Abstract: A thermal plate of a PEB unit is divided into a plurality of thermal plate regions, and a temperature is settable for each of the thermal plate regions. A temperature correction value for adjusting the temperature within the thermal plate is settable for each of the thermal plate regions of the thermal plate. The line widths within the substrate for which a photolithography process has been finished are measured. The in-plane tendency of the measured line widths is decomposed into a plurality of in-plane tendency components using a Zernike polynomial. Then, in-plane tendency components improvable by setting the temperature correction values are extracted from the calculated plurality of in-plane tendency components and added to calculate an improvable in-plane tendency in the measured line widths. Then, the improvable in-plane tendency is subtracted from the in-plane tendency Z of the current processing states to calculate an after-improvement in-plane tendency.

Abstract: In the present invention, a thermal plate is divided into a plurality of thermal plate regions, and a temperature is settable for each of the thermal plate regions. A temperature correction value for adjusting the temperature within the thermal plate is settable for each of the thermal plate regions of the thermal plate. The line widths within the wafer for which the photolithography process has been finished are first measured, and Zernike coefficients of a Zernike polynomial indicating a plurality of in-plane tendency components are calculated from the measured values of the line widths within the wafer. Then, the temperature correction values for the regions of the thermal plate to bring the calculated Zernike coefficients close to 0 are calculated using a calculation model indicating a correlation between change amounts of the Zernike coefficients and the temperature correction values.

Abstract: Temperature setting of a thermal plate is performed so that the line width of a resist pattern is uniformly formed within a wafer. The thermal plate of a PEB unit is divided into a plurality of thermal plate regions so that the temperature can be set for each of the thermal plate regions. A temperature correction value for adjusting the temperature within the wafer mounted on the thermal plate is set for each of the thermal plate regions of the thermal plate. The temperature correction value for each of the thermal plate regions of the thermal plate is set after calculation by a calculation model created from a correlation between a line width of the resist pattern formed by thermal processing on the thermal plate and the temperature correction value. The calculation model M calculates the temperature correction value to make the line width uniform within the wafer, based on a line width measured value of the resist pattern.

Abstract: In the present invention, the line widths within a substrate of an etching pattern are measured for a substrate for which photolithography processing and an etching treatment thereafter have been finished. The line width measurement results are converted into the line widths of a resist pattern using relational expressions which have been obtained in advance. From the converted line widths of the resist pattern, coefficients of a polynomial function indicating variations within the substrate are calculated. Next, a function between line width correction amounts for the resist pattern and temperature correction values is used to calculate temperature correction values for the regions of the thermal plate to bring the coefficients of the polynomial function close to zero. Based on each of the calculated temperature correction values, the temperature for each of the regions is set.

Abstract: A temperature setting method of the present invention includes the steps of: measuring states of an etching pattern within the substrate for a substrate for which a series of photolithography processing including thermal processing and an etching treatment thereafter have been finished; calculating temperature correction values for regions of a thermal processing plate from measurement result of the states of the etching pattern within the substrate using a function between correction amounts for the states of the etching pattern and the temperature correction values for the thermal processing plate; and setting the temperature for each of the regions of the thermal processing plate by each of the calculated temperature correction values.

Abstract: In the present invention, in the photolithography process in which a certain processing condition has been already set, a resist film on a substrate is exposed to light using a mask, which reduces only zero-order light of a light source at a predetermined light reduction rate and transmits the light, and then heated and developed so that the film on the substrate is reduced. Thereafter, the reduction in film thickness of the resist film is measured. The measured reduction in film thickness is then converted into a line width of a resist pattern on the already-set processing condition by a correlation function between the reduction in film thickness and the line width. Based on the converted line width, the temperature setting of the heating temperature at the time of heating after the exposure is performed. Consequently, the condition setting in the photolithography process is appropriately performed, resulting in improved uniformity of the line width of the resist pattern within the substrate.

Abstract: In the present invention, temperature drop amounts of heating plate regions when the substrate is mounted on a heating plate are detected to detect a warped state of the substrate. From the temperature drop amounts of the heating plate regions, correction values for set temperatures of the heating plate regions are calculated. The calculation of the correction values for the set temperatures of the heating plate regions is performed by estimating steady temperatures within the substrate to be heat-processed on the heating plate from the temperature drop amounts of the heating plate regions using a correlation obtained in advance. From the estimated steady temperatures within the substrate and the temperature drop amounts of the heating regions, the correction values for the set temperatures of the heating plate regions are calculated. Based on the correction values for the set temperatures, the set temperatures of the heating plate regions are changed.

Abstract: In the present invention, in the photolithography process in which a certain processing condition has been already set, a resist film on a substrate is exposed to light using a mask, which reduces only zero-order light of a light source at a predetermined light reduction rate and transmits the light, and then heated and developed so that the film on the substrate is reduced. Thereafter, the reduction in film thickness of the resist film is measured. The measured reduction in film thickness is then converted into a line width of a resist pattern on the already-set processing condition by a correlation function between the reduction in film thickness and the line width. Based on the converted line width, the temperature setting of the heating temperature at the time of heating after the exposure is performed. Consequently, the condition setting in the photolithography process is appropriately performed, resulting in improved uniformity of the line width of the resist pattern within the substrate.

Abstract: In the present invention, in the photolithography process in which a certain focus condition has been already set, a film on a substrate is exposed to only zero-order light of a light source transmitted, and then developed to reduce a first portion of the film on the substrate. Further, the film on the substrate is exposed to zero-order light and higher order light of the light source transmitted, and then developed to reduce a second portion of the film on the substrate. Thereafter, the film thicknesses of the first portion and the second portion are measured, and the measured film thicknesses of the first portion and the second portion are converted into line widths of a resist pattern by previously obtained correlations between the film thicknesses and the line widths. The converted line width of the second portion is then subtracted from the converted line width of the first portion, whereby the line width depending only on the focus component is calculated.