Topology optimization method for main substrate of photolithography machine
By optimizing the structure of the main substrate of the lithography machine through topology optimization, the problems of high design difficulty and unstable performance were solved, achieving efficient design and cost reduction.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-09-25
- Publication Date
- 2026-04-02
AI Technical Summary
The design of the main substrate structure of existing lithography machines is difficult, time-consuming, and its performance cannot be guaranteed, which easily leads to a waste of human and material resources.
The topology optimization method is adopted to optimize the main substrate structure by constructing a simulation model, setting the design region and non-design region, defining the optimization objective function and control variable parameters.
This reduces the difficulty of main substrate structure design, improves design efficiency, ensures the stability and reliability of the optimized main substrate structure, and reduces quality and manufacturing costs.
Smart Images
Figure CN2025124002_02042026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
A topology optimization method for a main substrate of a lithography machine TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of lithography machine manufacturing, in particular to a topology optimization method for a main substrate of a lithography machine. BACKGROUND
[0002] The main substrate is one of the important components in the lithography machine, which carries multiple key subsystems such as a projection objective and a measurement system, and the stability of the main substrate provides a strong guarantee for the normal operation of the entire system. In order to make the lithography machine obtain better exposure stability and ensure the performance of each subsystem, a main substrate frame with high strength, high rigidity and high damping performance needs to be designed.
[0003] In the prior art, due to the high requirements of the lithography machine on stability and reliability, materials with high strength, high rigidity and high damping performance, such as certain alloys or composite materials, are often used as the benchmark to ensure that they will not deform or be damaged due to factors such as temperature changes and stress concentration during operation.
[0004] At present, the main substrate structure of the lithography machine is mainly designed by experience or compared with multiple structures. This method not only has high design difficulty and long cycle in the early stage, but also cannot guarantee the performance, which easily causes waste of human and material resources. SUMMARY
[0005] The purpose of the present application is to solve the problem of high design difficulty, long cycle, and poor performance of the main substrate structure of the lithography machine in the prior art, which easily causes waste of human and material resources. Therefore, the present application provides a topology optimization method for a main substrate of a lithography machine, which reasonably determines the design region and the non-design region, uses a topology optimization simulation analysis software, defines the objective function and the control variable parameter of optimization, and optimizes the design region. The design difficulty of the main substrate structure is greatly reduced, the design efficiency of the main substrate structure is improved, and the stability and reliability of the performance of the optimized main substrate structure are guaranteed.
[0006] The embodiment of the present application provides a topology optimization method for a main substrate of a lithography machine, which comprises the following steps:
[0007] S2, setting a design variable of topology optimization, determining a design region and a non-design region;
[0008] S3, defining an objective function of optimization, taking the minimum flexibility and the maximum first-order modal frequency as the optimization target;
[0009] S4, defining a control variable parameter to control the chessboard phenomenon;
[0010] S5, optimizing the design region.
[0011] With the technical scheme, the minimum flexibility and the maximum first-order modal frequency are the optimization targets, so that the optimized main substrate can meet the overall stiffness requirement and reasonably reduce the mass and manufacturing cost of the main substrate. Meanwhile, the maximum first-order modal frequency is the optimization target, so that the dynamic characteristics of the main substrate can meet the design requirements.
[0012] In some embodiments, the step S1 comprises:
[0013] S11, an initial structure model of the main substrate is established in three-dimensional software and imported into simulation analysis software, grid division, material attribute assignment and preliminary grid assembly are performed to establish the simulation model of the finite element;
[0014] S12, a plurality of working conditions of the simulation model are determined;
[0015] S13, according to the working conditions, corresponding model load conditions and corresponding boundary conditions are determined;
[0016] S14, according to the working conditions, static and modal calculations are performed on the simulation model to obtain the stress distribution of the main substrate and the modal frequency under a plurality of working conditions.
[0017] With the technical scheme, the simulation model of the finite element is constructed, which can reduce the design difficulty of the main substrate structure and improve the design efficiency of the main substrate structure. In combination with the actual use of the working conditions of the main substrate, the model load conditions, the corresponding boundary conditions, the stress distribution of the main substrate and the modal frequency are determined, so as to ensure the feasibility and rationality of the topology optimization.
[0018] In some embodiments, the step S2 comprises:
[0019] S21, the simulation model adopts a symmetrical structure and is provided with a single one-dimensional symmetrical constraint;
[0020] S22, an interface region of the simulation model is set as a non-design region, and other regions of the simulation model are set as design regions.
