to enable rotation of the light shielding unit 90. Furthermore, an encoder 805 is mounted on one end of the rotating shaft 807 to detect the position of the rotating shaft 807 and implement single-axis closed-loop control.

[0054] Figure 5 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a voice coil motor of a shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the voice coil motor coil motion control of the shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 and Figure 6As shown, the motion execution unit 80 includes a voice coil motor 801, and the voice coil motor 801 is composed of four permanent magnets 8011 and a sector coil 8012. The sector coil 8012 is fixed on the rotating shaft 807, and the four permanent magnets 8011 are respectively fixed on the magnet back plate 802A and the magnet back plate 802B. In this embodiment, the sector coil 8012 is wound using flat enameled wire. The working principle of the voice coil motor is that when an energized coil is placed in a magnetic field, a force is generated, and the magnitude of the force is proportional to the current applied to the coil. The voice coil motor manufactured based on this principle can have a straight line or circular arc motion.

[0055] Figure 6 The figure shows a state in which the sector coil 8012 and the permanent magnet 8011 are arranged symmetrically, and the N-level magnet and the S-level magnet form 180°. The sector coil 8012 rotates around point O. By controlling the coil current I of the sector coil 8012 in a counterclockwise or clockwise direction, the movement direction of the sector coil 8012 is controlled. By controlling the magnitude of the current I of the sector coil 8012, the rotational speed of the sector coil 8012 is controlled. Point O is located on the axis of the rotating shaft 807, so as to reduce the moment of inertia as much as possible. Figure 6 As shown, the movement range of the sector coil 8012 is less than or equal to 2a. The motion execution unit 80 is further provided with a limit block 804A and a limit block 804B, which limit the position of the sector coil 8012. At the same time, b ≥ a, thereby ensuring that the direction and magnitude of the force applied to the coil during movement are controllable, where b is 1 / 2 of the sector angle of the sector coil 8012, and a = π / 2-b.

[0056] Please refer to Figure 2 、 Figure 3 and Figure 6 When the device is powered on, the movement of the sector coil 8012 is controlled by controlling the magnitude of the input current and the clockwise and counterclockwise directions of the current, and the sector coil 8012 drives the rotation shaft 807 to move, and the rotation shaft 807 drives the light shielding unit 90 to move to close or open the light hole 50. The speed and direction of movement can be controlled by controlling the magnitude of the current and the direction of the current. In the case of a power outage, the sector coil 8012 moves downward around the rotation shaft 807 due to its own gravity, and the left bearing seat 803 is limited. At this time, the sector coil 8012 will drive the light shielding unit 90 to move, and the light shielding unit 90 will cover the light hole 50 to play the role of automatic protection when the entire lithography machine is powered off.

[0057] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the position of the moving cables of the shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 7As shown, in this embodiment, the shutter device is a coil motion shutter, so the position planning of the motion cable is particularly important. On the one hand, there is no interference around the motion cable when it moves, and on the other hand, the bending radius of the motion cable needs to be increased as much as possible to improve reliability. The coil motion cable 100 uses a long-life bending-resistant motion cable. In order to reduce the resistance of the motion coil, the coil motion cable 100 is, for example, a flexible motion cable. One end of the coil motion cable 100 is welded to the enameled wire of the sector coil 8012, and the welding point is fixed with glue. The other end is fixed with glue in the wire groove of the motion cable adapter column 60. In order to increase the bending radius of the coil motion cable, the motion cable adapter column 60 is placed at an inclined angle c. The size of the angle c is, for example, 10°-60°. When the sector coil 8012 swings, the coil motion cable 100 always remains in a U shape, thereby improving the motion life of the coil motion cable 100.

[0058] Figure 8 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the shutter motion trajectory and current output of the shutter device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 8 As shown, the design value of the aperture of the shutter device's light hole 50 is, for example, 62 mm, the shading diameter of the shading unit 90 is, for example, 80 mm, and the center of the rotating shaft 807 of the sector coil 8012 is, for example, 105.5 mm from the center of the aperture of the light hole 50. In this embodiment, a Copley commercial controller is used. The encoder 805, for example, uses 3600 lines / turn, which the controller subdivides to 14,400 counts / turn. When the shutter blade moves from the open position to the closed position, the sector coil 8012 moves from -200 counts to -1500 counts, meaning the sector coil 8012 moves a stroke of 2a = 42.5°, in a time of only 21 ms. This increases the aperture of the shutter device, enabling large-aperture, single-axis, high-speed closed-loop control of the shutter device.

