Optical fiber array type lithography equipment

Abstract

The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a fiber optic array type lithography apparatus, which includes a control device, an optical fiber transmission device, an optical focusing array, and an electric driving workstation, and further includes a lithography light source, a de-excitation light source, a first stage dispersing array, an electro-optic modulation array, and a second stage dispersing array, and the control device is connected to the electro-optic modulation array and the electric driving workstation, and the control device is used to control the electro-optic modulation array to modulate the laser light emitted from the laser light source based on a design layout, and to control the electric driving workstation to operate. The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a simpler optical path by avoiding the use of multiple optical lenses or lens groups, greatly reducing manufacturing costs and maintenance costs, uses multiple optical fibers to configure an optical fiber bundle, performs multi-beam parallel exposure, and improves lithography efficiency, uses an electro-optic modulation array to realize switching for laser light energy in lithography, and realizes high-speed patterning function in lithography in conjunction with the movement of the electric driving table, and realizes optical diffraction-limited super-resolution lithography by combining de-excitation emission with lithography light.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of chip or integrated circuit manufacturing, and in particular to fiber optic array type lithography apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] A lithography tool uses ultraviolet or UV photons to irradiate photoresist (photosensitive gel) applied to the surface of a wafer or sample, changing the size of the photoresist molecules and creating a certain contrast in their solubility in a specific solvent. The selectively exposed photoresist applied to the wafer / sample surface is developed using this solvent to form a pattern. Lithography tools are the core equipment of chip manufacturing lines, and the minimum line width obtained after exposing the photoresist is the most important indicator of the lithography tool and represents the advanced level of the chip manufacturing line. In the most advanced chip manufacturing lines, one or more lithography tools with different processing accuracy are usually installed for the transistor manufacturing process (front track) and the interconnection process between transistors (back track) according to the requirements of the high degree of transistor integration and chip wiring. Lithography equipment can be divided into two types according to the method of forming a pattern on the photoresist. The first type of lithography equipment is to pass a light spot with a uniform intensity distribution through a lithography mask template with transparent and opaque area patterns, and then form a highly faithful image of the mask template pattern on the photoresist. Such lithography equipment is widely used in semiconductor manufacturing lines. The second type of lithography equipment uses a bundle of focused light to scan the area that needs to be exposed on the photosensitive gel, or uses a spatial light modulator to modulate the light intensity of the uniform light spot division to form a spatially contrasted pattern, and then realizes exposure on the photosensitive gel. Such lithography equipment does not require a lithography mask template, so it is called a maskless lithography equipment, the former is also called laser direct imaging, and the latter is also called LDI. The design of the above two types of lithography equipment both adopt a free-space optical structure in which the light emitted from the light source is exposed to air or vacuum in the process of reaching the photoresist surface. Furthermore, due to the constraints of the principle of optical diffraction, the resolution of lithography that combines multiple resolution improvement technologies reaches approximately 1 / 4 of the exposure wavelength. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of this, an embodiment of the present disclosure proposes an optical fiber array type lithography apparatus to solve the problems in the prior art.

[0004] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a fiber optic array type lithography apparatus, which includes a control device, a fiber optic transmission device, a light focusing array, and an electric driving workstation, and further includes a lithography light source, a de-excitation light source, a first stage dispersing array, an electro-optic modulation array, and a second stage dispersing array, the lithography light source and the de-excitation light source respectively radiate an exposure Gaussian beam and a de-excitation Gaussian beam with different wavelengths, the control device is connected to the electro-optic modulation array and the electric driving workstation, and the control device is used to control the electro-optic modulation array to modulate the laser light emitted from the laser light source according to a design layout, and to control the electric driving workstation to move.

[0005] In some embodiments, the control device is used to decompose the design layout into multiple layer patterns according to a fabrication process, generate lithography data based on each pattern of the multiple layers, and generate electro-optical modulation signals for the electro-optical modulator and workstation control signals for the electric drive console based on the lithography data.

[0006] In some embodiments, the first-stage spectroscopic array is provided between the laser light source and the electro-optical modulation array, and includes a first spectrophotometer and n first-stage optical channels, and the first-stage spectroscopic array is used to uniformly distribute the laser light emitted from the laser light source to the n first-stage optical channels via the first spectrophotometer, and the n first-stage optical channels output lithography light using an optical fiber coupler method.

[0007] In some embodiments, the electro-optical modulation array includes n modulation channels forming an array, the modulation channels correspondingly coupled to the first stage optical channels, each of the modulation channels having a corresponding modulator disposed therein, each of the modulators correspondingly controlling and modulating the lithography light output by the corresponding first stage optical channel.

[0008] In some embodiments, the second-stage spectroscopic array is provided between the electro-optic modulation array and the optical fiber transmission device and includes a second spectrophotometer and c second-stage optical channels, and the second-stage spectroscopic array uniformly distributes lithography light pulses output from each of the n modulation channels of the electro-optic modulation array to the c second-stage optical channels, and the c second-stage optical channels output lithography light pulses in an optical fiber coupler manner.