[0021] With the technical scheme, only the interface region can be set as a non-design region, so as to maximize the optimization space. In addition, the simulation model adopts a symmetrical structure and is provided with a single one-dimensional symmetrical constraint, so as to facilitate actual casting based on the optimized simulation model, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the main substrate.
[0022] In some embodiments, the step S3 comprises:
[0023] S31, taking the minimum flexibility as the optimization goal, setting the removal material volume constraint ratio upper limit as 20%, and establishing a main substrate topology optimization model with the minimum flexibility as the optimization goal.
[0024] In some embodiments, the step S4 comprises:
[0025] S41: maximum and minimum member control is performed, the minimum member control is taken as 2-3 times the grid size, and the maximum member control is taken as less than 6 times the grid size.
[0026] S42: a CHECKER parameter is set to control the checkerboard phenomenon, when the value of the CHECKER parameter is 0, it indicates that the checkerboard phenomenon is not controlled, and when the value of the CHECKER parameter is 1, it indicates that all the checkerboards are controlled.
[0027] S43: a discrete parameter DISCRETE is set, and the default value of the discrete parameter DISCRETE is set as 1, and the solid element is set as 3.
[0028] In some embodiments, the main substrate comprises a main plate and a plurality of support columns supporting the main plate; the non-design region comprises a first non-design region and a second non-design region.
[0029] The main plate is provided with an objective lens through hole in the center, and a plurality of circular objective lens interfaces around the objective lens through hole;
[0030] The main plate is also provided with a plurality of gantry interfaces arranged in a rectangular plane;
[0031] An annular region covering the plurality of objective lens interfaces at the same time is set as the first non-design region, and the gantry interface region is directly set as the second non-design region.
[0032] The other regions of the main plate and the plurality of support columns are all set as the design region.
[0033] In some embodiments, the simulation analysis software is set as the Optistruct platform.
[0034] In some embodiments, the step S6 further comprises:
[0035] According to the topology optimization result, the main substrate is redesigned;
[0036] The redesigned main substrate is subjected to structural strength analysis to determine whether it meets the design requirements, if yes, the topology optimization is completed, and if not, the redesigned main substrate is subjected to secondary optimization.
[0037] In some embodiments, the step of subjecting the redesigned main substrate to secondary optimization comprises:
[0038] enlarging the non-design region outwardly based on the original non-design region; wherein the enlarging distance is determined based on an average value of the simulation structure strength in the enlarging direction; and the higher the average value is, the smaller the enlarging distance is, and the lower the average value is, the larger the enlarging distance is.
[0039] Other features and corresponding advantages of the present application will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from the description or can be learned by practice of the application. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the application as claimed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0040] Fig. 1 is a flow diagram of a topology optimization method for a main substrate of a lithography machine according to the present application;
[0041] Fig. 2 is a structural diagram of a main substrate of a lithography machine according to the present application.
[0042] Reference signs: 1, main substrate; 11, first non-design region; 12, second non-design region. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0043] The specific embodiments of the present application will be described in the following with specific embodiments. Other advantages and effects of the present application can be easily understood by those skilled in the art from the disclosure. Although the description of the present application will be introduced in combination with the preferred embodiments, this does not mean that the features of the present application are limited to the embodiments. On the contrary, the purpose of introducing the application in combination with the embodiments is to cover other options or modifications that can be extended based on the claims of the present application. In order to provide a deep understanding of the present application, many specific details will be included in the following description. The present application can also be implemented without using these details. In addition, in order to avoid confusion or obscure the focus of the present application, some specific details will be omitted in the description. It should be noted that the embodiments and features in the embodiments in the present application can be combined with each other without conflict.
[0044] It should be noted that in the present specification, similar reference numbers and letters represent similar items in the following drawings, so once an item is defined in one drawing, it does not need to be further defined and explained in subsequent drawings.
[0045] The technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail below in combination with the drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present application, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor are within the scope of protection of the present application.
[0046] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that the terms "first", "second", "third" are only for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined with "first", "second", etc. can be explicitly or implicitly included one or more. In the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "a plurality of" is two or more.
[0047] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that unless otherwise specified and limited, the terms "mounting", "connection", "connection" should be understood broadly, for example, it can be fixedly connected, or it can be detachably connected, or integrally connected; it can be mechanically connected, or it can be electrically connected; it can be directly connected, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be connected inside two elements. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.
[0048] In order to make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the present application more clear, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
[0049] Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a topological optimization method for a main substrate of a photolithography machine provided by the present application, and FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a main substrate of a photolithography machine provided by the present application.
