EP0420574A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Alignment system
Assignee: Canon Inc
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Filing: 1990-09-25
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-09-25
Abstract
Abstract An alignment system usable with an original (2) having a pattern and a substrate (3) having a surface area on which the pattern of the original is to be printed, is disclosed. The alignment system includes a mark detecting device (12) for detecting plural marks provided in relation to the surface area of the substrate; a discriminating device for discriminating the number of pieces of mark detection information as outputted from the mark detecting device; a calculating device having stored therein different computation formulae for calculation of the quantity of correction, to be used for aligning the original and the substrate, the calculating device being effective to calculate the quantity of correction by using a formula selected out of the different formulae in accordance with the discrimination by the discriminating device and by using the mark detection information having been correctly outputted from the mark detecting device; and an adjusting device (4,24) for aligning the original and the substrate on the basis of the calculated quantity of correction.
Inventors
- 👤 Makiko C/O Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Mori
- 👤 Shinichi C/O Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Uzawa
- 👤 Kunitaka C/O Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Ozawa
- 👤 Hirohisa C/O Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Ohta
- 👤 Noriyuki C/O Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Nose
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-06 13:19
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03F; G03F9/00; G03F9/70
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
158 words
An alignment system usable with an original having a pattern and a substrate having a surface area on which the pattern of the original is to be printed, said alignment system comprising: mark detecting means for detecting plural marks provided in relation to the surface area of the substrate; discriminating means for discriminating the number of pieces of mark detection information as outputted from said mark detecting means; calculating means having stored therein different computation formulae for calculation of the quantity of correction, to be used for aligning the original and the substrate, said calculating means being effective to calculate the quantity of correction by using a formula selected out of said different formulae in accordance with the discrimination by said discriminating means and by using the mark detection information having been correctly outputted from said mark detecting means; and adjusting means for aligning the original and the substrate on the basis of the calculated quantity of correction.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
158 words
An alignment system usable with an original having a pattern and a substrate having a surface area on which the pattern of the original is to be printed, said alignment system comprising: mark detecting means for detecting plural marks provided in relation to the surface area of the substrate; discriminating means for discriminating the number of pieces of mark detection information as outputted from said mark detecting means; calculating means having stored therein different computation formulae for calculation of the quantity of correction, to be used for aligning the original and the substrate, said calculating means being effective to calculate the quantity of correction by using a formula selected out of said different formulae in accordance with the discrimination by said discriminating means and by using the mark detection information having been correctly outputted from said mark detecting means; and adjusting means for aligning the original and the substrate on the basis of the calculated quantity of correction.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
43 words
A system according to Claim 1, wherein said discriminating means discriminates the number of pieces of correct mark detection information as outputted from said mark detecting means in accordance with layout information related to the layout of the surface region on the substrate.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
39 words
A system according to Claim 2, wherein said discriminating means discriminates the number of pieces of correct mark detection information as outputted from said mark detecting means in accordance with a mark detection error in said mark detecting means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
38 words
A system according to Claim 1, wherein the original and the substrate have surfaces opposed to each other and wherein said adjusting means corrects positional deviation between the original and the substrate along the opposed surfaces of them.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
34 words
A system according to Claim 1, wherein the original and the substrate are opposed to each other with a spacing, and wherein said adjusting means controls the spacing between the original and the substrate.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
138 words
A system according to Claim 1, wherein said calculating means calculates the quantity of correction in accordance with a first formula in an occasion where the number of pieces of the mark detection information is not less than a first predetermined number, wherein said calculating means calculates the quantity of correction in accordance with a second formula in an occasion where the number of pieces of the mark detection information is less than the first predetermined number but not less than a second predetermined number, and wherein said calculating means calculates the quantity of correction in accordance with one of the first and second formulae after substitute mark detection information is complementarily supplied from said mark detecting means in an occasion where the number of pieces of the mark detection information is less than the second predetermined number.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
172 words
An alignment method usable with an original having a pattern and a substrate having a surface area on which the pattern of the original is to be printed, said alignment method comprising the steps of: detecting, through mark detecting means, plural marks provided in relation to the surface area of the substrate, prior to the printing of the pattern of the original on the surface area of the substrate; discriminating the number of pieces of mark detection information as outputted from the mark detecting means; supplementing, where the number of pieces of the mark detection information is less than a predetermined, insufficient mark detection information with substitute information, wherein the substitute information is obtained by detecting, through the mark detecting means, a spare mark formed in preparation in relation to the surface shot area; calculating the quantity of correction for attaining the original and the substrate, by using the mark detection information and the substitute information; and aligning the original and the substrate on the basis of the calculated quantity of correction.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