[0009] In some embodiments, the optical fiber transmission device is a lithography optical fiber bundle capable of receiving at least an exposure Gaussian beam and a de-excitation Gaussian beam having different wavelengths, the lithography optical fiber bundle includes c sub-optical fiber bundles, each of the sub-optical fiber bundles includes n optical fibers, each of the n optical fibers includes an optical fiber core for transmitting a beam, an optical fiber cladding is provided outside the optical fiber core and surrounds it, a spiral phase structure is provided at an input end of the optical fiber core, and a lens structure is provided outside the output end of the optical fiber core.

[0010] In some embodiments, the exposing Gaussian beam is ultraviolet light and the de-excitation Gaussian beam is a laser beam, and upon exposure, the de-excitation beam is transformed into a donut-shaped beam of structured light, and the exposing Gaussian beam is located in an inner circle where the light intensity of the donut-shaped beam of structured light is weakest.

[0011] In some embodiments, the light focusing array is a fiber optic lens that is coupleable with the fiber optic delivery device. In some embodiments, the electrically driven workstation includes multiple drives for positioning and controlling the exposure position on the lithographic material in three axes, X, Y and Z, where the X and Y axes are located in a focal plane where the optically focusing array focuses the optical signal, and the Z axis is along a direction perpendicular to the focal plane.

[0012] The embodiment of the present disclosure uses optical fibers to connect the laser light source and the light focusing array, avoiding the difficulty of designing and manufacturing multiple optical lenses or lens groups in the optical lithography apparatus that emits laser light from free space, realizing a simpler optical path, greatly reducing manufacturing and maintenance costs, using multiple optical fibers to configure an optical fiber bundle, implementing multi-beam parallel exposure, improving lithography efficiency, and using an electro-optic modulation array to realize switching of the laser light energy of the lithography, and realizing high-speed patterning function of the lithography with the movement of the electric driving table. In the lithography apparatus of the embodiment of the present disclosure, the Gaussian-shaped exposure beam is located at the inner circle where the light intensity of the donut-shaped structured light is the weakest, so that the function of super-resolution lithography can also be realized. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] In order to more clearly describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure or the prior art, the following briefly describes the drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some of the embodiments described in the present disclosure, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a fiber optic array-based lithographic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2]FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a first stage dispersing array in an optical fiber array type lithography apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of an electro-optic modulation array in an optical fiber array type lithography apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram of a second stage dispersing array in an optical fiber array type lithography apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a structural schematic diagram of a fiber optic bundle for lithography in an optical fiber array type lithography apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a structural schematic diagram of an optical fiber focusing array in an optical fiber array type lithography apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a module of a control device in an optical fiber array type lithography apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure clearer, the following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure in combination with the drawings of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Of course, the embodiments described herein are not all the embodiments, but are only some of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein, all other embodiments that can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without requiring creative labor belong to the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0016] Unless otherwise specified, technical or scientific terms used in this disclosure should have the ordinary meaning understood by a person of ordinary skill in the field to which this disclosure belongs. The terms "first", "second" and similar terms used in this disclosure do not denote any order, number, or importance, but are only used to distinguish different components. Similar terms such as "include" or "included" mean that the element or thing appearing before this term covers the elements or things listed after this term and their equivalents, without excluding other elements or things. Similar terms such as "connected" or "connected" are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but can include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect connections. "Top", "bottom", "left", "right", etc. are only used to express relative positional relationships, and if the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationships may change accordingly.

[0017] For clarity and conciseness of the following description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the present disclosure omits detailed descriptions of known features and components.

[0018] The embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a fiber optic array lithography apparatus for realizing a lithography operation by exposing a lithography material, such as a wafer, based on a preset lithography design layout. As shown in FIG. 1, a structural schematic diagram of the fiber optic array lithography apparatus is shown, and the fiber optic array lithography apparatus includes a control device 1, a lithography light source 2a, a de-excitation light source 2b, a first stage light splitting array 3, an electro-optic modulation array 4, a second stage light splitting array 5, an optical fiber transmission device 6, an optical fiber focusing array 7, and an electric driving workstation 8. Here, the lithography material is, for example, a wafer or other material provided in the electric driving workstation 8, which is coated with a photoresist by spin-coating, spraying, or other process.

[0019] The lithography light source 2a and the de-excitation light source 2b are respectively used to irradiate the exposure Gaussian beam and the de-excitation Gaussian beam to the lithography material located on the electric driving workstation 8, so as to realize the super-resolution lithography that breaks through the optical diffraction limit based on a pre-designed design layout. Here, the control device 1 is connected to the electro-optic modulation array 4 and the electric driving workstation 8, and respectively controls the electro-optic modulation array 4 using the design layout to obtain a matching exposure pulse by modulating the exposure Gaussian beam, and controls the electric driving workstation 8 to realize the movement / movement. In this way, the modulated laser pulse can realize the exposure to the lithography material provided on the electric driving workstation 8 to complete the lithography operation.

