US 12,142,502 B2
Processing condition selection method, substrate processing method, substrate product production method, processing condition selecting device, computer program, and storage medium
Takashi Ota, Kyoto (JP); Makoto Takaoka, Kyoto (JP); Toru Edo, Kyoto (JP); and Hiroshi Horiguchi, Kyoto (JP)
Assigned to SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd., (JP)
Appl. No. 17/438,975
Filed by SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd., Kyoto (JP)
PCT Filed Jan. 21, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/001915
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 14, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/188992, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 24, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-048214 (JP), filed on Mar. 15, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0148896 A1, May 12, 2022
Int. Cl. H01L 21/67 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 21/67253 (2013.01) [H01L 21/6708 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A substrate processing method by which a processing condition usable in processing a target constituting a substrate with a processing liquid is selected from among a plurality of reference processing conditions, the substrate processing method comprising:
measuring a thickness of the target before being processed with the processing liquid at each of a plurality of measurement points on the target;
specifying a reference pattern having a high correlation with the thickness pattern among the reference patterns based on a prescriptive rule by comparison of a thickness pattern that represents a distribution of thicknesses measured at the measurement points to each of a plurality of reference patterns pre-stored in storage;
acquiring from the storage a reference processing condition, as the processing condition, associated with the specified reference pattern among the reference processing conditions associated with the respective reference patterns; and
processing the target with the processing liquid under the processing condition acquired from the storage, wherein
the reference patterns each represent a distribution of physical quantities of a corresponding one of reference targets,
the reference processing conditions each are a processing condition when processing with the processing liquid is previously performed on a corresponding one of the reference targets with a corresponding one of the reference patterns,
each of the plurality of reference patterns is pre-classified into any of a plurality of reference groups,
the reference groups are defined based on shape characteristics of the plurality of reference patterns, and
the specifying the reference pattern includes:
classifying the thickness pattern into any of the reference groups; and
determining the reference pattern having the high correlation with the thickness pattern by comparison of the thickness pattern to each of two or more reference patterns as to-be-referenced patterns among the plurality of reference patterns based on the prescriptive rule, the two or more reference patterns being reference patterns classified into the reference group into which the thickness pattern is classified.