Imprint apparatus, imprint method, and article manufacturing method

Abstract

Provided is an imprint apparatus that applies a resin (drops) dispersed, at a plurality of locations on a substrate, brings the resin and a mold into contact, and transfers the contoured pattern that is formed in the mold to the resin comprising: a controller that sets a principal axis direction according to the contoured pattern and an array direction in which a plurality of resin drops are aligned, and determines application positions for the resin such that the array direction is angled with respect to the principal axis direction; and a dispenser that applies the resin based on the application positions that have been determined.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An imprint apparatus that applies resin that is dispersed at a plurality of locations on a substrate, brings the resin and a mold into contact, and transfers a contoured pattern that is formed in the mold to the resin, comprising:
 a controller that sets a principal axis direction according to the contoured pattern and an array direction in which a plurality of resin drops are aligned, and determines application positions for the resin such that the array direction is angled with respect to the principal axis direction; and   a dispenser that applies the resin based on the application positions that have been determined,   
     
     
         2 . The imprint apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the dispenser includes a plurality of ejection ports that are aligned in the array direction and a rotating mechanism that integrally rotates the plurality of ejection ports, 
     
     
         3 . The imprint apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller determines the application positions such that a plurality of resin drops are disposed in a polygonal lattice form. 
     
     
         4 . The imprint apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller acquires pattern data for the mold and determines the principal axis direction based on the pattern data. 
     
     
         5 . The imprint apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller determines the application positions such that the principal axis direction and the array direction form an acute angle. 
     
     
         6 . The imprint apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller assumes that the array direction having an arbitrary angle is tilted and that there is a band having a width of a radius of an arbitrary resin drop along the principal axis, and when a resin drops that are in n rows (where n is an integer) of the array direction at which the arbitrary resin drops are present and in n+1 rows adjacent to these n rows and that overlap the band are determined respectively to be first resin drops and second resin drops, and when the radius of the resin drop is r, the application distances between resin drop is D, the gap in the principal axis direction between the arbitrary resin drop and the second resin is L, the angle between the principal axis direction and the array direction is α, and the angle between the arbitrary resin and the second resin is β, then the controller determines the angle α so as to satisfy the following conditions;
     D  (sin α)≦2 r  
 
     L  (tan β)≦2 r  
 
 
     
     
         7 . The imprint apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller sets a plurality of partial areas in an area to which a contoured pattern is to be transferred, and
 a principal axis direction with respect to each of the plurality of partial areas is set, and the application positions are determined based on the principal axis direction for each partial area.   
     
     
         8 . An imprint method that applies a resin onto a substrate, the resin and a mold are brought into contact, and a contoured pattern that has been formed in the mold is transferred to the resin, the method comprising:
 applying by dispersion the resin to a plurality of locations in the areas on the substrate to which the contoured pattern is transferred,   wherein the mold includes a contoured pattern having a form in which the resin spreads mere in the principal axis direction than a direction perpendicular to the principal axis direction; and   the array direction in which the plurality of applied resin drops is arrayed and the principal axis direction are different.   
     
     
         9 . An article manufacturing method comprising:
 forming a pattern of a resin on a substrate using an imprint apparatus; and   processing the substrate on which the pattern has been formed in the forming,   wherein the imprint apparatus is an imprint apparatus that applies resin that is dispersed at a plurality of locations on a substrate, brings the resin and a mold into contact, and transfers a contoured pattern that is formed in the mold to the resin and comprises:   a controller that sets a principal axis direction according to the contoured pattern and an array direction in which a plurality of resin drops are aligned, and determines application positions for the resin such that the array direction is angled with respect to the principal axis direction; and   a dispenser that applies the resin based on the application positions that have been determined.