[0020] Specifically, as mentioned above, the control device 1 is used to respectively control the electro-optic modulation array 4 to modulate the laser light emitted from the exposure light source 2a according to the design layout, and control the electric driving workstation 8 to move. Here, the control device 1 can be controlled in a human-machine interface manner. First, for example, design the design layout of an integrated circuit / chip that meets the target function by using graphic software, or input the design layout of an integrated circuit that meets the above requirements based on a third party's design software, decompose the design layout into multiple layers of exposure patterns according to the processing process, and convert the exposure parameters into lithography data related to the realization of exposure to the lithography material based on the exposure pattern of each layer and based on the type of photoresist (for example, positive or negative photoresist, exposure sensitivity of photoresist), and finally generate an electro-optic modulation signal 11 for the electro-optic modulation array 4 and a workstation control signal 12 for the electric driving workstation 8 based on the lithography data.

[0021] Furthermore, the control device 1 modulates the laser light emitted from the exposure light source 2a based on the electro-optical modulation signal 11 to obtain a laser pulse having a width matching that required for the lithography operation. The control device 1 controls the movement of the electric drive workstation 8 to move to each exposure point position based on the workstation control signal 12 to realize the exposure operation. In this way, the control device 1 synchronously controls the electro-optical modulation array 4 and the electric drive workstation 8 based on the electro-optical modulation signal 11 and the workstation control signal 12 to perform an exposure operation on the photoresist on the lithography material provided on the electric drive workstation 8, and finally realizes a precise lithography function.

[0022] Here, as shown in Fig. 7, the control device 1 obtains the exposure related data required for the lithography material by, for example, the design layout, and breaks down the exposure related data into drive control data and corresponding electro-optical modulation data via a DAC module or an ADC module. Here, the drive control data includes at least the position information of all exposure positions and non-exposure positions on the lithography material such as a required wafer to fulfill the lithography process, the positioning information of the position of the wafer in the electric drive workstation 8 corresponding to each exposure position and non-exposure position, and the movement control data of the drive device. The electro-optical modulation data includes at least the voltage signal information and pulse width information corresponding to each exposure position and non-exposure position. Here, the electro-optical modulation signal 11 and the workstation control signal 12 are formed based on the drive control data and the corresponding electro-optical modulation data, respectively.

[0023] In particular, the function of the lithography optical fiber is to convert the de-excitation laser light into a doughnut-shaped continuous structured light using a spiral phase plate at the input end without affecting the Gaussian-shaped lithography light pulse. Inside the optical fiber, the doughnut-shaped de-excitation emission and the Gaussian-shaped lithography light pulse realize coaxial propagation. The lens structure at the emission end of the lithography optical fiber focuses the Gaussian-shaped lithography light pulse into the lithography focal plane without affecting the doughnut shape of the continuous de-excitation emission. In this way, at the lithography focal plane, the exposure Gaussian beam is located in the inner circle where the light intensity of the doughnut-shaped structured light is the weakest, and super-resolution lithography is realized.

[0024] Next, each component of the optical fiber array type lithography apparatus will be described in detail.

[0025] The Gaussian beam 11 for exposure emitted from the lithography light source 2 is mainly used for exposure operation and may be normal ultraviolet light, and the ultraviolet light here may have a wavelength in the range of, for example, 193 to 405 nm, preferably 355 to 405 nm. The Gaussian beam 12 for de-excitation may be coherent light, for example a laser beam, and the wavelength range of the Gaussian beam 12 for de-excitation emitted from the de-excitation light source 2b here may be in the range of 550 to 1500 nm, and of course, the types and wavelengths of the two types of Gaussian beams here are not limited thereto. In one embodiment, the lithography light source 2a for emitting the lithography beam here may include a power supply and a laser device, and the laser light source here may use a plurality of laser devices such as a solid-state laser device, a semiconductor laser device, or a gas laser device, or may use a plurality of laser device arrays consisting of the same or different laser devices. The power of emitting the laser light may be in the range of 1 mW to 1 kW, and in this case, it is preferable to use a laser device capable of emitting laser light in an optical fiber output system so as to facilitate coupling with a corresponding optical channel in the device described below.

[0026] Furthermore, when a laser device that emits light into free space is used as the lithography light source 2a, the lithography light source 2a may include an optical fiber focusing array, and the light spot focused through the optical fiber focusing array can be directly coupled to the corresponding optical channel described below.

