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CN-122029999-A - Forming method, forming apparatus, and article manufacturing method

CN122029999ACN 122029999 ACN122029999 ACN 122029999ACN-122029999-A

Abstract

When performing imprint processing on a part of an irradiation region of an outer edge portion of a substrate, an imprint material may remain attached to a mold, and the present invention solves the problem of reducing occurrence of such a phenomenon that causes pattern defects in a subsequent irradiation region. The present invention is a forming method for imprint processing of each of a plurality of regions of a substrate (2), wherein the plurality of regions includes a first region (81) that does not include an outer edge portion of the substrate and a second region (82) that includes the outer edge portion, a composition on the substrate has a property of being inhibited from hardening by oxygen, in the processing, a gas supply action for supplying a gas having an oxygen concentration lower than air between a mold and the substrate is controlled before the composition on the mold and the substrate are brought into contact, and in the gas supply action in the processing of the second region (82), an amount of supplied gas is smaller than that in the gas supply action in the processing of the first region (81).

Inventors

  • NAKAGAWA KAZUTOSHI

Assignees

  • 佳能株式会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20240830
Priority Date
20231010

Claims (13)

  1. 1. A molding method of performing, for each of a plurality of regions on a substrate, a process of curing a composition on a substrate while maintaining a mold in contact with the composition, and molding the composition on the substrate by separating the mold from the cured composition, characterized in that, The plurality of regions includes a first region that does not include an outer edge portion of the substrate and a second region that includes the outer edge portion, The composition on the substrate has the property of being cured by oxygen inhibition, The treatment includes controlling a gas supply operation for supplying a gas having an oxygen concentration lower than that of air between the mold and the substrate before the mold is brought into contact with the composition on the substrate, and The supply amount of the gas in the gas supply operation in the process for the second region is smaller than the supply amount of the gas in the gas supply operation in the process for the first region.
  2. 2. The forming method according to claim 1, wherein in the gas supply operation in the treatment for the second region, the supply amount of the gas is controlled so that the oxygen concentration around the second region becomes higher than the oxygen concentration around the first region when the composition on the first region is cured.
  3. 3. The forming method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that in the gas supply operation in the treatment for the second region, the supply amount of the gas is controlled so that the composition adhering to the mold by the treatment for the second region is suppressed from being cured and kept in an uncured state.
  4. 4. A forming method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein in the gas supply operation in the process for the second region, gas is not supplied between the mold and the substrate.
  5. 5. The molding method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein in the treatment for the second region, a time from the contact of the mold with the composition on the substrate to the start of curing the composition is longer than in the treatment for the first region.
  6. 6. The forming method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plurality of regions further includes a third region excluding the outer edge portion, The processing for the third region is performed after the processing for the second region, and The supply amount of the gas in the gas supply operation in the process for the third region is smaller than the supply amount of the gas in the gas supply operation in the process for the first region.
  7. 7. The molding method according to claim 6, wherein a supply amount of the gas in the gas supply operation in the treatment for the second region is controlled so that the composition adhering to the mold by the treatment for the second region is inhibited from being cured by oxygen around the second region and kept in an uncured state, and The supply amount of the gas in the gas supply operation in the treatment for the third region is controlled so that the composition adhering to the mold by the treatment for the second region is inhibited from curing by oxygen around the third region and is fused with the composition on the third region in an uncured state.
  8. 8. The forming method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the third region is a region of the plurality of regions where processing is performed last.
  9. 9. The forming method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the processing for the first region is performed after the processing for the third region.
  10. 10. A molding method of performing, for each of a plurality of regions on a substrate, a process of curing a composition on a substrate while maintaining a mold in contact with the composition, and molding the composition on the substrate by separating the mold from the cured composition, characterized in that, The plurality of regions includes a first region that does not include an outer edge portion of the substrate and a second region that includes the outer edge portion, The composition on the substrate has the property of being cured by oxygen inhibition, and The oxygen concentration around the second region is higher when the composition on the second region is cured than the oxygen concentration around the first region when the composition on the first region is cured.
  11. 11. A method of manufacturing an article, the method comprising: a molding step of molding the composition on the substrate by using the molding method according to any one of claims 1 to 10; a treatment step of treating a substrate having a composition molded during the molding, and A manufacturing step of manufacturing an article from the substrate processed in the processing step.
  12. 12. A forming apparatus that performs, for each of a plurality of regions on a substrate, a process of curing a composition on a substrate while maintaining a mold in contact with the composition, and forming the composition on the substrate by separating the mold from the cured composition, the forming apparatus characterized by comprising: a supply configured to supply a gas having an oxygen concentration lower than that of air between the mold and the substrate, and A controller configured to control the process, Wherein the plurality of regions includes a first region that does not include an outer edge portion of the substrate and a second region that includes an outer edge portion of the substrate, The composition on the substrate has the property of being cured by oxygen inhibition, In the process, before the mold is brought into contact with the composition on the substrate, a gas supply operation of supplying a gas from the supply is controlled, and The controller controls the gas supply operation in the process for the second region so that the supply amount of the gas becomes smaller than the supply amount in the gas supply operation in the process for the first region.
  13. 13. A forming apparatus that performs, for each of a plurality of regions on a substrate, a process of curing a composition on a substrate while maintaining a mold in contact with the composition, and forming the composition on the substrate by separating the mold from the cured composition, the forming apparatus characterized by comprising: a supply configured to supply a gas having an oxygen concentration lower than that of air between the mold and the substrate, and A controller configured to control the process, Wherein the plurality of regions includes a first region that does not include an outer edge portion of the substrate and a second region that includes the outer edge portion, The composition on the substrate has the property of being cured by oxygen inhibition, and The controller controls the supply such that the oxygen concentration around the second region becomes higher when the composition on the second region is cured than the oxygen concentration around the first region when the composition on the first region is cured.

Description

Forming method, forming apparatus, and article manufacturing method Technical Field The present invention relates to a forming method, a forming apparatus, and a method of manufacturing an article. Background With the growing demand for miniaturization of semiconductor devices, imprint techniques have received attention in addition to conventional photolithography techniques. The imprint technique is a micromachining technique that forms a pattern of an imprint material (composition) on a substrate by performing an imprint process for shaping the imprint material on the substrate using a mold. In the imprint process, one of methods of curing the imprint material is, for example, a photo-curing method. In the imprint process using the photo-curing method, the imprint material on the substrate is cured by light irradiation while the mold and the imprint material are in contact with each other, and the mold is separated from the cured imprint material, thereby forming a pattern of the imprint material on the substrate. Fine structures on the order of a few nanometers can be formed on a substrate using such imprint techniques. In the imprint technique, in the case where the mold is in contact with the imprint material on the substrate, air between the mold and the imprint material sometimes remains as bubbles, so that defects occur in the pattern of the imprint material formed on the substrate. Such defects are sometimes referred to as pattern defects or unfilled defects. Patent document 1 discloses a method of reducing pattern defects by supplying a gas having one or both of solubility and diffusivity with respect to an imprint material between a mold and a substrate. List of references Patent literature PTL 1 Japanese patent laid-open No.2007-509769 Disclosure of Invention Technical problem The imprint process is performed for each of a plurality of irradiation regions (shot regions) on the substrate. Recently, in order to improve the yield of product chips obtained from a substrate, it is even necessary to perform imprint processing on an irradiation region (so-called partial irradiation region) including an outer edge portion of the substrate. Warpage or stepped portions may be formed on the outer edge portion of the substrate. The imprint material may be supplied in the form of droplets to such outer edge portions to prevent the mold from directly contacting the substrate. However, there are cases where the contact (pressing) of the droplets of the imprint material supplied to the outer edge portion of the substrate on which the warpage or stepped portion is formed with the mold is insufficient, and the droplets do not spread on the substrate and remain partially adhered to the mold after the imprint process. If the imprint material attached to the mold is cured, the material may become a factor that causes pattern defects in the imprint process for the subsequent irradiation region. It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique which is advantageous in reducing defects occurring in a composition on a substrate in a process of shaping the composition by using a mold. Solution to the problem In order to achieve the above object, a molding method according to one aspect of the present invention is a molding method that performs a process of curing a composition on a substrate while maintaining the mold in contact with the composition on the substrate, and molding the composition on the substrate by separating the mold from the cured composition, characterized in that the plurality of regions includes a first region that does not include an outer edge portion of the substrate and a second region that includes the outer edge portion, the composition on the substrate has a property of being inhibited from curing by oxygen, the process includes controlling a gas supply operation of supplying a gas having a lower oxygen concentration than air between the mold and the substrate before bringing the mold into contact with the composition on the substrate, and a supply amount of the gas in the gas supply operation in the process for the second region is smaller than a supply amount of the gas in the process for the first region. The beneficial effects of the invention are that The present invention can provide a technique that is advantageous in reducing defects occurring in a composition on a substrate in a process of shaping the composition by using a mold. Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Note that the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. Drawings The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example