US 5,671,057 AGranted

Alignment method

AssigneeNikon Corporation

InventorHidemi Kawai

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Abstract

An alignment method for use with an exposure apparatus including first and second alignment sensor systems for establishing alignment between a reticle and a wafer. A first one of reticles in a reticle set is loaded on the exposure apparatus and the position of the pattern center of the reticle is determined. At the same time, the position of the detection center of the first alignment sensor system is determined and the baseline amount B.sub.11, which is the distance from the pattern center of the reticle to the detection center of the first alignment sensor system, is determined. Then, the baseline amount B.sub.21 of the second alignment sensor system is determined, and the difference .DELTA.B (=B.sub.21 -B.sub.11) between the baseline amounts is calculated. For any of the second and later ones of the reticles in the reticle set, the baseline amount B.sub.12 of the first alignment sensor system is calculated in the same manner as the above whereas the baseline amount B.sub.22 of the second alignment sensor system is calculated as: B.sub.22 =B.sub.12 +.DELTA.B. Fine alignment procedure is performed by using the second alignment sensor system and based on the baseline B.sub.22 thus calculated, and the pattern of the reticle is printed on each of the shot areas on a substrate by exposure.

An alignment method for use with an exposure apparatus including first and second alignment sensor systems using different types of sensing techniques for detecting the position of each of shot areas on a substrate, said first and second alignment sensor systems each having a detection center, wherein detection results from at least one of said first and second sensor systems are used to establish alignment between one of said shot areas on said substrate which is to be exposed and an exposure location for a pattern of a mask so as to transfer said pattern onto said shot areas;

said method comprising:
a first step for measuring a relative position of said detection center of said first alignment sensor system with respect to an exposure center of a pattern of a first mask and a relative position of said detection center of said second alignment sensor system relative to said exposure center of said pattern of said first mask, and obtaining the difference between said relative positions;
a second step for using one of said first and second alignment sensor systems to measure the position of a given shot area on a first substrate so as to provide measurement results, and using these measurement results and the distance measured in said first step so as to establish alignment between said given shot area on said first substrate and said pattern of said first mask for transferring said pattern of said first mask onto said given shot area on said first substrate;
a third step for measuring, for an exposure procedure for a pattern of a second mask, the distance between said detection center of one of said first and second alignment sensor systems which requires a shorter measurement time than the other and an exposure center of said pattern of said second mask;
and
a fourth step for using one of said first and second alignment sensor systems to measure the position of a given shot area on a second substrate so as to provide measurement results, and using these measurement results, the difference between said relative positions measured in said first step, and the distance measured in said third step so as to establish alignment between said given shot area on said second substrate and said pattern of said second mask.

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Abstract

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