[0027] 2, the first-stage spectroscopic array 3 is provided between the light source and the electro-optical modulation array 4, and includes a first spectrophotometer 31 and n first-stage optical channels 32, where the first-stage spectrophotometer 3 is used to uniformly distribute the laser light emitted from the lithography light source 2a and the de-excitation light source 2b to the n first-stage optical channels 32 via the first spectrophotometer 31, and these n first-stage optical channels 32 output the lithography light in an optical fiber coupler manner so that the intensities of the lithography light and the de-excitation light can be uniformly distributed to the n optical fibers of the optical fiber transmission device 6. Here, the first spectrophotometer 31 may use a separation optical element such as a spectroscopic mirror or a reflecting mirror, or may use an integrated optical waveguide.

[0028] Furthermore, the electro-optic modulation array 4 here includes a high-frequency electrical signal generator, which receives the electro-optic modulation signal 11 sent from the control device 1 and generates an electrical pulse which may or may not be amplified as required, and finally adjusts the optical phase of both arms of the optical waveguide by an electro-optic modulation method to form an exposure pulse having a target width, which is then directly input to the second-stage spectroscopic array 5 described later.

[0029] As shown in Fig. 3, the electro-optical modulation array 4 includes n modulation channels 41 forming an array, the modulation channels 41 are correspondingly coupled to the first-stage optical channels 32, and each of the modulation channels 41 is provided with a corresponding modulator 42, and each of the modulators 42 controls and modulates the lithography light output by the corresponding first-stage optical channel 32. In each of the modulation channels 41, the corresponding modulator 42 modulates the exposure laser light to a corresponding exposure pulse width according to the electro-optical modulation signal 11, but de-excitation is not modulated. Here, the modulation channel 41 may be an optical fiber, and each of the modulation channels 41 and the corresponding modulator 42 here may be provided separately from each other, and the modulation channel 41 may be an optical waveguide, or may be provided by integrating a modulator and an optical waveguide.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 4, the second-stage spectroscopic array 5 is provided between the electro-optical modulation array 4 and the optical fiber transmission device 6, and includes a second spectrophotometer 51 and c second-stage optical channels 52, where the second-stage spectroscopic array 5 uniformly distributes the lithography light pulse and the unmodulated de-excitation light output from each of the n modulation channels 41 of the electro-optical modulation array 4 to the c second-stage optical channels 52, and these c second-stage optical channels output the coaxial lithography light pulse and the continuous de-excitation light in an optical fiber coupler manner. In this way, the second-stage spectroscopic array 5 outputs a total of n*c bundles of beams, and each optical fiber has a corresponding exposure pulse and de-excitation light, and the intensities of the lithography light and the de-excitation light described later can be uniformly distributed to the n*c optical fibers. Here, the second spectrophotometer 52 may be realized using a separation optical element such as a spectroscopic mirror or a reflecting mirror, or may be realized using an integrated optical waveguide.

[0031] The optical fiber transmission device 6 here is an optical fiber for transmitting a modulated optical signal, and for receiving the light intensity pulse modulated by the electro-optic modulation array 4 and output via the second-stage spectroscopic array 5. The optical fiber here may be a single-mode or multi-mode optical fiber, and may be made of an organic optical fiber or a quartz optical fiber, but it is preferable to use a single-mode quartz optical fiber. The optical fiber transmission device 6 realizes exposure by outputting an optical pulse signal.

[0032] The optical fiber delivery device 6 may be a lithography optical fiber bundle, which can deliver the lithography optical fiber bundle from the light source directly to the photoresist surface that needs to be exposed, so as to facilitate the later lithography. The optical fiber delivery device 6 may be a lithography optical fiber bundle, which includes c sub-optical fiber bundles, the same as the number of chips to be manufactured on the wafer, each of the sub-optical fiber bundles includes n optical fibers, and each of the lithography optical fibers can receive at least two spatially optically coupled Gaussian-type exposure pulses 1 and de-excitation beams with different wavelengths.

[0033] As shown in FIG. 5, the lithography optical fiber includes an optical fiber core 22 for transmitting a beam, and an optical fiber clad 21 is provided around the optical fiber core 22. The optical fiber core 22 and the optical fiber clad 21 can be made of any suitable material having a small absorption coefficient for a beam in a wavelength range of 193 nm to 2 μm, for example. The optical fiber core 22 may be made of a doped quartz material, and preferably, the optical fiber core 22 is made of CaF2 or doped CaF2. The optical fiber clad 21 may be made of an undoped quartz material, and preferably, the optical fiber clad 21 is made of quartz or CaF2 material.

[0034] Here, in order to ensure the transmission of two types of Gaussian beams, the diameter of the optical fiber core 22 is 0.5 μm to 10 μm, and the outer diameter of the optical fiber clad 21 is 15 μm to 100 μm. The optical fiber core 22 here can simultaneously realize single-mode propagation for the wavelengths of the exposure Gaussian beam 11 for exposure and the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12, or can realize single-mode propagation for at least the exposure Gaussian beam 11. In addition, the optical fiber clad 21 and the optical fiber core 22 have a certain difference in optical refraction coefficient, and specifically, the difference in optical refraction coefficient between the optical fiber clad 21 and the optical fiber core 22 is 0.01 to 0.2 to facilitate the transmission of the Gaussian beam in the optical fiber core 22.