[0050] As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the embodiment of the present application provides a topological optimization method for a main substrate of a photolithography machine, which comprises:
[0051] A topological optimization method for a main substrate 1 of a photolithography machine comprises: S1, constructing a simulation model of the main substrate 1;
[0052] S2, setting design variables for topological optimization, determining a design area and a non-design area;
[0053] S3, defining an objective function for optimization, taking the minimum flexibility and the maximum first-order modal frequency as the optimization target;
[0054] S4, defining control variable parameters to control the chessboard phenomenon;
[0055] S5, optimizing the design area.
[0056] By using the above technical scheme, the minimum flexibility and the maximum first-order modal frequency are taken as the optimization target, so that the optimized main substrate 1 can meet the overall stiffness requirement and reasonably reduce the mass and manufacturing cost of the main substrate 1. At the same time, the maximum first-order modal frequency is taken as the optimization target, which can ensure that the dynamic characteristics of the main substrate 1 can meet the design requirements.
[0057] In one embodiment, further comprising a step S6, which comprises:
[0058] According to the topology optimization result, the main substrate 1 is redesigned;
[0059] The redesigned main substrate 1 is analyzed for structural strength to determine whether it meets the design requirements. If yes, the topology optimization is completed. If not, the redesigned main substrate 1 is optimized again.
[0060] In one embodiment, the step of optimizing the redesigned main substrate 1 again comprises:
[0061] The non-design area is expanded outward based on the original non-design area. The expansion distance is determined based on the average value of the simulation structural strength in the expansion direction. The higher the average value, the smaller the expansion distance. The lower the average value, the larger the expansion distance.
[0062] In one embodiment, the step S1 comprises:
[0063] S11, an initial structural model of the main substrate 1 is established in a three-dimensional software and imported into a simulation analysis software for meshing, material property assignment and preliminary mesh assembly to establish the simulation model of finite elements;
[0064] S12, a plurality of working conditions of the simulation model are determined;
[0065] S13, according to the working conditions, corresponding model load conditions and corresponding boundary conditions are determined;
[0066] S14, according to the working conditions, static and modal calculations are performed on the simulation model to obtain the stress distribution of the main substrate 1 and the modal frequency size under a plurality of working conditions.
[0067] By constructing the simulation model of finite elements, the design difficulty of the main substrate 1 structure is reduced, and the design efficiency of the main substrate 1 structure is improved. The model load conditions, corresponding boundary conditions, stress distribution of the main substrate 1 and modal frequency size are determined in combination with the actual working conditions of the main substrate 1, thereby ensuring the feasibility and rationality of the topology optimization.
[0068] The simulation analysis software is set to the Optistruct platform. In other alternative embodiments, the simulation analysis software can also use other software or platforms that can perform topology optimization.
[0069] In one embodiment, the step S2 comprises:
[0070] S21, the simulation model adopts a symmetrical structure and is provided with a single one-dimensional symmetrical constraint;
[0071] S22, setting an interface region of the simulation model as a non-design region, and setting other regions of the simulation model as design regions.
[0072] By the above technical solution, only the interface region is set as a non-design region, thereby ensuring maximization of the optimization space; and the simulation model adopts a symmetrical structure and is provided with a single one-dimensional symmetrical constraint; thereby facilitating actual casting based on the optimized simulation model, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the main substrate 1.
[0073] In one embodiment, the main substrate 1 includes a main plate and a plurality of support columns supporting the main plate; the non-design region includes a first non-design region 11 and a second non-design region 12;
[0074] The main plate is provided with an objective lens through hole at the center, and a plurality of circular objective lens interfaces surrounding the objective lens through hole;
[0075] The main plate is further provided with a plurality of gantry interfaces arranged in a rectangular plane;
[0076] An annular region covering the plurality of objective lens interfaces is set as the first non-design region 11, and the gantry interface region is directly set as the second non-design region 12;
[0077] The other regions of the main plate and the plurality of support columns are all set as the design region.
[0078] It should be noted that in the field of photolithography machines, the precision requirement is extremely high, and therefore when designing the main substrate 1, it is necessary to control the static deformation within the micron level; this leads to the need to use materials with high strength, high rigidity and high damping performance for the main substrate 1; however, such materials are often high in cost, and the overall volume of the main substrate 1 is large. Therefore, if a solid structure is directly used without structure topology, although the main substrate 1 can achieve or meet the requirements of structural strength and high precision, it will result in a large mass, a large amount of required materials, and extremely high manufacturing cost. At the same time, the high mass leads to poor flexibility of the main substrate 1, making it difficult to adapt to work scenarios that need to be changed or moved.