172 words
An alignment method usable with an original having a pattern and a substrate having a surface area on which the pattern of the original is to be printed, said alignment method comprising the steps of: detecting, through mark detecting means, plural marks provided in relation to the surface area of the substrate, prior to the printing of the pattern of the original on the surface area of the substrate; discriminating the number of pieces of mark detection information as outputted from the mark detecting means; supplementing, where the number of pieces of the mark detection information is less than a predetermined, insufficient mark detection information with substitute information, wherein the substitute information is obtained by detecting, through the mark detecting means, a spare mark formed in preparation in relation to the surface shot area; calculating the quantity of correction for attaining the original and the substrate, by using the mark detection information and the substitute information; and aligning the original and the substrate on the basis of the calculated quantity of correction.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
170 words
An alignment method usable with an original having a pattern and a substrate having a surface area on which the pattern of the original is to be printed, said alignment method comprising the steps of: detecting, through mark detecting means, plural marks provided in relation to the surface area of the substrate, prior to the printing of the pattern of the original on the surface area of the substrate; calculating, by plural times, the amount of rotational deviation between the original and the substrate with respect to the surface area of the substrate, on the basis of different combination of pieces of the mark detection information as outputted from the mark detecting means; weighting the obtained rotational deviation amounts on the basis of respective precisions of different pieces of the mark detection information, and calculating the quantity of rotational correction to the original and the substrate by using the weighted rotational deviation amounts; and aligning the original and the substrate on the basis of the calculated quantity of rotational correction.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
170 words
An alignment method usable with an original having a pattern and a substrate having a surface area on which the pattern of the original is to be printed, said alignment method comprising the steps of: detecting, through mark detecting means, plural marks provided in relation to the surface area of the substrate, prior to the printing of the pattern of the original on the surface area of the substrate; calculating, by plural times, the amount of rotational deviation between the original and the substrate with respect to the surface area of the substrate, on the basis of different combination of pieces of the mark detection information as outputted from the mark detecting means; weighting the obtained rotational deviation amounts on the basis of respective precisions of different pieces of the mark detection information, and calculating the quantity of rotational correction to the original and the substrate by using the weighted rotational deviation amounts; and aligning the original and the substrate on the basis of the calculated quantity of rotational correction.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
96 words
A method according to Claim 8, wherein the mark detecting means has a first zone in which a value representing by the mark detection information changes rectilinearly with a change in positional deviation of a mark and a second zone in which the value represented by the mark detection information changes non-rectilinearly with the change in positional deviation of the mark, and wherein the precision of the mark detection information is discriminated on the basis of whether the value represented by the mark detection information is either in the first zone or in the second zone.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method according to Claim 9, wherein a value for the weighting is one (1) of the mark detection information having highest precision, while it is zero (0) for the remaining mark detection information.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method according to Claim 8, wherein the precision of the mark detection information is preset with regard to each of the plural marks.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
167 words
An alignment method, usable with an original having a pattern and a substrate having a surface area on which the pattern of the original is to be printed, said alignment method comprising the steps of: detecting, through mark detecting means, plural marks provided in relation to the surface area of the substrate, prior to the printing of the pattern of the original on the surface area of the substrate; calculating, by plural times, the amount of rotational deviation between the original and the substrate with respect to the surface area of the substrate, on the basis of different combinations of pieces of mark detection information as outputted from the mark detecting means; weighting the calculated rotational deviation amounts on the basis of a mark interval, in each of the combinations, and calculating the quantity of rotational correction to the original and the substrate by using the weighted rotational deviation amounts; and aligning the original and the substrate on the basis of the calculated quantity of rotational correction.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
167 words
An alignment method, usable with an original having a pattern and a substrate having a surface area on which the pattern of the original is to be printed, said alignment method comprising the steps of: detecting, through mark detecting means, plural marks provided in relation to the surface area of the substrate, prior to the printing of the pattern of the original on the surface area of the substrate; calculating, by plural times, the amount of rotational deviation between the original and the substrate with respect to the surface area of the substrate, on the basis of different combinations of pieces of mark detection information as outputted from the mark detecting means; weighting the calculated rotational deviation amounts on the basis of a mark interval, in each of the combinations, and calculating the quantity of rotational correction to the original and the substrate by using the weighted rotational deviation amounts; and aligning the original and the substrate on the basis of the calculated quantity of rotational correction.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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