[0035] Furthermore, the input end of the optical fiber core 22 is provided with a spiral phase structure 23 that functions to convert the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 at the de-excitation emission wavelength into a donut-shaped de-excitation structured light beam 14 without affecting the Gaussian-type exposure pulse 11, so that the exposure pulse can be transmitted to the photoresist surface in the Gaussian beam format.

[0036] The spiral phase structure 23 here may be fabricated using a micro-nano processing technique, and the spiral phase structure 23 may adopt the form of a spiral phase plate. Specifically, a spiral phase plate having different etching depths may be provided along the celestial azimuth direction of the end face of the optical fiber clad 21 on the axis of the optical fiber core 22. The spiral phase plate here may be fabricated using a processing technique such as FIB. Specifically, at the entrance end position of the optical fiber clad 21, i.e., on the end face of the optical fiber core 22, a plurality of different sector regions may be formed along the axial direction, and the height at which the material of the optical fiber core 22 is etched differs for each sector region, so that a spiral structure is formed. Of course, the spiral phase structure 23 may be formed by processing the end surface of the optical fiber core 22 into a super-surface structure at the input end position of the optical fiber clad 21, which satisfies the spiral phase requirement and can achieve focusing on the exposure wavelength, specifically, a plurality of different sector regions may be formed on the end surface of the optical fiber core 22, and the surface of the optical fiber core 22 in each sector region may have a different two-dimensional super-surface structure. Here, whether the spiral phase plate form or the two-dimensional super-surface structure form is used, the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 of the laser light can be directly converted into the doughnut-shaped structured beam 14 without affecting the exposure pulse, and the Gaussian-type exposure pulse 11 can be directly reached to the surface of the photoresist.

[0037] Furthermore, a lens structure 24 is provided on the outside of the output end of the optical fiber clad 21, and the lens structure 24 may have a structure that protrudes outward in an arc shape, and has a focal plane 25 on the outside of the lens structure 24, and the lens structure 24 is for forming a highly focused beam spot of the Gaussian-type exposure pulse 11 on the focal plane 25 of the lens structure 24, but does not affect the doughnut-shaped de-excitation light. The lens structure 24 here may be, for example, a focusing lens for optical fiber exposure. Specifically, the lens structure 24 may be an optical fiber lens formed on the end face of the optical fiber core 22 using a chemical etching method or the like, or may be, for example, a super-surface lens formed on the end face of the optical fiber clad 21 using a micro-nano processing technology.

[0038] Since the optical fiber bundle for lithography is an aggregate of a plurality of the lithography optical fibers, when the optical fiber bundle for lithography includes a plurality of the lithography optical fibers, the spiral phase structures 23 in all the lithography optical fibers form one array, and the lens structures 24 in all the lithography optical fibers form one array. This makes it possible to perform multi-beam lithography using the optical fiber bundle for lithography formed by a plurality of the lithography optical fibers, thereby further increasing the exposure speed.

[0039] When two bundles of Gaussian beams with different wavelengths are coupled into the lithography optical fiber through spatial optical coupling, the helical phase structure 23 located at the end face of the optical fiber core 22 converts the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 into a donut-shaped structured light beam 14, and the donut-shaped de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 and the Gaussian-shaped exposure pulse 11 are coaxially transmitted through the optical fiber core 22 to the other end face of the optical fiber core 22, so that the lens structure 24 located at this other end face forms the lithography beam 13 by focusing the Gaussian-shaped exposure pulse 11 on the focal plane 25 of the lens structure without affecting the donut structure of the de-excitation light. Then, the donut-shaped structured light beam 14 and the focused lithography light pulse 13 on the focal plane 25 are kept overlapping with the optical axis, and the Gaussian beam 13 is always located at the inner circle where the light intensity is the weakest in the donut-shaped structured light. In this way, by adjusting the intensity of the de-excitation light, the radius of the inner circle can be effectively reduced, limiting the range in which lithography can be achieved with the inner Gaussian-type exposure pulse, thereby enabling super-resolution lithography to be achieved.

[0040] In this way, when a photoresist-coated wafer is placed at the focal plane 25, the size of the hollow structure in the doughnut of the structured light beam 14 formed by the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 can be controlled by adjusting the exposure time and energy of the focused lithography beam 13 and adjusting the intensity of the de-excitation light 14. Specifically, the intensity of the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 ensures the effective de-excitation diameter reduction of the doughnut-shaped structure, thereby limiting the exposable size of the lithography beam 13, thereby breaking through the diffraction limit to achieve the effect of super-resolution lithography.

