Photoetching exposure method capable of flexibly changing line width
By using an adjustment plate to move and adjust the photoresist line width after the photoresist is exposed, the problem of unchangeable line width in traditional photolithography processes is solved, flexible line width adjustment is achieved, and chip R&D costs and verification cycles are reduced.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202511088667.6
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-08-05
- Publication Date
- 2025-09-26
AI Technical Summary
In traditional photolithography processes, once the line width of the photomask is determined, it cannot be flexibly changed, resulting in increased chip R&D costs and verification cycles.
After the photomask is exposed, the adjustment plate is moved along the direction of the photoresist line width, and the development, coating and exposure steps are combined to achieve flexible adjustment of the photoresist line width.
It reduces chip R&D costs and verification cycles, and improves the flexibility and efficiency of the lithography process.
Smart Images
Figure CN120704075A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present application relates to the field of chip lithography technology, and in particular to a lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width. Background Art
[0002] With the continuous development of the semiconductor industry, different types of chips are undergoing rapid iteration. This rapid iteration is also placing increasing demands on the photolithography process. Traditional photolithography typically involves designing the layout at the front end, then sending the plate to the photoresist manufacturer for plate making, followed by a series of photolithography steps. The photolithography process generally involves coating, exposure, development, and hard baking. The photoresists used during coating are divided into positive and negative photoresists. The exposed areas of positive photoresists are dissolved and removed by the developer during development, while the unexposed areas are retained. The exposed areas of negative photoresists are retained during development, while the unexposed areas are removed.
[0003] The line width of the photomask is the retained photoresist width. Once the line width of the photomask is determined, it cannot be changed. If it needs to be changed, it is generally necessary to remake the plate. The waiting time from redesigning the photomask to the photolithography process is long, which leads to an increase in chip R&D costs and verification cycles. Summary of the Invention
[0004] In order to reduce chip R&D costs and shorten verification cycles, the present application provides a lithography exposure method that can flexibly change line width.
[0005] The present application provides a lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width, which adopts the following technical solution.
[0006] A photolithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width specifically includes the following steps.
[0007] S1, wafer glue coating;
[0008] S2, using a photomask for exposure;
[0009] S3. Select whether to perform development and hard baking according to the photoresist type and line width adjustment type;
[0010] S4, aligning the adjustment plate with the photoresist pattern and moving it accordingly along the photoresist line width direction;
[0011] S5, performing a combination of secondary coating or secondary exposure according to the photoresist type and line width adjustment type;
[0012] S6, perform final development and hard baking;
[0013] The pattern shape of the adjustment plate includes a rectangle.
[0014] By adopting the above technical solution, after the photoresist plate is exposed, the adjustment plate can be used to move according to the width value that needs to be adjusted and then perform corresponding operations, so that the line width of the photoresist under certain conditions can be flexibly changed, which can reduce the chip R&D cost and verification cycle to a certain extent.
[0015] Optionally, when the photoresist is a positive photoresist and the rectangular line width needs to be increased, S3 performs development and hard baking, S4 moves the adjustment plate along the photoresist line width direction by the required increased width, S5 first performs secondary coating, and then performs secondary exposure and secondary development.
[0016] Optionally, when the photoresist is a negative photoresist and the rectangular line width needs to be increased, S3 does not perform development and hard baking, S4 moves the adjustment plate along the photoresist line width direction by the required increased width, S5 performs secondary exposure, and then develops.
[0017] Optionally, when the photoresist is a positive photoresist and the rectangular line width needs to be reduced, and the photoresist pattern is rectangular at this time, S3 does not perform development and hard baking, S4 moves the adjustment plate along the photoresist line width direction by the required reduction width, S5 performs secondary exposure, and then develops.
[0018] By adopting the above technical solution, corresponding operations are performed according to the type of photoresist and the increase or decrease of the line width, and finally the effect of line width adjustment is achieved.
[0019] Optionally, when the photoresist pattern is rectangular in shape, the photoresist can be used as an adjustment plate.
[0020] By adopting the above technical solution, when the corresponding pattern of the photomask is a simple pattern such as a rectangle, the photomask can be directly used as an adjustment plate, so that there is no need to use the adjustment plate to replace the photomask later, thereby further improving the chip verification cycle progress.
[0021] Optionally, the adjustment plate pattern length L 调 and the length L of the position where the photoresist line width is to be increased 光 If inconsistent, select L 调 Less than L 光 Adjustment version, and S4 adjustment version also performs L 光 -L 调 The distance value of the movement.
