IP Library Granted Patent US 12,384,077
Granted Patent B2
US 12,384,077 · App. 18/153,508 · Granted Aug 12, 2025

Imprint apparatus, method of manufacturing article, planarized layer forming apparatus, information processing apparatus, and determination method

Inventor: Sentaro Aihara (Utsunomiya, JP)
Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
B29C41/34B29C71/0009H01L21/027
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,384,077
App. No.
18/153,508
Granted
Aug 12, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

An imprint apparatus that brings a mold and an imprint material on a substrate into contact with each other to form a pattern of the imprint material on the substrate is provided. The apparatus comprises a supplying unit configured to supply the imprint material to the substrate, and a control unit configured to control the supplying unit in accordance with arrangement data of the imprint material that indicates a position where the imprint material is to be supplied on the substrate, wherein the control unit determines the arrangement data based on a feature related to a spread of a droplet of the imprint material on the substrate.

Claims (20)

1. An information processing apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to

obtain a geometric feature amount of a droplet of a material on a substrate, related to a spread of the droplet of the material on the substrate, based on an image of a first plurality of droplets of the material captured by an image capturing unit while the material and a template are in contact with each other to form the material in a forming condition,

obtain correspondence relationship data between forming conditions when the material and the template are in contact with each other to form the material and geometric feature amounts related to the spread of the droplet of the material on the substrate,

obtain, from the obtained correspondence relationship data between the forming conditions and the geometric feature amounts, a geometric feature amount corresponding to a set forming condition,

obtain a spread shape of an initial droplet of the material based on the obtained geometric feature amount corresponding to the set forming condition,

obtain spread shapes of a second plurality of droplets of the material based on the obtained geometric feature amount corresponding to the set forming condition, and

determine arrangement data of the material that indicates positions where the material is to be supplied on a substrate by adjusting positions of the spread shapes of the second plurality of droplets, based on an area of a polygon obtained by connecting centers of gravity of the obtained spread shapes of the second plurality of droplets of the material and a center of gravity of the spread shape of the initial droplet of the material, such that the spread shapes of the second plurality of droplets and the spread shape of the initial droplet contact with each other.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a memory configured to store the correspondence relationship data.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when one droplet of the first plurality of droplets, is approximated by a circle based on an image of the one droplet captured by the image capturing unit, a geometric feature amount of the one droplet includes a diameter of the circle.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the a geometric feature amount of one droplet of the first plurality of droplets includes a major axis length, a minor axis length, a radius of curvature, and a tilt of an ellipse when the one droplet, of the first plurality of droplets, is approximated by an ellipse based on an image of the one droplet captured by the image capturing unit.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the forming condition includes at least one of a type of the template, a filling time set for filling a pattern of the template with the material by bringing the material and the template in contact with each other, a relative speed of movement between the material and the template at the contact, a substrate position of a region to be captured by the image capturing unit, information of the material, information of a substrate coating material, and a flow rate of an atmospheric gas in a position where the contact is to be performed.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor determines the arrangement data by adjusting positions of the spread shapes of the second plurality of droplets so that the area of the polygon, obtained by connecting the centers of gravity of the obtained spread shapes of the second plurality of droplets and the center of gravity of the spread shape of the initial droplet, is minimized.

7. A determination method of determining arrangement data of a material that indicates positions where the material is to be supplied on a substrate, the method comprising following steps of:

obtaining a geometric feature amount of a droplet of the material on a substrate, related to a spread of the droplet of the material on the substrate, based on an image of a first plurality of droplets of the material captured by an image capturing unit while the material and a template are in contact with each other to form the material in a forming condition,

obtaining correspondence relationship data between forming conditions when the material and a template are in contact with each other to form the material and geometric feature amounts related to the spread of the droplet of the material on the substrate,

obtaining, from the obtained correspondence relationship data between the forming conditions and the geometric feature amounts, a geometric feature amount corresponding to a set forming condition,

obtaining a spread shape of an initial droplet of the material based on the obtained geometric feature amount corresponding to the set forming condition,

obtaining spread shapes of a second plurality of droplets of the material based on the obtained geometric feature amount corresponding to the set forming condition, and

determining the arrangement data of the material that indicates positions where the material is to be supplied on the substrate by adjusting positions of the spread shapes of the second plurality of droplets, based on an area of a polygon obtained by connecting centers of gravity of the obtained spread shapes of the second plurality of droplets of the material and a center of gravity of the spread shape of the initial droplet of the material, such that the spread shapes of the second plurality of droplets and the spread shape of the initial droplet contact with each other.

Priority Claims (1)
JP 2018-095633 · May 17, 2018 · national
Continuity (2)
Division 16411648 · May 14, 2019
Related Publication 20230166430A1 · Jun 1, 2023
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