Imprint lithography including alignment
AssigneeASML Netherlands B.V.
InventorsYvonne Wendela Kruijt-Stegeman, Aleksey Yurievich Kolensnychenko, Helmar Van Santen, Erik Roelof Loopstra
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Abstract
An imprint lithography apparatus is disclosed that has a substrate table configured to hold a substrate, a template holder configured to hold an imprint template, the imprint template or the template holder having a template alignment mark configured to be imprinted onto the substrate table or onto a substrate to form an imprinted alignment mark, the imprint template having a functional pattern, and the template alignment mark and the functional pattern having a known spatial relationship, and an alignment sensor configured to determine the location of the imprinted alignment mark.
Claims26
An imprint lithography apparatus, comprising:
- a substrate table configured to hold a substrate, wherein the substrate table comprises, in use, one or more areas of imprintable material separate from the substrate arranged to receive an imprinted alignment mark such that, in use, the imprinted alignment mark is formed therein and the imprinted alignment mark is operable with an alignment sensor;
- a template holder configured to hold an imprint template, the imprint template or the template holder having a template alignment mark configured to be imprinted onto the substrate table or onto a substrate to form an imprinted alignment mark, the imprint template having a functional pattern, and the template alignment mark and the functional pattern having a known spatial relationship;
- and
- an alignment sensor configured to determine the location of the imprinted alignment mark.
A method of aligning an imprint template with a substrate on a substrate table, the imprint template or a template holder configured to hold the imprint template having a template alignment mark, the imprint template having a functional pattern, and the substrate having a substrate alignment mark, the method comprising:
- imprinting the template alignment mark onto the substrate or onto the substrate table to form an imprinted alignment mark;
- using an alignment sensor to measure a position of the imprinted alignment mark and a position of the substrate alignment mark;
- and
- using a known spatial relationship between the template alignment mark and the functional pattern to align the functional pattern with respect to the substrate alignment mark.
An imprint lithography template comprising a template alignment mark and a functional pattern, the template alignment mark spaced away from the functional pattern and having a known spatial location relative to the functional pattern, wherein the template alignment mark is provided on a part of the imprint template which is moveable relative to a part of the imprint template having the functional pattern to allow an alignment mark to be imprinted onto the substrate table or onto the substrate independently from the functional pattern.
An imprint lithography template comprising a template holder and a removable template, the template holder having a template alignment mark, and the removable template having a functional pattern, the template alignment mark configured to be imprinted onto a substrate table or onto a substrate to form an imprinted alignment mark.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.