[0041] In a specific embodiment, the lithography optical fiber according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can be fabricated as follows: First, select a suitable material with a small absorption coefficient for the wavelength range of 193 nm to 2 μm, such as SiO2, CaF2, etc., and fabricate the optical fiber core 22 and the optical fiber cladding 21 by techniques such as doping and optical fiber manufacturing techniques, so that the lithography optical fiber can form a single-mode optical fiber that meets the wavelength range of 193 nm to 2 μm, and in particular, such a single-mode optical fiber can realize single-mode transmission for the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 and convert the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 into a doughnut-shaped structured light beam 14 with maximum efficiency.

[0042] A spiral phase plate is processed and formed by using a micro-nano processing technique on the end face of the optical fiber core 22 located at the entrance end position of the optical fiber clad 21, and the spiral phase plate converts a Gaussian-shaped beam at the wavelength of the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 into a doughnut-shaped structured light beam 14. In this way, the Gaussian-shaped exposure beam 11, such as ultraviolet light having a lithography wavelength, still transmits through the optical fiber core 22 with a Gaussian-shaped light point after passing through the spiral phase plate, and finally forms the lithography beam 13. Furthermore, by using a chemical etching method or the like to fabricate the lens structure 24, such as an optical fiber lens, capable of efficiently focusing a Gaussian-type lithography beam on the end face of the optical fiber core 22 located at the output end position of the optical fiber clad 21, the beam of structured light 14 formed using at least the de-excitation Gaussian beam 12 and the exposure Gaussian beam 11, for example of ultraviolet lithography light, can be formed into a super-resolution lithography feature on a photoresist on the focal plane 15 without changing the structure in the focal plane 25 of the beam of structured light 14 forming a doughnut shape.

[0043] The embodiment of the present disclosure can realize the coaxial transmission of light for lithography and de-excitation between the light source and the photoresist surface through the optical fiber, and the light energy for exposure and the de-excitation light for limiting the exposure range can be directly transmitted from the light source to the photoresist surface through the optical fiber, without the need for lenses and lens groups, making the system easier to install, occupying less space, and reducing the cost and maintenance cost. In addition, the simultaneous coaxial propagation of at least two beams with different wavelengths is realized using one optical fiber, greatly reducing the technical difficulty of adjusting the lens group in the dual-beam lithography technique. In addition, the phase structure of the optical fiber end surface can be used to convert the de-excitation Gaussian beam into a doughnut-shaped structured light to realize super-resolution lithography at the 20 nanometer to 10 nm level using the STED lithography technique using ordinary ultraviolet light.

[0044] As shown in Fig. 6, the optical fiber focusing array 7 here may be an optical fiber lens that can be coupled with an optical fiber transmission device 6. The optical fiber focusing array 7 spatially arranges n*c optical fibers into a sub-optical fiber bundle structure corresponding to c chips on a wafer to be processed on a manufacturing line, and each optical fiber bundle has n optical fibers uniformly arranged in the same order in the corresponding chip space, and the n optical fibers of each optical fiber bundle form one sub-focal plane for an exposure pulse, and the sub-focal planes of the c sub-optical fiber bundles constitute an exposure focal plane, as shown in Fig. 6.

[0045] Here, the electric drive workstation 8 includes multiple drive devices for realizing precise positioning and control of the exposure position on the lithographic material in three axes directions XYZ, where the drive devices may be, for example, motor units, the X and Y axes being located at the focal plane where the optical fiber focusing array 7 realizes focusing of the light pulses, and the Z axis being along a direction perpendicular to the focal plane.

[0046] Furthermore, the positioning and control accuracy in the Z-axis direction of the electrically driven work table 8 is on the order of 100 nm to 10 μm. Therefore, a stepping motor may be suitably used for controlling the motion in the Z-axis direction, or a piezoelectric motor may be used. The motor unit here controls the maximum displacement of the motion of the electrically driven work table 8 to be 5 mm to 50 mm.

[0047] The movements of the electric work station 8 in the X-axis and Y-axis directions are controlled by two independent motor units, each of which includes at least a stepping motor and a piezoelectric motor. The positioning accuracy of each of the motor units is realized by, for example, a laser interferometer, and the positioning accuracy can be controlled by forming a closed-circuit control signal using, for example, a positioning signal emitted by the laser interferometer and a drive signal of the piezoelectric motor. In this way, the positioning and control accuracy in the two axial directions of the X-axis and Y-axis located in the focal plane is controlled to 2 nm to 1 μm, and the motor units control the maximum displacement of the movement of the electric work station 8 to 50 mm to 320 mm. Of course, the electric work table 8 may have the ability to rotate in the focal plane and tilt positioning and control in which the normal of the XY plane deviates from the focused light beam.

[0048] Embodiments of the present disclosure can provide micro-nano structures for forming large area, super-resolution lithography on the surface of a lithographic material, such as a wafer or other material, to meet the needs of research, development and production of integrated circuits and other micro-nano systems.

