Imprint Process Control for Early Extrusion Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current imprint techniques lack effective early detection and maintenance measures for extrusion of imprint material or adherence of foreign objects to the mold, leading to inefficiencies in the imprint process and maintainability issues.
Innovation Solution
A method for controlling an imprint apparatus that involves inspecting the pattern formation on a substrate to determine the extrusion amount of imprint material, tracking changes over multiple processes, and deciding on subsequent actions such as cleaning or mold exchange based on abnormal extrusion rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If inspection is performed only to stop the next imprint process when extrusion or foreign object adherence is detected, then the control process is simple, but the maintainability of the imprint apparatus deteriorates due to lack of early detection and proactive maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection process is performed during the imprint process execution to detect extrusion or foreign object adherence before they cause critical failures. By measuring the actual peripheral portion positions and comparing them with design values during the process, the system enables early detection and proactive maintenance scheduling, improving maintainability while managing control complexity through systematic monitoring
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring the peripheral portion positions of imprinted patterns, comparing actual measurements with design values, and using this information to determine whether to continue or stop the imprint process. This feedback mechanism enables early detection of extrusion or foreign object adherence, allowing proactive maintenance decisions that improve apparatus reliability
2Reliability
If early detection of extrusion or foreign object adherence is implemented through continuous inspection, then maintainability is improved, but the inspection complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection process extracts only the critical information needed for maintenance decisions by specifically measuring the peripheral portion positions of imprinted patterns and comparing them with design values. This selective extraction of key parameters enables early detection of extrusion or foreign object adherence without requiring comprehensive inspection of the entire substrate, thus improving maintainability while minimizing inspection processing time
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex mechanical inspection methods with optical measurement techniques to detect peripheral portion positions. This substitution enables rapid, non-contact measurement during the imprint process, allowing early detection of anomalies without significantly increasing inspection processing time, thereby improving maintainability efficiently
3Measurement precision
If the peripheral portion position measurement is performed with high precision to detect small extrusion amounts, then the detection precision is improved, but the measurement complexity and data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The inspection focuses specifically on the peripheral portions of imprinted patterns where extrusion or foreign object adherence is most likely to occur. By concentrating measurement resources on these critical local areas rather than the entire pattern, the system achieves high detection precision for extrusion amounts while keeping measurement and processing complexity manageable through targeted local inspection
Data Source
AI summary
A method of controlling an imprint process to form a pattern by using a mold on a substrate is provided. The method includes inspecting to determine whether to continue or stop a series of imprint processes during the series of imprint processes of a lot, wherein the inspecting includes capturing an image of the pattern formed on a shot region by the imprint process, obtaining, by comparing a position of a peripheral portion of the pattern in the image and a design value of the position of the peripheral portion, an extrusion amount of an imprint material from the shot region due to the imprint process, and determining, based on a change in the extrusion amount over a plurality of imprint processes, a next process to transition from a current process upon stopping the series of imprint processes.