[0079] Therefore, on the one hand, it is necessary to ensure that the main substrate 1 can meet the structural strength requirements of existing working conditions; on the other hand, it is necessary to reduce the mass of the main substrate 1 as much as possible, thereby improving the flexibility of the main substrate 1 and reducing the manufacturing cost thereof.
[0080] Therefore, in one embodiment, the step S3 includes:
[0081] S31, taking the minimum flexibility as an optimization target, setting the removal material volume constraint ratio upper limit as 20%, and establishing a main substrate 1 topology optimization model with the minimum flexibility as an optimization target.
[0082] In one embodiment, the step S4 comprises:
[0083] S41: maximum and minimum member control is performed, the minimum member control is taken as 2-3 times the grid size, and the maximum member control is taken as less than 6 times the grid size.
[0084] S42: a CHECKER parameter is set to control the checkerboard phenomenon, when the value of the CHECKER parameter is 0, it indicates that the checkerboard phenomenon is not controlled; when the value of the CHECKER parameter is 1, it indicates that all the checkerboards are controlled.
[0085] S43: a discrete parameter DISCRETE is set, and the default value of the discrete parameter DISCRETE is set as 1, and the solid element is set as 3.
[0086] Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, and not to limit them; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that: it can still modify the technical solutions recorded in the foregoing embodiments, or make equivalent replacement for part or all of the technical features; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.
Claims
1. A method for topology optimization of a main substrate of a lithography machine, characterized in that, The method comprises the following steps: S1, constructing a simulation model of a main substrate; S2, setting a design variable for topology optimization, and determining a design area and a non-design area; The step S2 comprises: S21, the simulation model adopts a symmetrical structure and is provided with a single one-dimensional symmetrical constraint; S22, an interface area of the simulation model is set as the non-design area, and other areas of the simulation model are set as the design area; The main substrate comprises a main plate and a plurality of support columns supporting the main plate; the non-design area comprises a first non-design area and a second non-design area; The main plate is provided with an objective lens through hole in the center and a plurality of circular objective lens interfaces around the objective lens through hole; The main plate is further provided with a plurality of gantry interfaces arranged in a rectangular plane; An annular area covering the plurality of objective lens interfaces is set as the first non-design area, and the gantry interface area is directly set as the second non-design area; Other areas of the main plate and the plurality of support columns are all set as the design area; S3, defining an optimization target function, and taking the minimum flexibility and the maximum first-order modal frequency as the optimization target; S4, defining a control variable parameter to control the checkerboard phenomenon; S5, optimizing the design area; The method further comprises a step S6, which comprises: According to the topology optimization result, the main substrate is redesigned; The redesigned main substrate is subjected to a structural strength analysis to determine whether it meets the design requirements, if yes, the topology optimization is completed; if no, the redesigned main substrate is subjected to secondary optimization; The step of secondary optimization of the redesigned main substrate comprises: Taking the original non-design area as a reference, the non-design area is expanded outward, wherein the expansion distance is determined based on the average value of the simulation structural strength in the expansion direction; and the higher the average value is, the smaller the expansion distance is, and the lower the average value is, the larger the expansion distance is.
2. A method for topology optimization of a main substrate for a lithography machine as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, The step S1 comprises: S11, establishing an initial structure model of the main substrate in a three-dimensional software, importing the simulation analysis software, performing mesh division, material property assignment and preliminary mesh assembly to establish the simulation model of the finite element; S12, determining a plurality of working conditions of the simulation model; S13, determining corresponding model load conditions and corresponding boundary conditions according to the working conditions; S14, performing static and modal calculation on the simulation model according to the working conditions to obtain the stress distribution of the main substrate and the modal frequency under a plurality of working conditions.
3. A method for topology optimization of a main base plate for a lithography machine according to claim 1, characterized in that The step S3 comprises: S31, taking the minimum flexibility as the optimization target, and setting the material volume constraint removal upper limit to 20%, to establish a main substrate topology optimization model with the minimum flexibility as the optimization target.
4. A method for topology optimization of a main base plate for a lithography machine according to claim 1, characterized in that The step S4 comprises: S41: performing maximum and minimum member control, taking the minimum member control as 2-3 times the grid size, and taking the maximum member control as less than 6 times the grid size; S42: setting a CHECKER parameter to control the checkerboard phenomenon, wherein when the value of the CHECKER parameter is 0, it means that the checkerboard phenomenon is not controlled; and when the value of the CHECKER parameter is 1, it means that all the checkerboards are controlled. S43: setting a discrete parameter DISCRETE, setting a default value of the discrete parameter DISCRETE as 1, and setting an entity unit as 3.
5. A method for topology optimization of a master substrate for a photolithography machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein, The simulation analysis software is set as an Optistruct platform.