Exposure system, laser direct writing exposure machine, control method of laser and application of control method
By using a DMD control board in a laser direct writing exposure machine to control the opening and closing of the laser, the problem of the laser working ineffectively for a long time is solved, and the efficient use and lifespan of the laser are achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202512059428.4
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-12-31
- Publication Date
- 2026-02-10
AI Technical Summary
In existing laser direct writing exposure machines, the laser is pre-started for a long time during the movement of the sample to be exposed, resulting in ineffective operation, energy waste, and shortened laser life.
The laser is controlled by the excitation signal generated by the DMD control board, so that the laser turns on immediately after the DMD device flips and turns off before the next flip, reducing the ineffective turn-on time.
It effectively reduces the ineffective on-time of the laser, improves the laser's lifespan, reduces energy consumption, and extends the equipment's service life.
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Figure CN121500697A_ABST
Abstract
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present application belongs to the technical field of exposure equipment, and particularly relates to an exposure system, a laser direct writing exposure machine, a control method of a laser, and application thereof. BACKGROUND
[0002] The laser direct writing exposure machine (LDI) is a key device for realizing high-precision pattern exposure in the fields of microelectronic manufacturing and precision machining, and its core working principle is to complete the pattern exposure processing of a target sample to be exposed by using a laser beam through the coordinated cooperation of a plurality of imaging lenses. In the prior art, the laser control process and control mode of the LDI mainly include: establishing a communication connection with a plurality of lasers through a control bus, configuring the energy parameters of each laser one by one, and ensuring that the output energy of each laser meets the exposure process requirements; and in the exposure processing process, sending on-off control commands to each laser through the control bus to realize the on-demand output and shutdown of the laser.
[0003] However, the above-mentioned traditional control mode has significant technical defects. Since the motion parts of the device (such as the motion table carrying the sample to be exposed) are always in a continuous motion state when the LDI performs laser on-off operation, the host computer cannot capture the real-time position of the worktable. In order to ensure that the laser can stably emit light within the preset exposure interval and avoid incomplete exposure or pattern distortion, the commonly used solution in the prior art is to start the laser in advance before the motion table starts to move, so that the laser enters a continuous light-emitting state, and then controls the laser to shut down after the motion table completes the entire exposure movement and stops.
[0004] This control strategy of "starting in advance and delaying shutdown" directly leads to the actual working time of the laser being much longer than the processing time of the sample to be exposed (i.e. the actual exposure time required), and the laser is in an unnecessary working state for a long time. This problem not only causes waste of laser energy and increases the operating energy consumption of the device, but more importantly, it accelerates the aging and wear of the laser, shortens the service life of the laser, and thus increases the maintenance and use costs of the device, affecting the overall use efficiency of the LDI device.
[0005] Therefore, in view of the above technical problems, it is necessary to provide an exposure system, a laser direct writing exposure machine, a control method of a laser, and application thereof. SUMMARY
[0006] The present application aims to provide an exposure system, a laser direct writing exposure machine, a control method of a laser, and application thereof, which can meet the exposure requirements of the sample to be exposed while reducing the start-up time of the laser, thereby prolonging the service life of the laser.
[0007] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the technical solution provided by an embodiment of the present application is as follows:
[0008] An exposure system, comprising a laser for providing a laser beam, and an exposure lens connected with the laser, the exposure lens being used for projecting a light spot, a DMD device being installed on the exposure lens, the DMD device comprising a DMD control board and a DMD chip, the exposure system further comprising a main control board and an LD control board;
[0009] The DMD control board is used for generating an excitation signal to drive the DMD chip;
[0010] The main control board is used for generating a clock signal;
[0011] The LD control board is connected with the DMD control board and the laser, and is used for generating a control signal based on the clock signal and the excitation signal to drive the laser, the laser being turned on when the control signal is at a high level and being turned off when the control signal is at a low level;
[0012] The LD control board is used for converting the control signal to a high level at a falling edge of the excitation signal, and resetting the control signal after a set clock signal period.
[0013] In one or more embodiments of the present application, the DMD chip comprises a micromirror array, the micromirror array being flipped at a high level of the excitation signal.