[0022] By adopting the above technical solution, when the line width needs to be increased and there is no adjustment plate with a suitable pattern length, an adjustment plate with a smaller pattern length is used to move at least twice to meet the photoresist line width adjustment requirements for different pattern lengths within a certain range. That is, only one set of adjustment plates with different lengths is needed to adapt to the photoresist length within a certain range.
[0023] Optionally, before the adjustment plate moves along the length direction of the photoresist, S5 is performed first, and then the adjustment plate moves along the length direction of the photoresist again, and then S3 and S5 are performed.
[0024] By adopting the above technical solution, the photoresist with increased line width can be adapted to the corresponding adjustment plate within a certain length range.
[0025] Optionally, the quotient of the pattern lengths of two adjustment plates with similar pattern length values is 2.
[0026] By adopting the above technical solution, the adjustment plate only needs to be moved once along the length direction of the photoresist pattern, and does not need to be moved too long.
[0027] Optionally, the pattern shape of the adjustment plate also includes an L-shape and is only used when the photoresist line width is reduced.
[0028] By adopting the above technical solution, the adjustment plate can also be designed into an L-shaped pattern for use when the photoresist line width is reduced.
[0029] Optionally, when the pattern of the photoresist is L-shaped, the photoresist can be used as an adjustment plate.
[0030] By adopting the above technical solution, the L-shaped photomask can also be used as an adjustment plate, which helps to expand the application of the photomask.
[0031] In summary, this application has at least the following beneficial effects.
[0032] 1. After the photomask is exposed, the line width of the photoresist can be flexibly changed under certain conditions, which can reduce chip R&D costs and verification cycles to a certain extent;
[0033] 2. When the corresponding pattern of the photomask is a simple pattern such as a rectangle, the photomask can be directly used as an adjustment plate, so that there is no need to use the adjustment plate to replace the photomask later, thereby further improving the chip verification cycle progress. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0034] Figure 1 This is a simplified diagram illustrating the process when the photoresist is a positive photoresist and the rectangular line width needs to be increased in this application;
[0035] Figure 2 This is a simplified diagram illustrating the process when the photoresist is negative and the rectangular line width needs to be increased;
[0036] Figure 3 This is a simplified diagram explaining the process when the photoresist is positive and the rectangular line width needs to be reduced;
[0037] Figure 4This is a simplified diagram illustrating the process when the pattern shape of the adjustment plate is L-shaped, the photoresist is positive, and the rectangular line width needs to be reduced;
[0038] Figure 5 This is a simplified diagram illustrating a process in which the adjustment plate is moved twice along the length direction of the photoresist pattern, the two ends of the line width increase portion in the length direction are not bonded to the original photoresist pattern, the photoresist is a positive photoresist, and the rectangular line width needs to be increased;
[0039] Figure 6 This is a simplified diagram of the process when the adjustment plate moves twice along the length direction of the photoresist pattern, and the two length ends of the line width increase part are combined with the original photoresist pattern, the photoresist is negative and the rectangular line width needs to be increased. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0040] The present application is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0041] The embodiment of the present application discloses a photolithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width, which specifically includes the following steps.
[0042] S1. Wafer glue coating.
[0043] S2. Expose using a photomask.
[0044] S3. Select whether to perform development and hard baking based on the photoresist type and line width adjustment type.
[0045] When the photoresist is a positive photoresist and the line width needs to be increased, S3 needs to be developed and hard-baked before proceeding to the subsequent steps.
[0046] S4. Use the adjustment plate to align with the photoresist pattern and then move it accordingly along the photoresist line width direction.
[0047] S5. Perform a combination of secondary coating or secondary exposure according to the photoresist type and line width adjustment type.
[0048] S6. Perform final development and hard baking.
[0049] Reference Figure 1 When the photoresist is positive and the rectangular line width needs to be increased, S3 performs development and hard baking, S4 moves the adjustment plate along the photoresist line width direction to the required increased width, S5 first performs secondary coating, and then performs secondary exposure and secondary development.
[0050] Reference Figure 2 When the photoresist is negative and the rectangular line width needs to be increased, S3 does not perform development and hard baking. S4 moves the adjustment plate along the photoresist line width direction by the required increased width. S5 performs secondary exposure and then develops.
[0051] Reference Figure 3 When the photoresist is positive and the rectangular line width needs to be reduced, and the photoresist pattern is rectangular at this time, S3 does not perform development and hard baking. S4 moves the adjustment plate along the photoresist line width direction to the required reduced width. S5 performs secondary exposure and then develops.
