# US 2018/0022015 A1 · Imprint apparatus, imprint method, and method of manufacturing article > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2018/0022015 A1 - Document ID: US20180022015A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/546,857 - Filed: 2016-03-07 - Published: 2018-01-25 - Earliest claimed: 2015-04-14 - Assignees: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Tsutomu Terao - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180022015A1 ## CPC - B29C 59/002: {Component parts, details or accessories; Auxiliary operations} - B29C 59/02: by mechanical means, e.g. pressing {(B29C59/007 takes precedence; embossing expanded porous articles B29C44/5627)} - G03F 7/0002: {Lithographic processes using patterning methods other than those involving the exposure to radiation, e.g. by stamping} - B29C 2037/90: {Measuring, controlling or regulating} - B29C 2037/903: {by means of a computer} - B29C 2037/906: {using visualisation means or linked accessories, e.g. screens, printers} - B29C 2059/023: {Microembossing} - B29C: SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING (making preforms B29B11/00; making laminated products by combining previously unconnected layers which become one product whose layers will remain together B32B37/00 - B32B41/00) - G03F: PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; (phototypographic composing devices B41B; photosensitive materials or processes for photographic purposes G03C; electrophotography, sensitive layers or processes therefor G03G) ## Abstract The present invention an imprint apparatus which performs an imprint process of forming a pattern in an imprint material on a substrate using a mold, the apparatus including an image capturing unit configured to obtain an image by capturing the substrate, and a processing unit configured to perform detection processing of detecting a foreign particle present between the mold and the substrate, wherein the processing unit performs the detection processing by comparing, with a reference image, an image obtained by the image capturing unit in a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact with each other, and when the image includes a region outside the substrate, the region outside the substrate is excluded from a target of the detection processing. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An imprint apparatus which performs an imprint process of forming a pattern in an imprint material on a substrate using a mold, the apparatus comprising: an image capturing unit configured to obtain an image by capturing the substrate; and a processing unit configured to perform detection processing of detecting a foreign particle present between the mold and the substrate, wherein the processing unit performs the detection processing by comparing, with a reference image, an image obtained by the image capturing unit in a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact with each other, and when the image includes a region outside the substrate, the region outside the substrate is excluded from a target of the detection processing. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit ceases the imprint process when detecting that the foreign particle is present between the mold and the substrate in the detection processing. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processing unit releases the mold from the imprint material on the substrate without curing the imprint material. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit specifies, based on a distance between a center position of the substrate and a position on the substrate corresponding to a center of the image, whether the image includes the region outside the substrate. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit obtains information on the substrate, and then excludes, from the target of the detection processing, a region where one of a notch and an orientation flat has been formed on the substrate obtained from the information. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit configured to set a region on the substrate in accordance with a user input, wherein the processing unit excludes the region set by the setting unit from the target of the detection processing. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate includes a plurality of shot regions, the apparatus further comprises a storage unit configured to store the reference image corresponding to each of the plurality of shot regions, and the processing unit changes a reference image to be compared with the image depending on the shot regions of the substrate. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, the substrate includes a plurality of shot regions, the apparatus further comprises a storage unit configured to store the reference image and to store, out of a plurality of shot regions of the substrate, a first reference image corresponding to each peripheral shot region having a periphery of the substrate and a second reference image corresponding to at least one shot region inside the peripheral shot region, and the processing unit performs the detection processing by comparing the image with the first reference image corresponding to the peripheral shot region when the image is an image corresponding to the peripheral shot region, and performs the detection processing by comparing the image with the second reference image when the image is an image corresponding to the shot region inside the peripheral shot region. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the state is a state in which a concave portion of a pattern surface of the mold is filled with the imprint material. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit causes the image capturing unit to obtain the image after a lapse of a predetermined time from time when the mold and the imprint material are brought into contact with each other. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reference image is an image obtained in a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact with each other without sandwiching the foreign particle. ### Claim 12 An imprint method of performing an imprint process of forming a pattern in an imprint material on a substrate using a mold, the method comprising: obtaining an image by capturing the substrate in a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact with each other; and performing detection processing of detecting a foreign particle present between the mold and the substrate by comparing the image obtained in the obtaining with a reference image, wherein when the image obtained in the obtaining includes a region outside the substrate, the region outside the substrate is excluded from a target of a comparison with the reference image. ### Claim 13 A method of manufacturing an article, the method comprising: forming a pattern on a substrate using an imprint apparatus; and processing the substrate on which the pattern has been formed, wherein the imprint apparatus configured to form a pattern in an imprint material on the substrate using a mold and includes: an image capturing unit configured to obtain an image by capturing the substrate; and a processing unit configured to perform detection processing of detecting a foreign particle present between the mold and the substrate, wherein the processing unit performs the detection processing by comparing, with a reference image, an image obtained by the image capturing unit in a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact with each other, and when the image includes a region outside the substrate, the region outside the substrate is excluded from a target of the detection processing.