JP4617819B2 - Management method of progress processing procedure in photomask manufacturing process - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for managing progress processing procedures that put on the photomask manufacturing process.

In the photomask manufacturing process, a photomask substrate (hereinafter, including a photomask used in photolithography technology in a semiconductor device manufacturing process or a photomask blank that is a substrate before pattern formation of the photomask pattern) Before and after the process of this process, the product name formed on the photomask substrate is used as a key code, and the photomask substrate and the manufacturing instruction are visually checked and confirmed. ing. If the photomask substrate matches the manufacturing instruction by the visual verification, the process is performed according to process flow information from the manufacturing instruction, such as the material of the photomask substrate, processing conditions, and the like.

An example of a method of managing put that progress processing procedures in a manufacturing process for a conventional photomask will be described. Figure 4 is an illustration of an example of a manufacturing information system illustrating a method of managing the progress that put on the photomask manufacturing process. An identifiable product name, that is, a product name (19) is formed on the photomask to be managed. The product name (19) is represented by a combination of alphanumeric characters, and all information related to the product name is filed in a predetermined format. The file is managed by the manufacturing instruction number (18). That is, the file is a system that collects and manages process flow information including all information below the product name using the manufacturing instruction number as a key code. . From the reference diagram of FIG. 4, the product name (19) is formed on the photomask substrate (20) on the substrate, and the product name is visually identified by the operator. The photomask substrate (20) is always given a manufacturing instruction number (18), and a manufacturing instruction (12a) managed by the manufacturing instruction number (18) is attached. In the manufacturing process, a pair of the photomask substrate (20) and the manufacturing instruction sheet (12a) are circulated simultaneously. Accordingly, in each manufacturing process, the product name (19) on the photomask substrate (20) is visually recognized before the processing, and the product name and the product name (19) written in the manufacturing instruction sheet (12a) are collated. Work is required.

After the collation operation is completed, the progress of the manufacturing process is processed at any time according to a predetermined defined process (13). At the same time, the process flow information from the predefined process (13) is registered in the registration database (14).

In the conventional method for managing the processing procedure of process progress, a check operation for visually comparing the photomask substrate (20) and the manufacturing instruction sheet (12a) is performed . In the visual verification, for example, in the case of a photomask substrate, the formed product name (19) has a difference between black characters and white characters depending on the material of the photomask substrate, and there is also a difference in drawing device, character size, and shape difference. is there. For this reason, it is difficult to confirm with the visual work of the worker, and misidentification occurs in an environment where the number of times is increased or the time is shortened . In addition, in the worker's confirmation work, a human error occurs, a confirmation failure or a confirmation error occurs, and an error occurs in the association between the photomask substrate and the manufacturing instruction sheet. Therefore, an incorrect process is performed, and the photomask substrate becomes defective. Various countermeasures have been proposed (see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

The known literature is described below.
JP-A-5-313350 JP-A-5-326359

An object of the present invention is to provide a product name, a photomask substrate material, and a photomask substrate when collating the photomask substrate and its manufacturing instruction before and after the photomask substrate process in the photomask manufacturing process. Management of the progress processing procedure of the photomask manufacturing process that prevents erroneous processing and prevents the occurrence of defective products by preventing errors in confirmation of processing conditions and omissions Is to provide a method.

The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a process progress management procedure management method including at least the following procedures in a photomask manufacturing process.
(A) Processing for forming an optical identification code representing a photomask management number on a photomask substrate at the time of drawing a photomask manufactured by a manufacturing instruction management number (hereinafter referred to as a manufacturing instruction number) of the manufacturing information system procedure.
(B) A processing procedure for registering the optical identification code and the manufacturing instruction number in the basic system.
(C) A processing procedure for outputting process flow information of the manufacturing instruction number corresponding to the optical identification code from the manufacturing information system to the basic system and storing it in a database.
(D) A processing procedure for inputting the process flow information according to the progress of each process of the process process.
(E) In a process including visual verification between a photomask and process flow information, such as a cleaning process, an inspection process, a final inspection process, and a shipping / shipping process, formed on the photomask substrate before the start of the process. Processing procedure for reading the optical identification code and outputting the process flow information of the photomask substrate from the basic system database using the product name and / or manufacturing instruction management number output from the optical identification code as a key code .
(F) A processing procedure for determining whether or not the process flow information of the photomask substrate and the process flow information of the manufacturing instruction number match each other.
(G) A processing procedure for executing the process if the result of the collation determination is appropriate.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention, the optical identification code, depending on the bar code, the processing procedure of steps progress according to claim 1, wherein the displaying the manufacturing instructions number of photomasks It is a management method.