[0049] The optical fiber array type lithography apparatus according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, uses an ultraviolet laser light source as the lithography light, and transmits the lithography light to the electro-optic modulation array through a spectral array to realize high-speed modulation of the light intensity of the lithography light, and the modulated frequency can reach 100GHz; and transmits the exposure pulse to the optical fiber transmission device through the spectral array to form multiple optical fiber sub-beams corresponding to the parallelism of multi-chips, and multiple optical fibers in each optical fiber sub-beam process corresponding to the parallelism in the chip; and uses the de-excitation optical fiber in each optical fiber to constrain the exposable range of the exposure pulse; and synchronizes the electric driving workstation with the electro-optic modulation to realize high-speed large-area super-resolution lithography patterns on semiconductor wafers or other research and development samples coated with photoresist, so as to meet the demands of chip production. Specifically, the optical fiber lithography apparatus according to the embodiment of the present disclosure realizes the lithography function by the following technical solutions:

[0050] (1) For example, a lithography material having an ideal thickness is applied to the surface of a semiconductor wafer or other lithography material, and the photoresist is hardened by baking or the like, and then the lithography material is set in the electric drive workstation 8, and the electric drive workstation 8 realizes the movement and positioning in the Z-axis direction by a drive device that controls the motion in the Z-axis direction, and the photoresist is positioned within the focal plane formed by the optical fiber focusing array 7. The electro-optic modulation array 4 calls up the electro-optic modulation pulse width for orientation, and the lithography corresponding to the exposure point per optical fiber is completed. The deviation between the spot exposure structure per optical fiber after development and fixing and the orientation pattern is calculated and stored in a database for correcting the lithography pulse width per optical fiber by the control device 1. (2) A layout of a chip or a micro / nano system is designed in design software built into the control device 1, or a design layout obtained by a third party's software design is converted and introduced into the control device 1. Here, the control device 1 decomposes the design layout using the chip or the micro / nano system into multi-layer patterns according to a processing process, and generates lithography data based on each layer pattern. Here, the control device 1 obtains lithography data related to realization of exposure required for lithography operation based on the design layout, and breaks down the lithography data into drive device control data and corresponding electro-optical modulation data, where the drive device control data includes at least position information of all exposure positions and non-exposure positions on a lithography material such as a wafer required to fulfill a lithography process, and positioning and drive device movement control data of the lithography material positions on the electric drive workstation 8 corresponding to each position. The electro-optical modulation data includes at least voltage signal data and pulse width data corresponding to each exposure position and non-exposure position. (3) For example, when a wafer or the like coated with lithography material is moved to the position of the focal plane of the optical fiber focusing array 7 by the electrically driven workstation 8, the control device 1 controls the movement of the electrically driven workstation 8 in the X-axis and Y-axis directions based on the workstation control signal 12 to move the lithography material to the position of the initial exposure point, and then modulates the matching exposure pulse based on the electro-optical modulation signal 11 according to the modulation voltage and pulse width signal corresponding to each exposure position in the electro-optical modulation data, and matches the exposure pulse with the intensity of the doughnut-shaped de-excitation light adjusted as necessary, so as to complete the lithography at the current exposure position. The control device 1 continues to control the movement of the electrically driven workstation 8 within the focal plane to move a semiconductor wafer coated with lithographic material, etc., to the next exposure position for this lithography and to perform the corresponding electro-optical modulation operation on the electro-optical modulation data. The electro-optic modulation signal 11 to the electro-optic modulation array 4 and the workstation control signal 12 to the electric driving console 8 issued by the control device 1 sequentially complete the movement of the driving workstation and the corresponding electro-optic modulation for each movement, thereby realizing the exposure of the exposure position for each chip, and then the current lithography is completed. (4) After the lithography material, such as a wafer that has completed this lithography, exits the fiber optic lithography apparatus through the electrically driven workstation 8, it undergoes other etching, plating, ion implantation, annealing or other related processes after development and fixing, and then all process steps of this lithography operation are completed. (5) Based on the design layout or actual situation of the process line of the chip or micro-nano system, the above steps (1) to (3) can be repeated to complete the lithography process of the chip or micro-nano system.

[0051] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a laser light source in the range of 193 nm to 405 nm is used as the lithography light, and an electro-optical modulation array is used to perform switching modulation of the light intensity of the lithography light to obtain an exposure pulse, and the modulated frequency can reach 100 GHz. In addition, an array is formed with multiple optical fibers to perform parallel processing, further improving the exposure yield. A doughnut-shaped structuring light of 550 nm to 1000 nm and the area of ​​photoresist that can be exposed by the lithography light pulses in the circle within the structure are utilized. A synchronized electrically driven workstation and electro-optical modulation are used to form high-speed, large-area, high-resolution lithography on a photoresist-coated semiconductor wafer or other research and development sample. In particular, in the present embodiment, an optical fiber array is used to realize multi-beam parallel lithography, improving the productivity of the lithography apparatus, and each optical fiber is used to coaxially transmit a doughnut-shaped de-excitation light and a Gaussian-shaped lithography light pulse to realize super-resolution lithography. In embodiments of the present disclosure, lithography can be achieved directly from the layout of the chip design without the need for a lithography mask template, and digitalized production of the chip can be achieved.Embodiments of the present disclosure are suitable for research, development, and manufacturing of integrated circuits or other similar integrated micro-nano systems.

