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A new pre-alignment approach based on Four-Quadrant-Photo-Detector for IC mask

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Abstract

In this paper, a new pre-alignment approach based on Four-Quadrant-Photo-Detector (FQPD) for IC mask is presented. The voltage outputs from FQPDs are the functions of alignment mark’s position offsets with respect to FQPDs. The functions are obtained with least squares error (LSE)-based polynomial fitting after the normalization of experimental data. As the acquired functions are not monotonic about their variables, the alignment mark’s position offset cannot be given by direct inverse operation on the obtained functions. However, the piecewise polynomial fitting gives the inverse function, with which the alignment mark’s position offset can be predicted according to the voltage outputs of FQPDs. On the basis of prediction, a pre-alignment control strategy is proposed. The feasibility and robustness of the pre-alignment approach is shown by experiments. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the maximum error of mask’s position offset in the X-and Y-directions is less than 15 μm after coarse pre-alignment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Complex Systems and Intelligence Science, Institute of Automation, CAS, Beijing, 100080, PRC

    Yun Liu, Xu De & Tan Min

Authors
  1. Yun Liu
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  2. Xu De
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  3. Tan Min
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yun Liu.

Additional information

This work was supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program of PRC (No. 2002AA420040) and National 973 Program of PRC (No. 2002CB312200).

Yun Liu received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees from Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in 1999 and 2002, respectively. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in the Key Laboratory of Complex Systems and Intelligence Science, Institution of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

His research interests include industrial control and robotic vision.

De Xu received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Shandong University of Technology, Jinan, China in 1985 and 1990, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China in 2001, all in control science and engineering. Since 2001, he has been with the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASIA), Beijing, China. He is currently a professor with the Laboratory of Complex Systems and Intelligence Science, CASIA.

His research interests include robotics and automation, especially the control of robots such as visual control and intelligent control.

Min Tan received his B.Sc. degree from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 1986, and the Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASIA), Beijing in 1990, both in control science and engineering. He is currently a professor with the Laboratory of Complex Systems and Intelligence Science, CASIA.

He has published over 100 papers in journals, books, and conferences. His research interests include robotics and control system.

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Liu, Y., Xu, D. & Tan, M. A new pre-alignment approach based on Four-Quadrant-Photo-Detector for IC mask. Int J Automat Comput 4, 208–216 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-007-0208-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-007-0208-z

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