# US 9,601,394 B2 · Substrate processing apparatus, substrate processing method and memory medium

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- Number: US 9,601,394 B2
- Document ID: US9601394B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/632,544
- Filed: 2015-02-26
- Published: 2015-09-10
- Granted: 2017-03-21
- Earliest claimed: 2014-03-05
- Assignees: Tokyo Electron Limited
- Applicants: Tokyo Electron Limited
- Inventors: Teruhiko Kodama; Masashi Enomoto
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9601394B2

## CPC

- G05B 19/406: characterised by monitoring or safety (G05B19/19 takes precedence)
- G05B 19/418: Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
- G05B 23/0221: {Preprocessing measurements, e.g. data collection rate adjustment; Standardization of measurements; Time series or signal analysis, e.g. frequency analysis or wavelets; Trustworthiness of measurements; Indexes therefor; Measurements using easily measured parameters to estimate parameters difficult to measure; Virtual sensor creation; De-noising; Sensor fusion; Unconventional preprocessing inherently present in specific fault detection methods like PCA-based methods}
- H10P 50/00: Etching of wafers, substrates or parts of devices
- H10P 72/0456: {in-line arrangement}
- H10P 72/0474: {comprising at least one lithography chamber}
- H10P 72/0616: {Monitoring of warpages, curvatures, damages, defects or the like}
- H10P 72/3202: {Mechanical details, e.g. rollers or belts}
- H10P 74/203: {Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects}
- H10P 74/23: {characterised by multiple measurements, corrections, marking or sorting processes}
- G05B 2219/25242: Relay
- G05B 2219/45031: Manufacturing semiconductor wafers
- G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G)
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10

## Abstract

A substrate processing system includes a film-forming device to form photosensitive film on substrate, an exposure device to expose the film on the substrate, a relay device to transfer the substrate between the film-forming and exposure devices, a warping data acquisition device to acquire measured warping data of the substrate, a communication device to perform data communication with the exposure device, and a control device including film-forming, relay, measuring, and communication control sub-devices. The film-forming sub-device controls the film-forming device to form the film on the substrate, the relay sub-device controls the relay device to transfer the substrate to the exposure device, the measuring sub-device controls the warping data acquisition device to acquire the data after the controlling by the film-forming sub-device prior to the controlling by the relay sub-device, and the communication sub-device controls the communication device to transmit the data to the exposure device.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for processing a substrate, comprising:
forming a photosensitive film on a front surface of a substrate;
measuring a back surface of the substrate such that measured warping data of the substrate having the photosensitive film formed thereon are acquired;
determining whether roughening process is to be applied on the back surface of the substrate based on the measured warping data prior to transferring the substrate to an exposure device;
transferring the substrate having the photosensitive film to the exposure device after acquisition of the measured warping data; and
transmitting the measured warping data to the exposure device,
wherein the roughening process comprises roughening the back surface of the substrate based on the measured warping data to a degree that Coulomb's force between a mounting plate of the exposure device and the back surface of the substrate decreases and that the back surface of the substrate slides on the mounting plate of the exposure device when the back surface of the substrate is mounted on the mounting plate of the exposure device.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A method for processing a substrate according to claim 1, further comprising:
applying the roughening process on the back surface of the substrate based on the measured warping data after the acquisition of the measured warping data prior to the transferring of the substrate to the exposure device.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

A method for processing a substrate according to claim 2, wherein the roughening process is applied when the measured warping data indicates that the back surface of the substrate has a concave shape, and the roughening process is not applied when the measured warping data indicates that the back surface of the substrate does not have a concave shape.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

A method for processing a substrate according to claim 1, further comprising:
setting a release region on the substrate based on the measured warping data of the substrate;
releasing adsorption on the release region and on a region extending from the release region to a periphery of the substrate after the substrate is loaded into the exposure device and adsorbed on the exposure device;
adsorbing the release region again such that an adsorbed region of the substrate is expanded toward the periphery of the substrate; and
applying exposure process after the release region is adsorbed again.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

A method for processing a substrate according to claim 1, wherein the measuring of the back surface of the substrate comprises scanning laser on the back surface of the substrate such that a distance to the back surface of the substrate is measured.