Imprint Apparatus Chamber Gate Control for Cross-Contamination
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Solution Overview
Problem
The imprint material used in lithography technologies vaporizes, causing volatile components to diffuse and contaminate surrounding substrates, disrupting stable pattern formation due to cross-contamination.
Innovation Solution
An imprint apparatus with a chamber and control unit that separates substrates into containment units, prohibiting the first gate from opening until a predetermined time has elapsed since the patterned substrate is transferred to a second containment unit, maintaining a clean environment and preventing contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the imprint material is supplied onto the substrate, then the pattern formation process can proceed, but the volatile components vaporize and contaminate surrounding substrates
Solution Approach 1:
The chamber is divided into a first chamber for containing substrates before processing and a second chamber for containing substrates after processing, with separate gates (first gate and second gate) controlling access to each chamber. This segmentation prevents vaporized imprint material from contaminating substrates in the first chamber while allowing continuous processing in the second chamber.
Solution Approach 2:
The second chamber acts as an intermediary zone between the processing area and the clean substrate storage area. Substrates are processed in the second chamber where vaporization occurs, then transferred to the first chamber through the first gate only after a predetermined time has elapsed, allowing volatile components to dissipate before clean substrates are exposed.
2Ease of operation
If the first gate is opened to supply substrates, then the processing workflow continues, but volatile components may adhere to new substrates causing quality degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The system waits for a predetermined time to elapse after transferring a substrate to the first chamber before opening the first gate to supply the next substrate. This preliminary waiting period allows volatile components to dissipate, ensuring that when the gate opens, the environment is clean enough to prevent contamination of the new substrate.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit monitors the timing of substrate transfers and gate operations, enforcing a predetermined time interval between transferring a substrate to the first chamber and opening the first gate. This feedback mechanism ensures that substrates are only supplied when the chamber environment has recovered to acceptable quality levels.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If a waiting period is implemented before opening the first gate, then cross-contamination is prevented, but the overall processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The waiting period is merged with the time required for substrate transfer and chamber pressurization/depressurization operations. By coordinating these operations to occur concurrently during the predetermined waiting period, the system minimizes additional time loss while still achieving effective contamination suppression.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous useful action by having substrates in different stages of processing - while one substrate is waiting in the first chamber, another substrate can be processed in the second chamber. This overlapping of operations ensures that the contamination prevention waiting period does not create idle time in the overall processing workflow.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution effectively prevents cross-contamination by maintaining a clean state within the chamber, ensuring stable pattern formation and reducing defects in semiconductor devices and other micro-structured articles.
Implementation Method 1
since the imprint material vaporizes, volatile components diffuse to a surrounding environment to be adhered onto another substrate
Implementation Method 2
a highly-volatile material is often used as the imprint material
Data Source
AI summary
An imprint apparatus includes a processing unit that forms a pattern of an imprint material on a substrate by using a mold, a chamber that accommodates this processing unit and includes a first gate to which a first containment unit that contains the substrate before being processed by the processing unit is connected and a second gate to which a second containment unit that contains the substrate after being processed by the processing unit is connected, and a control unit that prohibits opening of the first gate until a predetermined time elapses since the substrate on which the pattern is formed by the processing unit is contained in the second containment unit and the second gate is closed.