Photocopying – Projection printing and copying cameras – With temperature or foreign particle control
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-17
2004-06-01
Mathews, Alan (Department: 2851)
Photocopying
Projection printing and copying cameras
With temperature or foreign particle control
C356S237400, C356S237500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06744489
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor exposure apparatus and a method of driving the same.
2. Description of Related Art
A semiconductor manufacturing process includes a photolithography process to form a pattern. The photolithography process includes a light exposure process to irradiate light on a reticle to copy the same pattern as the reticle on photoresist coated on a semiconductor wafer. In the light exposure process, it is very important to remove particles remaining on the reticle.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view illustrating a conventional semiconductor exposure apparatus. The semiconductor exposure apparatus includes a light exposure unit
2
for performing a light exposure process to copy a pattern of the reticle on the photoresist coated on the semiconductor wafer.
The light exposure unit
2
includes a lighting portion
10
having a light source and a reflex mirror, a reticle table
12
in which a reticle having a circuit pattern is placed, and a projection lens (not shown) for focusing light passing through the reticle and irradiating it on the semiconductor wafer.
A reticle loader
20
is arranged at a location facing the light exposure portion
2
. The reticle loader
20
includes slots
22
in which a plurality of reticles
24
are inserted and stacked.
A pellicle particle detector
30
is arranged under the reticle loader
20
as shown in FIG.
3
. The pellicle particle detector
30
irradiates a laser beam on the top surface or the bottom surface of the reticle
24
through an opened door
32
thereof and detects scattered the laser beam so as to detect particles remaining on a top surface or a bottom surface of the reticle
24
.
A robot arm
40
is arranged between the light exposure portion
2
and the reticle loader
20
as shown in FIG.
2
. The robot arm
40
transfers the reticle
24
stacked in the reticle loader
20
to the pellicle particle detector
30
while moving up and down or left and right. After detection of particles is finished, the robot arm
40
transfers the reticle in the pellicle particle detector
30
to the reticle table
12
and transfers the reticle
24
on the reticle table
12
to the reticle loader
2
.
The robot arm
40
is coupled to a second driving unit
45
. The second driving unit
45
is arranged to be guided by a moving rail
44
. A pair of first driving units
43
a
and
43
b
is coupled to both end portions of the moving rail
44
. The first driving units
43
a
and
43
b
are arranged to be guided by a pair of stationary rails
42
a
and
42
b
spaced apart from each other. That is, the robot arm
40
moves up and down along the stationary rails
42
a
and
42
b
by the driving units
43
a
and
43
b
and moves left and right along the moving rail
44
by the driving units
45
.
When it is determined by the pellicle particle detector
30
that particles do not exist on the reticle
24
, the robot arm
40
transfers the reticle
24
in the pellicle particle detector
30
to the light exposure portion
2
. The lighting portion
10
of the light exposure portion
2
irradiates light on the reticle
24
on the reticle table
12
, and light passing through the reticle
24
is irradiated on the photoresist coated on the semiconductor wafer through the projection lens, whereby the photoresist is exposed to light.
When it is determined that particles exist on the reticle
24
, the reticle
24
in the pellicle particle detector
30
is drawn out by the robot arm
40
. The reticle
24
is transferred and stacked on the reticle loader
20
by the robot arm
40
. The reticles
24
on the reticle loader
20
are transferred to a cleaning room, thereby cleaning the reticle
24
using, for example, an air gun. The cleaned reticle
24
is then stacked on the reticle loader
20
and is loaded into the pellicle particle detector
30
by the robot arm
40
. The pellicle particle detector
30
detects whether particles remain on the reticle
24
. The reticles
24
having particles are transferred to the reticle table
12
by the robot arm
40
.
However, the conventional semiconductor exposure apparatus does not include a cleaning apparatus which can clean the reticle
24
having particles directly after detecting whether particles exist on the reticle
24
. Therefore, exposure process time is lengthy because the reticle having particles has to be transferred to the cleaning room.
In addition, the cleaning process is performed such that the entire surface of the reticle is cleaned by the air gun without considering the particle size, the particle location, and so on. Consequently, reticle cleaning cannot be performed efficiently.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a semiconductor exposure apparatus which can perform a cleaning process directly after detecting whether particles exist on a reticle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor exposure apparatus which can remove particles remaining on a reticle efficiently.
The present invention is directed to a semiconductor exposure apparatus, comprising: a light exposure portion irradiating light on a semiconductor wafer through a reticle; a pellicle particle detector detecting a particle existing on a surface of the reticle; a particle cleaner cleaning the reticle when the particle exists on the surface of the reticle; a robot arm moving the reticle to a desired location in response to a control signal generated from a main controller; and the main controller controlling an operation of the semiconductor exposure apparatus.
The reticle cleaner includes nozzles exhausting a filtered gas such as air at a predetermined pressure. The nozzles move to a location to efficiently remove the particle on the reticle according to a detection resulting signal of the pellicle particle detector. The nozzles move up and down or left and right by driving units, the driving units being guided along rails. The nozzles rotate at a predetermined angle by a driving unit, the driving unit being guided along rails. The nozzles have an inclined cross-section.
The nozzles are arranged to remove the particles on both of a top surface and a bottom surface of the reticle.
The semiconductor exposure apparatus further includes a particle removing unit arranged in front of an inlet of the pellicle particle detector to remove the particle on the reticle. The particle removing unit includes a plurality of nozzles, the pluraliy of the nozzles exhausting a filtered gas such as air at a constant pressure to remove the particle on the reticle. The nozzles have a cross-section inclined in a direction opposite to a direction that the reticle is loaded into the pellicle particle detector. The particle removing unit further includes an air filter filtering an air and an air pressure controller controlling a pressure of an air exhausted through the nozzles.
The present invention further provides a method of driving a semiconductor exposure apparatus, comprising: a) loading a reticle into a pellicle particle detector; b) detecting a particle existing on the reticle by the pelliticle particle detector; c) moving the reticle to a cleaning location when the reticle exists on the reticle; d) moving a reticle cleaner to the reticle; and e) cleaning the reticle by the reticle cleaner.
The method further includes removing the particle on the reticle directly before the reticle is loaded into the pellicle particle detector.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5098191 (1992-03-01), Noguchi et al.
patent: 5652657 (1997-07-01), Yoshii et al.
patent: 5963316 (1999-10-01), Miura et al.
patent: 6084664 (2000-07-01), Matsumoto et al.
patent: 6466315 (2002-10-01), Karpol et al.
patent: 6521889 (2003-02-01), Ina et al.
patent: 2003/0003035 (2003-01-01), Stamires et al.
Mathews Alan
Mills & Onello LLP
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