[0014] In one or more embodiments of the present application, the LD control board is configured to convert the control signal to a low level before a next rising edge of the excitation signal comes.
[0015] In one or more embodiments of the present application, the exposure system comprises a plurality of exposure lenses and a plurality of lasers, the main control board and the DMD control board being connected through a parallel bus, the main control board being used for generating a synchronization signal based on the clock signal, and a plurality of the DMD control boards being used for synchronously generating excitation signals based on the synchronization signal.
[0016] In one or more embodiments of the present application, a high level duration of the synchronization signal is equal to one period of the clock signal, a rising edge of the synchronization signal is synchronized with one rising edge of the clock signal, and a falling edge of the synchronization signal is synchronized with an adjacent rising edge of the clock signal.
[0017] In one or more embodiments of the present application, the DMD control board receives the synchronization signal, and converts the excitation signal to a high level at a falling edge of the synchronization signal to realize synchronization among a plurality of the excitation signals.
[0018] Another aspect of the present application provides a control method of a laser, the control method comprising:
[0019] generating an excitation signal by a DMD control board to drive the DMD chip to flip;
[0020] generating a clock signal by a main control board;
[0021] generating a control signal by an LD control board based on the clock signal and the excitation signal to drive the laser, wherein the control signal is converted to high level by the LD control board at the falling edge of the excitation signal, and the control signal is reset after a set clock signal period, the laser is turned on when the control signal is high level, and is turned off when the control signal is low level.
[0022] Still another aspect of the present application provides a laser direct writing exposure machine, comprising the exposure system.
[0023] Yet another aspect of the present application provides an electronic device, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, the processor implements the control method of the laser when executing the computer program.
[0024] The present application also provides a computer readable medium, the computer readable medium carries computer execution instructions, the computer execution instructions are executed by the processor to implement the control method of the laser.
[0025] Compared with the prior art, the exposure system, the laser direct writing exposure machine, the control method of the laser and the application thereof, and the opening and closing of the laser are controlled by the excitation signal generated by the DMD control board, that is, the opening and closing of the laser are associated with the flipping action of the DMD device, after the flipping of the DMD device is completed, the laser is immediately turned on, and before the DMD device performs the next flipping, the laser has been turned off. The present application does not need to additionally calculate the position of the workbench when the laser is turned on and turned off, effectively reduces the invalid opening time of the laser, and further improves the service life of the laser, ensures that the laser can stably emit light, and avoids that the laser is in the invalid opening state for a long time. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0026] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or the prior art description. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained without creative labor based on these drawings.
[0027] Figure 1A structural schematic diagram of an exposure system in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. 1.
[0028] Figure 2 A structural schematic diagram of an exposure lens in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. 2.
[0029] Figure 3 A structural schematic diagram of an exposure system in another embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. 3. Figure 1 A structural schematic diagram of signal waveforms in the exposure lens shown in FIG. 2 is shown in FIG. 4.
[0030] Figure 4 A structural schematic diagram of an exposure system in another embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. 3.
[0031] Figure 5 A structural schematic diagram of an exposure lens in another embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. 5. Figure 4 A structural schematic diagram of signal waveforms in the exposure lens shown in FIG. 5 is shown in FIG. 6.
[0032] Figure 6 A principle block diagram of an electronic device in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. 7. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0033] In order to enable persons skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in the present disclosure, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by persons skilled in the art without creative labor should fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.
[0034] A laser direct writing exposure machine is a process test instrument for realizing micro-nano pattern processing through laser direct writing technology. Without using a mask plate, high-precision exposure can be directly performed on a substrate, and image information is transferred to a surface coated with a photosensitive substance. The laser direct writing exposure machine is widely applied in the fields of semiconductors, microelectronics, biological devices and nanotechnology.
[0035] With the development of the laser direct writing exposure machine, the yield requires the workbench to move faster, which further increases the difficulty of accurate control of the exposure system. In order to ensure that the laser can stably emit light within the preset exposure range and avoid incomplete exposure or pattern distortion, the prior art can only start the laser in advance, so that the laser enters a continuous light-emitting state. After the workbench completes the entire exposure movement and stops, the laser is controlled to be turned off.