[0052] Reference Figure 4 The pattern shape of the adjustment plate can be rectangular or L-shaped. The adjustment plate with a rectangular pattern shape is suitable for the above three situations, while the adjustment plate with an L-shaped pattern shape is only suitable for the situation where the line width is reduced. Moreover, when the pattern shape of the photoresist plate is rectangular or L-shaped, the photoresist plate can be used as an adjustment plate. In the above two situations where the line width is increased, the width value of the increased line width needs to be smaller than the width value of the adjustment plate pattern to ensure that the pattern of the adjustment plate and the pattern of the photoresist always partially overlap in the width direction, ensuring that the photoresist pattern and the pattern of the widened part are tightly combined and that there is no small gap.
[0053] Reference Figure 5 , when the line width needs to be increased, due to the pattern length L of the adjustment plate 调 The pattern length L where the photoresist line width is to be increased cannot be guaranteed 光 Therefore, L 调 As close to L as possible 光 And L 调 Less than L 光 Adjustment version, and the length of the prepared adjustment version is limited, that is, any L 调 Between two similar adjustment plates, the one with a larger value of L 调 and small L 调 The quotient is 2, so that one end of the adjustment plate is aligned with the end of the photoresist pattern line width to be increased, first perform S5, and then perform L along the length direction of the photoresist on the adjustment plate. 光 -L 调 By moving the distance value and then performing S3 and S5, the matching adaptation of different photoresist pattern lengths within a certain range can be achieved.
[0054] Reference Figure 6 In order to ensure that the end of the length direction of the line width increase portion can be stably combined with the photoresist pattern during the two movements of the adjustment plate along the length direction of the photoresist pattern, the length of the adjustment plate pattern overlapped with the photoresist pattern is set to L 额 , L 额 The value of is less than the width of the photoresist pattern, then the moving distance of the adjustment plate along the length direction of the photoresist is L 光 -L 调 +n×L 额 , n is the number of the length direction ends of the line width increase portion combined with the photoresist pattern, and the value of n is 0, 1 or 2.
[0055] The principle of a photolithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width in an embodiment of the present application is as follows: when the pattern on the photoresist plate consists of rectangular patterns and does not contain complex patterns such as arcs, the line width of the photoresist pattern can be adjusted to a certain extent by moving the adjustment plate and performing the corresponding conventional steps such as coating, exposure, development, and hard baking. Furthermore, when the photoresist pattern is rectangular or L-shaped, the photoresist plate can be used as the adjustment plate, eliminating the need to replace the adjustment plate with the photoresist plate.
[0056] The above are all preferred embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, any equivalent changes made based on the structure, shape, and principle of the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the present application.
Claims
1. A lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width, characterized by: The specific steps include: S1, wafer glue coating; S2, using a photomask for exposure; S3. Select whether to perform development and hard baking according to the photoresist type and line width adjustment type; S4, aligning the adjustment plate with the photoresist pattern and moving it accordingly along the photoresist line width direction; S5, performing a combination of secondary coating or secondary exposure according to the photoresist type and line width adjustment type; S6, perform final development and hard baking; The pattern shape of the adjustment plate includes a rectangle.
2. The lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the photoresist is positive and the rectangular line width needs to be increased, S3 performs development and hard baking, S4 moves the adjustment plate along the photoresist line width direction by the required increased width, S5 first performs secondary coating, and then performs secondary exposure and secondary development.
3. The lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the photoresist is a negative photoresist and the rectangular line width needs to be increased, S3 does not perform development and hard baking, S4 moves the adjustment plate along the photoresist line width direction by the required increased width, S5 performs secondary exposure, and then develops.
4. The lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width according to claim 1, wherein: When the photoresist is positive and the rectangular line width needs to be reduced, and the photoresist pattern is rectangular at this time, S3 does not perform development and hard baking, S4 moves the adjustment plate along the photoresist line width direction by the required reduced width, S5 performs secondary exposure, and then develops.
5. The lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width according to claim 1, wherein: When the photoresist pattern is rectangular, the photoresist can be used as an adjustment plate.
6. The lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: The adjustment plate pattern length L 调 and the length L of the position where the photoresist line width is to be increased 光 If inconsistent, select L 调 Less than L 光 Adjustment version, and S4 adjustment version also performs L 光 -L 调 The distance value of the movement.
7. The lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width according to claim 6, characterized in that: Before the adjustment plate moves along the length direction of the photoresist, S5 is performed first, and then the adjustment plate moves along the length direction of the photoresist again, and then S3 and S5 are performed.
8. The lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width according to claim 6, characterized in that: The quotient of the pattern lengths of the two adjustment plates with similar pattern length values is 2.
9. The lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width according to claim 1, characterized in that: The pattern shape of the adjustment plate also includes an L shape and is only used when the line width of the photoresist is reduced.
10. The lithography exposure method for flexibly changing line width according to claim 9, characterized in that: When the pattern of the photoresist is L-shaped, the photoresist can be used as an adjustment plate.