Claim invention according to claim 3 of the present invention, the optical identification code, depending on the character for optical character reading (OCR), characterized in that displaying the said manufacturing instructions number of photomasks 1 is a method of managing the process progress processing procedure according to 1;

According to the management method of the process progress processing procedure in the photomask manufacturing process of the present invention according to claim 1, information represented by an optical identification code, for example, a management number, a product name as a key code, and a photomask substrate process flow information in the photomask manufacturing process, for example, the correspondence processing flow information, for performing automatically on main system by manufacturing information system, verification time, it is possible to prevent the confirmation of the error or confirmation leakage. Further, the correspondence of that information, it is possible to avoid performing erroneous processing, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defective products. Furthermore, there is an effect of reducing the work load for collation and the like.

According to the method for managing the progress processing procedure of the process in the photomask manufacturing process of the present invention according to claim 2, the optical identification code is indicated by a bar code and the manufacturing instruction number of the photomask is displayed. In addition, it is possible to realize a method for managing a processing procedure in a photomask manufacturing process.

According to the management method of the progress processing procedure of the process in the manufacturing process of the photomask of the present invention according to claim 3, by displaying the manufacturing instruction number of the photomask with the optical identification code by the character of OCR, A method for managing a processing procedure in the photomask manufacturing process can be realized with certainty.

A method for managing a progress process procedure in a photomask manufacturing process of the present invention will be described below based on an embodiment. FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a processing procedure using an optical identification code of process progress in a photomask manufacturing process.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining a processing procedure on the backbone system. In the processing procedure a, first, an optical identification code is assigned and registered as a key code. Examples of the optical identification code include a standardized name, an alphanumeric character string, a bar code, or an OCR optical character recognition character. It is important that the optical identification code is accurately and automatically read by the reader, and may be standardized according to the specifications of the existing reader. On the backbone system, all information is centrally managed by the optical identification code.

The procedure b, and instructions forming a granted optical identification code at a predetermined the position of the outer peripheral portion of the photomask substrate, via the manufacturing information systems, registers to its manufacturing specifications, by the production specifications The optical identification code is formed on the light shielding film of the photomask substrate.
As described above, the product name and the optical identification code are formed on the photomask substrate. In subsequent steps, in the manufacturing information system, the optical identification code additionally registered to the manufacture's instructions, to use the business by input and output of data between the core system and manufacturing information system. Since optical identification codes are formed on all photomask substrates in the manufacturing process, identification of the photomask substrates is performed by reading the optical identification codes from an automatic reading device, converting them on a basic system, and product names. Is output with the product name.

In the processing procedure c, after forming an optical identification code in the drawing process, the optical identification code is registered as a key code and output to the manufacturing process and related departments.

In the processing procedure d, the process flow information registered on the manufacturing instruction corresponding to the optical identification code is output from the manufacturing information system to the basic system, and input to the basic system to register the database. After forming the optical identification code, the process flow information is output to the manufacturing process and related departments.

In the processing procedure e, process flow information of progress in the manufacturing process corresponding to the optical identification code is input on the basic system and registered in the database. With the optical identification code, the process flow information on the manufacturing instruction and the process flow information on the progress in the manufacturing process can be collected and output to the manufacturing process and related departments.

Then forwards the photomask substrate to the process step which is the next step. The processing procedure f is a process step, and is a step of development processing, etching processing, and resist stripping processing by a photo process method.

In the processing procedure f, the predefined process (3) of the core system is processed. Thus, the process is completed.

In the processing procedure g, the photomask substrate is transferred to the next cleaning process. The cleaning step is a step of cleaning all surfaces of the photomask substrate, and cleaning is performed in an aqueous solution of chemicals or pure water.

In the processing procedure h, the photomask substrate is transferred to the next inspection process. The inspection process is a process of measuring and inspecting the shape and shape dimension of the pattern formed on the photomask substrate, or performing a comparative inspection of the shape, and overlapping a plurality of inspection apparatuses and a plurality of inspection methods. This is a process of inspecting the finishing accuracy and judging according to the process inspection standard. In the inspection process , the inspection apparatus and the inspection conditions, or the order of inspection are determined in the manufacturing instruction, and the instructions are observed . For this reason, the introduction of the processing procedure of the present invention can reduce the worker's visual work for preventing human error and omission of confirmation.

In the processing procedure i, the photomask substrate is transferred to the next final inspection process. Final inspection step, the shape and geometry of the pattern formed on the photomask substrate to measurement and inspection, or the shape is a step of comparison tests, the test specifications of the photomask, a quality determining step.

