Recent years, an imprint method for transferring a pattern of an original plate to a substrate to be transferred has been focused. In the imprint method, an original plate, i.e., a template, on which a pattern to be transferred is formed, is pressed against a curable organic material layer, for example, a resist formed on a substrate, then the resist is filled in the pattern of the template, and further the filled resist is cured by irradiating light, for example, so that the pattern is transferred.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-88376A discloses calculating a resist distribution on coating the resist on a substrate. The calculation is performed using information of a designed pattern to be formed on a template in consideration of filling characteristics, etc.
However, a pattern actually formed on a template often differs from a designed pattern in dimension, density, position, depth and so on. When a template is fabricated based on information of a designed pattern, for example, the dimension of a pattern formed by various fabrication processes varies so that a pattern formed on the template often deviates from the designed pattern.
Thus, the resist coating distribution calculated from the designed pattern of the template is not always appropriate for the template actually fabricated. Filling failure (defects) of the resist likely occurs, when the resist is filled into the template pattern, for example. Moreover, it takes time to complete filling the resist in the template pattern so that the throughput likely lowers.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds