US-12624969-B2 - Measuring method, measuring system, and measuring device

US12624969B2US 12624969 B2US12624969 B2US 12624969B2US-12624969-B2

Abstract

There is a method for measuring a deviation amount of a measuring device, comprising: transferring, by using a transfer device, the measuring device to a position in an area specified by transfer position data; acquiring measurement values using four or more sensor electrodes of the measuring device; identifying two or more sensor electrodes among the four or more sensor electrodes, the two or more sensor electrodes outputting, as the measurement values, capacitances that satisfy a reliability standard; and calculating the deviation amount based on the measurement values of the identified two or more sensor electrodes.

Inventors

Kimihiro YOKOYAMA
Takayuki Hatanaka
Ryoma KOBAYASHI

Assignees

TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230904
Priority Date: 20220905

Claims (9)

1 . A method for measuring a deviation amount of a measuring device transferred by a transfer device, the measuring device including: a disc-shaped base substrate; and four or more sensor electrodes arranged at equal intervals along a peripheral edge of the base substrate in a circumferential direction and configured to measure measurement values indicating capacitances between the four or more sensor electrodes and an object disposed at a lateral side, wherein the transfer device transfers an object to be processed into an area surrounded by an edge ring based on transfer position data, and the deviation amount is an amount of deviation of a center position of the measuring device with respect to a center position of the area, the measuring method comprising: transferring, by using the transfer device, the measuring device to a position in the area specified by the transfer position data; acquiring the measurement values using the four or more sensor electrodes of the measuring device transferred into the area; identifying two or more sensor electrodes among the four or more sensor electrodes, wherein the two or more sensor electrodes output, as the measurement values, capacitances that satisfy a reliability standard; and calculating the deviation amount based on the measurement values of the identified two or more sensor electrodes, wherein in said identifying, top two sensor electrodes having large measurement values among the four or more sensor electrodes are identified as the two or more sensor electrodes, or wherein the four or more sensor electrodes are an even number of sensor electrodes, and in said identifying, a sensor electrode having a larger measurement value between a pair of sensor electrodes facing each other across a center of the measuring device is identified as the two or more sensor electrodes, or wherein in said identifying, a sensor electrode that outputs the measurement value greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold is identified as the two or more sensor electrodes, and the predetermined threshold is determined based on measurement values measured by the four or more sensor electrodes in a state where the center position of the area and the center position of the measuring device coincide with each other and the method further comprises determining whether or not there are two or more sensor electrodes that output the measurement values greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold.
2 . The measuring method of claim 1 , wherein in said calculating, when the identified two or more sensor electrodes are three or more sensor electrodes, an average of multiple deviation amounts calculated based on multiple combinations of two sensor electrodes selected from the three or more sensor electrodes is calculated.
3 . The measuring method of claim 2 , wherein the average of the deviation amounts is a weighted average.
4 . A measuring system comprising: a measuring device including a disc-shaped base substrate, and four or more sensor electrodes arranged at equal intervals along a peripheral edge of the base substrate in a circumferential direction and configured to measure measurement values indicating capacitances between the four or more sensor electrodes and an object disposed at a lateral side; a transfer device configured to transfer the measuring device into the area that is surrounded by the edge ring and specified by transfer position data; and an operation part configured to calculate a deviation amount of the measuring device transferred by the transfer device, wherein the deviation amount is an amount of deviation of a center position of the measuring device with respect to a center position of the area, and the operation part: acquires the measurement values obtained by the four or more sensor electrodes of the measuring device transferred into the area, identifies two or more sensor electrodes that output, as the measurement values, capacitances that satisfy a reliability standard among the four or more sensor electrodes, and calculates the deviation amount based on the measurement values of the identified two or more sensor electrodes, wherein the operation part identifies top two sensor electrodes having large measurement values among the four or more sensor electrodes as the two or more sensor electrodes.
5 . A measuring device comprising: a disc-shaped base substrate; four or more sensor electrodes arranged at equal intervals along a peripheral edge of the base substrate in a circumferential direction and configured to measure measurement values indicating capacitances between the four or more sensor electrodes and an edge ring in a state where the base substrate is placed in an area surrounded by the edge ring; and a circuit board mounted on the base substrate and configured to: acquire the measurement values obtained by the four or more sensor electrodes, identify two or more sensor electrodes that output, as the measurement values, capacitances that satisfy a reliability standard among the four or more sensor electrodes, and calculate a deviation amount of a center position of the base substrate with respect to a center position of the area based on the measurement values of the identified two or more sensor electrodes wherein the circuit board identifies top two sensor electrodes having large measurement values among the four or more sensor electrodes as the two or more sensor electrodes.
6 . The measuring system of claim 4 , wherein the operation part calculates, when the identified two or more sensor electrodes are three or more sensor electrodes, an average of multiple deviation amounts calculated based on multiple combinations of two sensor electrodes selected from the three or more sensor electrodes.
7 . The measuring system of claim 6 , wherein the average of the deviation amounts is a weighted average.
8 . The measuring device of claim 5 , wherein the circuit board calculates, when the identified two or more sensor electrodes are three or more sensor electrodes, an average of multiple deviation amounts calculated based on multiple combinations of two sensor electrodes selected from the three or more sensor electrodes.
9 . The measuring device of claim 8 , wherein the average of the deviation amounts is a weighted average.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-140938, filed on Sep. 5, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a measuring method, a measuring system, and a measuring device. BACKGROUND Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2017-3557 discloses a measuring device for measuring a capacitance. The measuring device is transferred onto an electrostatic chuck surrounded by an edge ring in a plasma processing apparatus, and measures a capacitance formed between the measuring device and the edge ring. The measuring device can obtain a deviation amount between the center of the edge ring and the center of the measuring device based on the measured capacitance. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides a technique for more accurately measuring a deviation amount between a center of an edge ring and a center of a measuring device. In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, there is a method for measuring a deviation amount of a measuring device transferred by a transfer device. The measuring device includes a disc-shaped base substrate; and four or more sensor electrodes arranged at equal intervals along a peripheral edge of the base substrate in a circumferential direction and configured to measure measurement values indicating capacitances between the four or more sensor electrodes and an object disposed at a lateral side. The transfer device transfers an object to be processed into an area surrounded by an edge ring based on transfer position data. The deviation amount is an amount of deviation of a center position of the measuring device with respect to a center position of the area. The measuring method comprises transferring, by using the transfer device, the measuring device to a position in the area specified by the transfer position data. The measuring method comprises acquiring the measurement values using the four or more sensor electrodes of the measuring device transferred into the area. The measuring method comprises identifying two or more sensor electrodes among the four or more sensor electrodes, the two or more sensor electrodes outputting, as the measurement values, capacitances that satisfy a reliability standard. The measuring method comprises calculating the deviation amount based on the measurement values of the identified two or more sensor electrodes. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a processing system. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an aligner. FIG. 3 shows an example of a plasma processing apparatus. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a measuring device viewed from the top. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a sensor chip. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line VI-VI of FIG. 5. FIG. 7 illustrates a configuration of a circuit board the measuring device. FIG. 8 schematically shows a positional relationship between an edge ring and the measuring device. FIG. 9 is an example of a graph showing the relationship between a distance between the sensor chip and the edge ring and a measured capacitance. FIG. 10 is a block diagram for explaining functions of an operation part. FIG. 11 explains an example of an operation for calculating a deviation amount, and schematically shows the positional relationship between the edge ring and the measuring device. FIG. 12 explains an example of an operation for calculating a deviation amount, and schematically shows the relationship between a distance between the edge ring and the sensor chip and coordinates of the measuring device. FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a measuring method performed by a measuring system. FIG. 14 explains an example of an operation for calculating a deviation amount, and schematically shows the positional relationship between the edge ring and the measuring device. FIG. 15 explains an example of an operation for calculating a deviation amount, and schematically shows the relationship between a distance between the edge ring and the sensor chip and coordinates of the measuring device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, various embodiments will be described. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, there is a method for measuring a deviation amount of a measuring device transferred by a transfer device. The measuring device includes a disc-shaped base substrate; and four or more sensor electrodes arranged at equal intervals along a peripheral edge of the base substrate in a circumferential direction and configured to measure measurement values indicating capacitances between the four or more sensor electrodes and an object disposed at a lateral side. The transfer device is a device that transfers an object to be processed into an area surrounded by an edge ring based on transfer position data. The deviation amount is an amount of deviation of a center position of the measuring devi