We
present a real time, in situ method to control the spatial temperature
uniformity of a semiconductor substrate during the various bake steps
in the lithography sequence. Significantly, the wafer temperature
settles down to steady state within 50 s under closed-loop control.
The corresponding maximum temperature nonuniformity during transient
is less than 1 °C and the steady state temperature nonuniformity
is less than 0.1 °C. Specifically, we have developed a complete
thermal diffusion model for the entire bake plate-and-wafer system,
so that the transient thermal behavior is accurately captured during
the baking process. By monitoring the bake plate temperature and fitting
the data into the model, an updated model can be estimated and the
desired wafer temperature can then be calculated and controlled in
real time. Experimental results confirm the efficacy of the approach
and its superiority over traditional run-to-run control techniques.