The processing procedures j to k are for confirming that all the processes described in the process follow information of the manufacturing instruction document are completed without omission, and are, for example, a processing procedure for preventing the process omission. If there is no next destination, it is transferred to the ship dispatch process of the final step.

Next, in the processing procedure l, the photomask substrate is transferred to the next shipping / shipping process. In the shipping / shipping process, the photomask is shipped and packaged and delivered to the destination. Thus, the processing procedure flow of the present invention is completed.

Next, the predefined process (3) of the process procedure f in FIG. 1 will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram for explaining the procedure of the predefined process (3) of the present invention. The processing procedure shown in FIG. 2, that is, the processing procedure f1 to the processing procedure f5 is performed. This will be described in detail below.

The procedure f1, before the line-up in the process, the reader reads the optical identification code of the photomask substrate, and outputs the product name of the photomask substrate.

In the processing procedure f2, process flow information necessary for each product name and each process is output.

In the processing procedure f3, each product name, the process flow information for each process, and the process flow information of the manufacturing instruction attached to the photomask substrate are collated, and the product name matches the detailed items of each process flow information. Visually check. Collation result, in the case of a disagreement, to stop the processing procedure, the abnormal treatment treatment of provisions.

The processing procedure f4 is a case where the matching results match, and the manufacturing proceeds according to the manufacturing processing procedure of the process, and the process of the process is completed.

In process procedure f5, progress process flow information is input for each product name and for each process, and the defined process for the process is completed.

The predefined process (3) is not fixed to the process procedures f1 to f5, and naturally, a process procedure that is optimal for the actual situation of the process can be added. Therefore, an artificial work procedure is preferably defined and standardized as a process procedure to be added to the predefined process (3).

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a method for managing the progress processing procedure of the process in the photomask manufacturing process of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the process progress processing procedure in the photomask manufacturing process of the present invention is a method of managing a manufacturing information system and a new backbone system in combination. 3 is a basic system (1) on the left side, a manufacturing information system (100) is on the right side of FIG. 3, and a photomask manufacturing line (21) is on the center of FIG.

The production line (21) will be described. A manufacturing instruction (12a) is issued from the manufacturing information system , and the manufacturing instruction (12a), a photomask substrate material, and the like are put into the line. The manufacturing instruction (12a) is a manufacturing process, or the order in which the manufacturing instruction, the quantity, or the progress schedule, etc. are described, and the manufacturing specification, which describes the quality, method, etc., to be manufactured. It is a document made up of a process document that describes the above. The photomask substrate forms a pattern image by exposing the resist layer by the drawing step (22) according to the instruction of the manufacturing instruction (12a). Next, by developing the resist process, the resist is developed, the light shielding film is etched using the resist as a mask, and the resist film is removed to form a mask pattern made of the light shielding film. Thereafter, the photomask is completed through a cleaning process (24), an inspection process (25), and a final inspection process (26). Finally, in the shipping / shipping step (27), the product is shipped and packed and then delivered to the designated delivery destination.

As shown in the reference diagram of FIG. 3, the photomask substrate (20) to be managed is formed with an identifiable product name, that is, a product name (19) and an optical identification code (9). The product name (19) is represented by a combination of alphanumeric characters, and all information related to the product name is filed in a predetermined format.

As shown in the reference diagram of FIG. 3, the manufacturing instruction number (18) and the product name (19) are key codes in the manufacturing instruction sheet (12a) of the manufacturing information system , and the optical identification code (9 ) And the product name (19) are key codes, and in the photomask substrate (20), the product name (19) and the optical identification code (9) are key codes.

The backbone system (1) will be described. The core system database (10) is connected by a bidirectional network line via the manufacturing instruction database (12) and the database input / output (5) of the manufacturing information system , and both databases share process flow information at the same time. Yes.

On the basic system database (10), the process flow information having the optical identification code (9) and the product name (19) as the key code is stored in the manufacturing instruction database (2), and the process flow information including the progress is registered in the database ( 4) and shared with the process flow information of the manufacturing information system . As a result, when necessary, process flow information is output and disclosed on the display screen. In addition, the backbone system (1) has a role of executing the predefined process (3 ) of each process , and can automatically and efficiently advance the processing procedure of the present invention (see FIG. 2).

In the registration database (4), data is shared with the registration database (14) on the manufacturing information system (100) side, and if necessary, process flow information specific to the core system may be additionally stored and utilized.