[0052] The above description is merely a description of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and the technical principles applied thereto. It is understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of the disclosure of the present disclosure is not limited to the technical solutions based on the specific combinations of the above technical features, and should also cover other technical solutions that combine the above technical features or their equivalent features in any way without departing from the spirit of the above disclosure. For example, the above features are substituted with technical features having similar functions (but not limited to) disclosed in the present disclosure.

[0053] Additionally, although operations are depicted in a particular order, they should not be understood as requiring execution in the particular order or sequentially depicted. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although the above discussion includes some specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure. Some features that are described in the context of individual embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments alone or in any suitable subcombination.

[0054] Although the present subject matter has been described using specific language for structural features and / or methodological logical operations, it should be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or operations described above. On the contrary, the specific features and operations described above are merely example forms of implementing the claims.

[0055] Although several embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail above, the present disclosure is not limited to these specific embodiments, and a person skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the embodiments based on the concept of the present disclosure, and these variations and modifications should be included in the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. 1. A fiber optic array type lithography apparatus comprising a controller, a fiber optic transmission device, a light focusing array, and an electrically driven workstation, further comprising a lithography light source, a de-excitation light source, a first stage spectroscopic array, an electro-optic modulation array, and a second stage spectroscopic array; the lithography light source and the de-excitation light source respectively emit an exposure Gaussian beam and a de-excitation Gaussian beam having different wavelengths; the controller is connected to the electro-optic modulation array and to the electrically actuated workstation; the control device is used to control the electro-optic modulation array to modulate the laser light emitted from the laser light source based on a design layout, and to control the electrically driven workstation to move; 1. An optical fiber array type lithography apparatus comprising:

2. the control device is used for decomposing the design layout into a plurality of layers of patterns according to a fabrication process, generating lithography data based on each of the plurality of layers of patterns, and generating an electro-optic modulation signal for the electro-optic modulator and a workstation control signal for the electric drive console based on the lithography data; 2. The optical fiber array lithography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber array lithography apparatus comprises:

3. the first stage spectroscopic array is disposed between the laser light source and the electro-optic modulation array and includes a first spectrophotometer and n first stage optical channels; The first stage spectroscopic array is used to uniformly distribute the laser light emitted from the laser light source through the first spectrophotometer into n first stage optical channels; The n first stage optical channels output lithography light in an optical fiber coupler manner; 2. The optical fiber array lithography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber array lithography apparatus comprises:

4. the electro-optic modulation array includes n modulation channels forming an array, the modulation channels being correspondingly coupled to the first stage optical channels; a corresponding modulator is disposed in each of the modulation channels, and each of the modulators correspondingly controls and modulates the lithography light output by the corresponding first-stage optical channel; 4. An optical fiber array lithography apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that:

5. the second stage spectroscopic array is disposed between the electro-optic modulation array and the optical fiber transmission device, and includes a second spectrophotometer and c second stage optical channels; the second stage splitting array uniformly distributes the lithography light pulses output from each of the n modulation channels of the electro-optic modulation array to the c second stage optical channels, and the c second stage optical channels output the lithography light pulses in an optical fiber coupler manner; 5. An optical fiber array lithography apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that:

6. the optical fiber transmission device is an optical fiber bundle for lithography capable of receiving at least a Gaussian beam for exposure and a Gaussian beam for de-excitation, the Gaussian beam having different wavelengths; the optical fiber bundle for lithography includes c sub-optical fiber bundles, each of the sub-optical fiber bundles includes n optical fibers, each of the optical fibers includes an optical fiber core for transmitting a beam, an optical fiber clad is provided around the optical fiber core, a spiral phase structure is provided at an input end of the optical fiber core, and a lens structure is provided at an outer side of the output end of the optical fiber core; 2. The optical fiber array lithography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber array lithography apparatus comprises:

7. the exposure Gaussian beam is an ultraviolet light, the de-excitation Gaussian beam is a laser beam, during exposure, the de-excitation beam is transformed into a donut-shaped structured beam, and the exposure Gaussian beam is located in an inner circle where the light intensity of the donut-shaped structured beam is the weakest; 2. The optical fiber array lithography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber array lithography apparatus comprises:

8. the light focusing array is a fiber optic lens that can be coupled to the fiber optic transmission device; 2. The optical fiber array lithography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber array lithography apparatus comprises:

9. the electric drive workstation includes a plurality of drives for positioning and controlling an exposure position on a lithographic material in three axes, X, Y and Z; The X-axis and the Y-axis are located in a focal plane where the optical focusing array achieves focusing of an optical signal, and the Z-axis is oriented along a direction perpendicular to the focal plane.

2. The optical fiber array lithography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber array lithography apparatus comprises:

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