Imprint System Resin Map Selection for Mold Degradation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The imprint technique faces challenges in forming high-quality patterns due to variations in mold patterns, operational variations, and resin curing methods, leading to defects and abnormalities in the residual layer thickness, which decreases productivity and requires frequent mold cleaning, affecting the service life and pattern quality.
Innovation Solution
An imprint system that includes a processing unit with a dispenser, a library managing multiple maps for resin supply positions and amounts, and a control unit that selects the appropriate map based on temporal changes in the mold and dispenser, allowing for continuous operation without stopping the process to generate new maps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the imprint process is repeated using the same map, then productivity is improved, but pattern defects and residual layer thickness abnormalities occur due to temporal changes in mold shape
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and stores multiple maps in advance, each optimized for different mold usage stages. When the mold shape changes over time, the control unit selects the appropriate pre-prepared map without interrupting production, thus maintaining both productivity and pattern quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the map parameters (droplet positions, amounts, and timings) according to the temporal changes in mold shape. By adjusting these parameters based on usage time or measured mold deformation, the system compensates for mold degradation and maintains pattern quality throughout extended production runs.
2Manufacturing precision
If the mold is cleaned frequently to maintain pattern quality, then manufacturing precision is improved, but productivity decreases due to process interruptions
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of waiting for mold degradation to occur and then cleaning or recalibrating, the system pre-calculates compensation maps for various stages of mold usage. This allows continuous operation with maintained quality, eliminating the need for frequent cleaning interruptions.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit monitors the actual imprint results and mold usage conditions in real-time, then selects or adjusts the appropriate map from the library to compensate for degradation. This feedback mechanism maintains pattern quality without requiring physical mold cleaning, thus preserving productivity.
3Manufacturing precision
If a new map is generated to compensate for mold changes, then manufacturing precision is improved, but productivity decreases due to process stoppage
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs the computationally intensive map generation in advance, creating a library of compensation maps for different mold usage stages. During actual production, the control unit simply selects from this pre-generated library, avoiding any process stoppage while maintaining pattern quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically selects the appropriate map from the library based on real-time monitoring of mold usage time or measured shape changes. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to respond to mold degradation without interrupting production, as the map selection is a rapid computational process rather than a time-consuming regeneration.
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 approach increases productivity by predicting and managing changes in the imprint process, reducing the need for frequent mold cleaning and maintaining pattern quality by selecting the appropriate map from a library, thus minimizing defects and residual layer thickness abnormalities.
Implementation Method 1
the imprint apparatus forms the array of droplets of the resin on the substrate by using, for example, an inkjet method
Implementation Method 2
The imprint apparatus presses the mold against the resin (droplets) on the substrate to fill the pattern (concave portion) of the mold with the resin
Implementation Method 3
Such an imprint apparatus generally employs, as a resin curing method, a photo-curing method of curing a resin on a substrate by irradiation with light such as ultraviolet light
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an imprint system including a processing unit configured to perform an imprint process, the processing unit including a dispenser configured to supply a droplet of an imprint material onto a substrate, a library configured to manage a plurality of different maps each indicating at least one of a supply position and a supply amount for a droplet to be supplied on the substrate from the dispenser, and a control unit configured to select one map to be used in the imprint process from the plurality of maps managed in the library based on information about a change of a result of the imprint process caused by a temporal change of at least one of a mold and the dispenser.