[0036] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present disclosure provides an exposure system and a laser direct writing exposure machine comprising the exposure system. By controlling the laser 30 to be turned on immediately after the DMD device 40 is flipped, it is ensured that the laser can stably emit light within the preset exposure range, while avoiding the laser 30 being in an invalid on state for a long time.
[0037] In combination with Figure 1As shown, the exposure system of the present disclosure specifically comprises a laser 30, an exposure lens 50, a main control board 10, a DMD device 40 and an LD control board 20.
[0038] Specifically, the laser 30 (Laser Diode, LD) is used to provide a laser beam S LD1 Generally, an ultraviolet solid-state laser 30 is adopted, and the wavelength is commonly 355 nm, 375 nm, etc. The energy of ultraviolet photons is high, which can cause a high-efficiency photochemical reaction of the photosensitive film.
[0039] The exposure lens 50 is connected with the laser 30, and more specifically, the exposure lens 50 and the laser 30 are connected through an optical fiber cable. The exposure lens 50 is used to project a light spot, and the exposure is completed after the light spot irradiates on the sample to be exposed.
[0040] In combination Figure 2 As shown, the exposure lens 50 in the embodiment comprises a collimating box 51, a reflecting box 53 and a lens box 52. The laser beam S LD1 enters from one end of the collimating box 51, is collimated and reflected, is processed by the DMD device 40 after passing through the collimating box 51, the reflecting box 53 and the lens box 52, and then is output from the lens box 52. LD2
[0041] The DMD device 40 is installed above the reflecting box 53 of the exposure lens 50 and is used to receive the light reflected by the reflecting box 53. The DMD device 40 is a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD), and its main principle is that the host computer writes the target lithography pattern into the DMD device 40 through software, changes the rotation angle of the micromirror array in the DMD device 40 according to the distribution of the black and white pixels of the image, the laser light source is irradiated onto the DMD device 40 after passing through the collimating box 51 and the reflecting box 53 to form a light pattern consistent with the required pattern, and finally the light pattern is projected onto the surface of the sample to be exposed.
[0042] Further, the DMD device 40 comprises a DMD control board 41 and a DMD chip 42, wherein the DMD chip 42 comprises a micromirror array, and the DMD control board 41 is used to generate an excitation signal S1 to drive the DMD chip 42. The micromirror array flips at the high level of the excitation signal S1, and the mechanical flipping time of the micromirror array is in the order of microseconds, which can realize super-high frame rate. Therefore, the excitation signal S1 jumps to the high level, which indicates that the DMD chip 42 has received data update.
[0043] It can be understood that the DMD device is well known in the prior art, and therefore will not be described in detail herein. Any known or unknown DMD device can be used herein without limitation.
[0044] In combination Figure 3 As shown, the main control board 10 is configured to generate a clock signal CLK. The LD control board 20, i.e. the laser control board, is connected with the main control board 10, the DMD control board 41 and the laser 30, and is configured to generate a control signal S2 based on the clock signal CLK and the excitation signal S1 to drive the laser 30, which is turned on when the control signal S2 is high and turned off when the control signal S2 is low.
[0045] More specifically, the LD control board 20 is configured to convert the control signal S2 to high at the falling edge of the excitation signal S1, and reset the control signal S2 after a set period of the clock signal CLK.
[0046] Based on the exposure system provided by the present disclosure, the opening and closing of the laser 30 is controlled by the excitation signal S1 generated by the DMD control board 41, i.e. the opening and closing of the laser 30 is associated with the flipping action of the DMD device 40, and after the flipping of the DMD device 40 is completed, the laser 30 is immediately turned on, and before the next flipping of the DMD device 40, the laser 30 has already been turned off.
[0047] The present disclosure does not need to additionally calculate the position of the workbench when the laser 30 is turned on and off, effectively reduces the invalid opening time of the laser 30 (e.g. when the micro-mirror of the DMD device 40 is flipped), and further improves the service life of the laser 30. Furthermore, the LD control board 20 is configured to convert the control signal S2 to low before the next rising edge of the excitation signal S1 arrives, and the present disclosure accurately adjusts the control timing of the laser 30 based on the clock signal CLK, so that the laser 30 is in the off state during the flipping of the DMD device 40, which plays a role in flipping concealment, and effectively improves the product quality.
