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US 10,761,438 B2Granted
Active drying station and method to remove immersion liquid using gas flow supply with gas outlet between two gas inlets
AssigneeASML Netherlands B.V.
InventorsBob Streefkerk, Sjoerd Nicolaas Lambertus Donders, Erik Roelof Loopstra, Johannes Catharinus Hubertus Mulkens
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A lithographic projection apparatus is disclosed in which a liquid supply system provides a liquid between the projection system and the substrate. An active drying station is provided to actively remove the liquid from the substrate W or other objects after immersion of all or part of a surface of the substrate W or other objects.
Claims20
An active drying station configured to actively remove immersion liquid from an object in an immersion lithographic apparatus, the active drying station comprising:
- a gas flow supply configured to supply a flow of gas over a surface of the object, wherein the gas flow supply comprises a gas passage to provide said gas at at least two different positions over the surface of the object, and
- an outlet positioned between two portions of the gas flow supply to remove gas, or the immersion liquid, or both, from a location between the two positions,
- wherein the gas flow supply is configured to supply gas at a non-zero angle relative to a direction perpendicular to the surface of the object and towards the gas outlet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.