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US 11,899,377 B2Granted
System and method for thermal management of reticle in semiconductor manufacturing
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsYueh-Lin Yang, Chi-Hung Liao
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Abstract
A semiconductor processing method includes operations. An exposure process is performed on a semiconductor workpiece and includes selecting a target state of a reticle based on given data and regulating the reticle to reach the target state. A development process is performed on the semiconductor workpiece.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- receiving a semiconductor workpiece to a process chamber;
- forming a photo-sensitive layer on the semiconductor workpiece;
- selecting a target state of a reticle based on a given data set, wherein the given data set comprises temperature profiles of the reticle correlated to a target overlay performance, and the target state is a saturation state in which a deformation of the reticle is substantially unchanged;
- exposing the semiconductor workpiece by regulating the reticle to reach the target state;
- and
- developing and etching the semiconductor workpiece to form designated patterns on the semiconductor workpiece.
3 more elements
A method, comprising:
- performing an exposure process on a semiconductor workpiece comprising:
- determining a target temperature of a reticle on the basis of given data from a plurality of semiconductor workpieces, wherein the given data comprises an overlay result data of the semiconductor workpieces and thermal deformation profiles of the reticle;
- matching a temperature of the reticle to the target temperature, wherein when the reticle is at the target temperature, the reticle reaches a saturation state in which the deformation of the reticle is substantially unchanged;
- and
- exposing the semiconductor workpiece using the reticle at the target temperature.
2 more elements
A method, comprising:
- performing an exposure process on a semiconductor workpiece comprising:
- exposing a first workpiece by using a first reticle;
- measuring a temperature profile of the first reticle after the exposing;
- repeating the exposing and the measuring to generate a target overlay performance data set;
- determining a target state of the first reticle on the basis of the target overlay performance data set, wherein the target state is a saturation state in which a deformation of the first reticle is substantially unchanged;
- regulating a second reticle to reach a state that is similar to the target state of the first reticle;
- and
- exposing the semiconductor workpiece by using the second reticle.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.