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Chucking mechanisms may include a plurality of chucking sections respectively connecting to a pressure control device to generate individual chucking forces. The individual chucking forces of the chucking sections may be varied by the pressure control device such that a magnitude of separation force is reduced for an imprint lithography system.

InventorsDaniel A. Babbs, Byung-Jin Choi, Anshuman Cherala
Original AssigneeMolecular Imprints, Inc.
Primary Examiner: Yogendra Gupta
Secondary Examiner: Emmanuel S Luk
Attorney: Cameron A. King
Current U.S. Classification425/385; 355/76; 425/193; 425/397

View patent at USPTO
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Citations

Cited PatentFiling dateIssue dateOriginal AssigneeTitle
US4233261Feb 23, 1978Nov 11, 1980U.S. Philips CorporationMethod and device for manufacturing information carriers
US4506184Jan 10, 1984Mar 19, 1985Varian Associates, Inc.Deformable chuck driven by piezoelectric means
US4551192Jun 30, 1983Nov 5, 1985International Business Machines CorporationElectrostatic or vacuum pinchuck formed with microcircuit lithography
US5324012Jul 6, 1992Jun 28, 1994Nikon CorporationHolding apparatus for holding an article such as a semiconductor wafer
US5534073Sep 7, 1993Jul 9, 1996Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki KaishaSemiconductor producing apparatus comprising wafer vacuum chucking device
US6482742Jul 18, 2000Nov 19, 2002Fluid pressure imprint lithography
US6762826Aug 27, 2003Jul 13, 2004Canon Kabushiki KaishaSubstrate attracting and holding system for use in exposure apparatus
US6809802Aug 18, 2000Oct 26, 2004Canon Kabushiki KaishaSubstrate attracting and holding system for use in exposure apparatus
US6965506Apr 18, 2002Nov 15, 2005Lam Research CorporationSystem and method for dechucking a workpiece from an electrostatic chuck
US7635263Mar 23, 2007Dec 22, 2009Molecular Imprints, Inc.Chucking system comprising an array of fluid chambers
US7798801Jan 31, 2005Sep 21, 2010Molecular Imprints, Inc.Chucking system for nano-manufacturing

Claims

1. An imprint system comprising:

a moving mechanism for moving an imprint head having a template to a separation direction at a separation force; and

a chucking mechanism for retaining a substrate to a predetermined position on a stage at a predetermined chucking force,

wherein the imprint system firstly transfers a pattern of the template to an imprinting layer between the template and the substrate and then moves the imprint head to the separation direction to leave the imprinting layer having the transferred pattern on the substrate,

wherein the chucking mechanism includes a plurality of chucking sections respectively connecting to a pressure control device to generate individual chucking forces, and wherein the plurality of chucking sections are formed of a plurality of first pins and a plurality of channels, each of the first pins and the channels connecting to the pressure control device, and
wherein the individual chucking forces of one or more of the plurality of chucking sections are varied by the pressure control device while the imprint head is moved to the separation direction,
whereby a magnitude of the separation force is reduced.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first pins are in fluid communication with a first passageway connected to a first pressure control device and the channels are in fluid communication with a second passageway connected to a second pressure device.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 further including a plurality of second pins which are not connected to a pressure control device, the first and second pins support the substrate.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the chucking sections is controlled by the pressure control device so that each of the sections generates an individual chucking force.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the chucking sections has a shape of a ring, a polygon or a circle.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

a template chuck for applying a force opposed against the separation force to the template to reduce the magnitude of the separation force.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the template chuck includes a first chamber disposed at a rear central region of the template and a second chamber surrounding the first chamber, the second chamber being evacuated and a pressure in the first chamber being increased.