[0048] In actual application, the exposure system includes a plurality of lasers 30 and a plurality of exposure lenses 50, the number of the exposure lenses 50 corresponds to the number of the lasers 30, the plurality of exposure lenses 50 are arranged in sequence along the width direction of the sample to be exposed, and the plurality of exposure lenses 50 work in parallel, which can simultaneously expose more areas to shorten the processing time of a single sample to be exposed. Therefore, the exposure system adaptively includes a plurality of DMD devices 40 and LD control boards 20. It should be noted that only one main control board 10 is provided.
[0049] In combination Figure 4 As shown, the exposure system includes n channels (a1-an), each channel including an LD control board 20, a DMD device 40, a laser 30 and an exposure lens 50.
[0050] The main control board 10 is connected with the DMD control board 41 through a parallel bus, and the main control board 10 is configured to generate a synchronization signal S3 based on the clock signal CLK, and the n DMD control boards 41 are configured to synchronously generate the excitation signal S1 based on the synchronization signal S3.
[0051] In combination Figure 5 As shown in the figure, the high level duration of the synchronization signal S3 is equal to one period of the clock signal CLK, the rising edge of the synchronization signal S3 is synchronized with one rising edge of the clock signal CLK, and the falling edge of the synchronization signal S3 is synchronized with the adjacent rising edge of the clock signal CLK. The DMD control board 41 receives the synchronization signal S3, and converts the excitation signal S1 to high level at the falling edge of the synchronization signal S3 to realize the synchronization between the excitation signals (S1_1~ S1_n).
[0052] It can be understood that the large-format pattern is usually divided into multiple sub-patterns, which are exposed by different DMD devices 40 in parallel. If the DMDs are not synchronized, the exposure of each sub-pattern is out of time, and in the scanning process of the continuous movement of the workbench, the splicing between the sub-patterns will appear overlapping exposure or missing exposure gap. The present disclosure synchronizes the n DMD control boards 41 to generate the excitation signal S1 according to the synchronization signal S3, thereby realizing high-precision pattern splicing and ensuring the integrity of the pattern.
[0053] Correspondingly, the present disclosure also provides a control method of a laser, comprising:
[0054] S1, generating the excitation signal S1 by the DMD control board 41 to drive the DMD chip 42 to flip;
[0055] S2, generating the clock signal CLK by the main control board 10;
[0056] S3, generating the control signal S2 by the LD control board 20 based on the clock signal CLK and the excitation signal S1 to drive the laser 30, wherein the LD control board 20 converts the control signal S2 to high level at the falling edge of the excitation signal S1, and resets the control signal S2 after a set period of the clock signal CLK, and the laser 30 is turned on when the control signal S2 is high, and is turned off when the control signal S2 is low.
[0057] From the above technical solutions, the present disclosure has the following beneficial effects:
[0058] The opening and closing of the laser are controlled by the excitation signal generated by the DMD control board, that is, the opening and closing of the laser are associated with the flipping action of the DMD device. After the flipping of the DMD device is completed, the laser is immediately turned on, and before the DMD device performs the next flipping, the laser has been turned off. The present disclosure does not need to additionally calculate the position of the workbench when the laser is turned on and off, effectively reduces the invalid opening time of the laser, thereby improving the service life of the laser, ensuring that the laser can stably emit light, and avoiding that the laser is in the invalid opening state for a long time.
[0059] Figure 6A hardware structure diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of this specification is shown. Figure 6 As shown, the electronic device 60 may include at least one processor 61, a memory 62 (e.g., non-volatile memory), a RAM 63, and a communication interface 64, and the at least one processor 61, memory 62, RAM 63, and communication interface 64 are connected together via a bus 65. The at least one processor 61 executes at least one computer-readable instruction stored or encoded in the memory 62.
[0060] It should be understood that the computer-executable instructions stored in memory 62, when executed, cause at least one processor 61 to perform the various operations and functions described in the various embodiments of this specification.
[0061] In the embodiments of this specification, electronic device 60 may include, but is not limited to: personal computer, server computer, workstation, desktop computer, laptop computer, notebook computer, mobile electronic device, smartphone, tablet computer, cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld device, messaging device, wearable electronic device, consumer electronic device, etc.
[0062] This disclosure also provides a computer-readable medium carrying computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, can be used to implement various operations and functions of the laser control methods described in the various embodiments of this specification.
[0063] The computer-readable medium in this disclosure can be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium, or any combination thereof. A computer-readable storage medium can be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination thereof. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage device, magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof. In this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium can be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program that can be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
[0064] In this disclosure, a computer-readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, carrying computer-readable program code. Such propagated data signals may take various forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination thereof. The computer-readable signal medium may also be any computer-readable medium other than a computer-readable storage medium, which can transmit, propagate, or transfer a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The program code contained on the computer-readable medium may be transmitted using any suitable medium, including but not limited to: wireless, wireline, optical fiber, RF, etc., or any suitable combination thereof.
[0065] Those skilled in the art will understand that embodiments of this disclosure can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, this disclosure can take the form of a completely hardware embodiment, a completely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, this disclosure can take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.
[0066] This disclosure is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus, systems, and computer program products according to embodiments of this disclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, generate instructions for implementing the flowchart... Figure 1 One or more processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in one or more boxes.
[0067] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this disclosure is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments described above, and that this disclosure can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. Therefore, the embodiments should be considered in all respects as exemplary and non-limiting, and the scope of this disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description. Thus, all variations falling within the meaning and scope of equivalents of the claims are intended to be included within this disclosure. No reference numerals in the claims should be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.
[0068] Furthermore, it should be understood that although this specification describes embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution. This narrative style is merely for clarity. Those skilled in the art should consider the specification as a whole, and the technical solutions in each embodiment can also be appropriately combined to form other embodiments that can be understood by those skilled in the art.
Claims
1. An exposure system, characterized in that, The system includes a laser and an exposure lens connected to the laser. The laser is used to provide a laser beam, and the exposure lens is used to project a light spot. A DMD device is mounted on the exposure lens. The DMD device includes a DMD control board and a DMD chip. The exposure system also includes a main control board and an LD control board. The DMD control board is used to generate excitation signals to drive the DMD chip; The main control board is used to generate clock signals; The LD control board is connected to the DMD control board and the laser, and is used to generate a control signal based on the clock signal and the excitation signal to drive the laser. The laser is turned on when the control signal is high and turned off when the control signal is low. The LD control board is used to convert the control signal to a high level on the falling edge of the excitation signal and reset the control signal after a set number of clock signal cycles.
2. The exposure system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The DMD chip includes a micromirror array, which flips when the excitation signal is at a high level.
3. The exposure system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The LD control board is configured to switch the control signal to a low level before the next rising edge of the excitation signal arrives.
4. The exposure system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The exposure system includes several exposure lenses and several lasers. The main control board and the DMD control board are connected via a parallel bus. The main control board is used to generate a synchronization signal based on the clock signal, and the several DMD control boards generate excitation signals synchronously based on the synchronization signal.
5. The exposure system according to claim 4, characterized in that, The high-level duration of the synchronization signal is equal to one cycle of the clock signal, the rising edge of the synchronization signal is synchronized with one rising edge of the clock signal, and the falling edge of the synchronization signal is synchronized with an adjacent rising edge of the clock signal.
6. The exposure system according to claim 5, characterized in that, The DMD control board receives the synchronization signal and converts the excitation signal to a high level on the falling edge of the synchronization signal to achieve synchronization among the excitation signals.
7. A method for controlling a laser, characterized in that, The control method includes: The DMD control board generates an excitation signal to drive the DMD chip to flip. The clock signal is generated by the main control board; The laser is driven by a control signal generated by the LD control board based on the clock signal and the excitation signal. The control signal is converted to a high level by the LD control board at the falling edge of the excitation signal and reset after a set number of clock signal cycles. The laser is turned on when the control signal is high and turned off when the control signal is low.
8. A laser direct-write exposure machine, characterized in that, The laser direct writing exposure machine includes the exposure system as described in any one of claims 1 to 8.
9. An electronic device comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that, When the processor executes the computer program, it implements the laser control method as described in claim 7.
10. A computer-readable medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable medium carries computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, are used to implement the laser control method as described in claim 7.