The process flow information data file is managed by the optical identification code (9), that is, managed by the product name, and is a system for collecting and managing process flow information including all information. From the reference diagram of FIG. 3, the photomask substrate (20) has a product name (19) and an optical identification code (9) formed on the substrate, and the product name is the optical identification code (9) of the substrate by the operator. ) Is automatically read. Wherein the photomask substrate (20), always, manufacturing specifications (12a) is attached. Within the manufacturing process, the photomask substrate (20) and the production instructions (12a) are transferred pair simultaneously. Therefore, in the processing procedure of the present invention, the optical identification code (9) on the photomask substrate (20) is automatically confirmed before the processing of each manufacturing process , and is described in the product name and manufacturing instruction (12a). Check against the product name. That More the verification work, visual verification step is omitted.

After the collation operation is completed, the progress status of the manufacturing process is processed at any time according to the procedure of a predetermined defined process (13). At the same time, the progress process flow information from the predefined process (13) is registered in the registration database (14).

The optical identification code may be displayed by a barcode. In the drawing process, the product name is represented by a barcode. On the photomask substrate, a product name (19) and a product name (9) consisting of a barcode are formed. Before starting the process of each process, the product name is output by automatically reading the bar code, and the product name and the product name described in the manufacturing instruction sheet (12a) are collated. The process flow information of the manufacturing instruction sheet (12a) is also displayed on the screen, and there is an effect of reducing the dust generation source and cleaning by making paperless. That is, by automatically reading the bar code, the photomask substrate and the manufacturing instruction sheet are associated with each other on the basic system , and automatic collation determination is performed, so that defective products are reduced.

The optical identification code may be displayed by a character for optical character reading (OCR) (character for OCR). This is an example in which the product name is expressed by characters for OCR. On the photomask substrate, a product name (19) and a product name (9) composed of characters for OCR are formed. Before starting the processing of each process, the product name (9) consisting of characters for the OCR is automatically read to output the product name, and the product name and the product name described in the manufacturing instruction (12a) are displayed. Match. The process flow information of the manufacturing instruction sheet (12a) is also displayed on the screen, and there is an effect of reducing the dust generation source and cleaning by making paperless. That is, by automatically reading the characters for OCR, the photomask substrate and the manufacturing instruction sheet are associated with each other on the basic system , and automatic collation determination is performed, so that defective products are reduced.

It is a flowchart of the process sequence of the whole progress of the process in the manufacturing process of the photomask of this invention. It is a flowchart of the process sequence of the progress defined process of the process in the manufacturing process of the photomask of this invention. It is a partial explanatory view of the management method of the progress processing procedure of the process in the manufacturing process of the photomask of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of an example of the manufacturing information system which manages the process progress in the manufacturing process of the conventional photomask.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Core system 2, 12 ... Manufacturing instruction database 3, 13 ... Predefined process 4, 14 ... Registration database 5 ... Database input / output 9 ... Optical identification code 10 ... Core system database 11 ... Progress management system 12a of manufacturing process ... Manufacturing instruction 18 ... Manufacturing instruction (management) number 19 ... Product name 20 ... Photomask substrate 21 ... Manufacturing line 22 ... Drawing process 23 ... Process process 24 ... Cleaning process 25 ... Inspection process 26 ... Final inspection process 27 ... Shipment shipment Step 100 ... Manufacturing information system

Claims (3)

A method for managing a process procedure of process progress, comprising at least the following procedure in a photomask manufacturing process.
(A) during a process of drawing a photomask for manufacturing the photomask manufacturing information systems in the manufacturing instruction control number (hereinafter referred to as manufacturing specifications numbers), optical identification code of a photomask representing the manufacturing instructions number of the photomask Processing procedure to be formed on the substrate.
(B) A processing procedure for registering the optical identification code and the manufacturing instruction number in the basic system.
(C) A processing procedure for outputting process flow information of the manufacturing instruction number corresponding to the optical identification code from the manufacturing information system to the basic system and storing it in a database.
(D) A processing procedure for inputting the process flow information according to the progress of each process of the process process.
(E) In a process including visual verification between a photomask and process flow information, such as a cleaning process, an inspection process, a final inspection process, and a shipping / shipping process, formed on the photomask substrate before the start of the process. A processing procedure for reading the optical identification code and outputting process flow information of the photomask substrate from the basic system database using the product name and / or manufacturing instruction number output from the optical identification code as a key code.
(F) A processing procedure for determining whether or not the process flow information of the photomask substrate and the process flow information of the manufacturing instruction number match each other.
(G) A processing procedure for executing the process if the result of the collation determination is appropriate. The optical identification code, depending on the bar code, management method according to claim 1, wherein the step progress of the procedure, characterized in that the displayed said manufacturing instructions number of photomasks. The optical identification code, characters thus manages the processing procedure of steps progress according to claim 1, wherein the displayed said manufacturing instructions number of photomasks for optical character reading (OCR) Method.

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