[0059] Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an exposure system, including the shutter device described above. The remaining components can adopt technologies well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail here.

[0060] In addition, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a photolithography machine, comprising the exposure system described above.

[0061] In summary, in a shutter device, an exposure system, and a photolithography machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention, the shutter device includes a light shielding unit, a motion execution unit, a switching unit, and a cover unit with a light hole. The motion execution unit is connected to the light shielding unit and drives the light shielding unit to move. By providing an inclined surface on the switching unit and installing the motion execution unit on the inclined surface of the switching unit, when the motion execution unit is powered off, due to the gravity of the coil in the motion execution unit, the light shielding unit installed on the motion execution unit can automatically close to achieve the purpose of blocking the light path of the light hole, thereby playing the role of automatic protection of the photolithography machine when the power is off. Furthermore, by providing a motion cable switching column on the upper part of the cover unit, the motion cable switching column is set at an angle to the horizontal plane. One end of the coil motion cable is connected to the motion cable switching column, and the other end of the coil motion cable is connected to the motion execution unit, so that the coil motion cable always remains in a U-shape, increasing the bending radius of the motion cable, improving reliability, and extending motion life. Furthermore, the shutter device has only one shutter blade, which avoids the problem of serious light leakage at the overlapping points of multiple shutter blades.

[0062] The above description is only a description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and does not limit the scope of the present invention. Any changes and modifications made by ordinary technicians in the field of the present invention based on the above disclosure shall fall within the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A shutter device for an exposure system, characterized in that: The device includes a shading unit, a motion execution unit, an adapter unit and a cover unit, wherein the adapter unit has an inclined surface, the motion execution unit is installed on the inclined surface of the adapter unit, the cover unit is provided with a light-through hole, the motion execution unit is connected to the shading unit and is used to drive the shading unit to move, and when the motion execution unit is not powered on, the shading unit covers the light-through hole, wherein the motion execution unit includes a voice coil motor, and the voice coil motor includes a sector coil. When the device is powered off, the sector coil drives the shading unit to cover the light-through hole due to the action of gravity.

2. The shutter device according to claim 1, wherein The housing unit is provided with a motion cable adapter post, which is arranged at an angle to the horizontal plane.

3. The shutter device according to claim 2, wherein: The shutter device is a coil motion shutter, and the shutter device also includes a coil motion cable, one end of the coil motion cable is connected to the motion cable adapter column, and the other end of the coil motion cable is connected to the motion execution unit, and the coil motion cable is arranged in a U shape.

4. The shutter device according to claim 2, wherein: The cover unit includes a plurality of metal covers, and the surfaces of the plurality of metal covers are treated by anodizing or micro-arc oxidation.

5. The shutter device according to claim 4, wherein: Two metal covers are provided on the front and rear sides of the shading unit, and the gap between the two metal covers and the shading unit is 0.1mm-1mm.

6. The shutter device according to claim 1, wherein: The motion execution unit includes a rotating shaft mechanism and an encoder. The rotating shaft mechanism includes a rotating shaft. The encoder is located on one side of the rotating shaft and is used to detect the position of the rotating shaft.

7. The shutter device according to claim 6, wherein: The voice coil motor further includes four permanent magnets, and the sector coil is fixed on the rotating shaft.

8. The shutter device according to claim 6, wherein: The shading unit includes a shutter blade and an adapter plate, and the shutter blade is mounted on the rotating shaft through the adapter plate.

9. The shutter device according to claim 1, wherein: The light shielding unit includes a shutter blade.

10. The shutter device according to claim 1, wherein An included angle is formed between the inclined surface of the adapter unit and the horizontal plane, and the included angle ranges from 10 degrees to 30 degrees.

11. The shutter device according to claim 1, wherein The spatial position of the adapter unit is located obliquely above the light-through hole.

12. An exposure system, characterized in that: Comprising the shutter device according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. A photolithography machine, characterized in that: Comprising the exposure system of claim 12.

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