Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and method for manufacturing semiconductor apparatus

An exposure apparatus that comprises an illumination optical system configured to illuminate an original including a periodic pattern and a projection optical system configured to form an image of the original on a substrate, the exposure apparatus further comprising:

• a controller configured to:
• cause light from the illumination optical system to be obliquely incident on the original such that a light intensity distribution:
• includes at least two high light intensity portions, each having a higher light intensity than in a remaining portion,
• is line-symmetric with respect to a straight line that:
• passes through an origin of a pupil region of the projection optical system, and
• is orthogonal to a periodic direction of the periodic pattern, and
• is formed in the pupil region by a plurality of diffracted light beams including diffracted light of not lower than the 2nd-order from the periodic pattern;
• and
• control exposure of the substrate such that each point in a shot region of the substrate is exposed in not less than two focus states,
• wherein the illumination optical system allows the plurality of diffracted light beams to form the light intensity distribution including the at least two high light intensity portions in the pupil region by satisfying P>(3/2)×(λ/NA)
• where P is a pitch of the periodic pattern in the periodic direction, λ is a wavelength of exposure light, and NA is a numerical aperture of the projection optical system.

An exposure apparatus that comprises an illumination optical system configured to illuminate an original including a periodic pattern and a projection optical system configured to form an image of the original on a substrate, the exposure apparatus further comprising:

• a controller configured to:
• cause light from the illumination optical system to be obliquely incident on the original such that a light intensity distribution is:
• line-symmetric with respect to a straight line that:
• passes through an origin of a pupil region of the projection optical system, and
• is orthogonal to a periodic direction of the periodic pattern, and
• formed in the pupil region by a plurality of diffracted light beams including diffracted light of not lower than the 2nd-order from the periodic pattern;
• and
• control exposure of the substrate such that:
• each point in a shot region of the substrate is exposed in not less than two focus states, and
• scanning exposure of the substrate is performed in a state where a normal direction of a surface of the substrate is tilted with respect to an optical axis direction of the projection optical system,
• wherein in the scanning exposure, the shot region is exposed such that an arbitrary point in the shot region reaches a second focus state from a first focus state, and Z1=λ/[(1−λ2/P2/4)1/2−(1−9×λ2/P2/4)1/2] is satisfied,
• where Z1 is a distance in the optical axis direction between the arbitrary point in the first focus state and the arbitrary point in the second focus state, P is a pitch of the periodic pattern in the periodic direction, and λ is a wavelength of exposure light.

An exposure apparatus that comprises an illumination optical system configured to illuminate an original including a periodic pattern and a projection optical system configured to form an image of the original on a substrate, the exposure apparatus further comprising:

• a controller configured to:
• cause light from the illumination optical system to be obliquely incident on the original such that a light intensity distribution is:
• line-symmetric with respect to a straight line that:
• passes through an origin of a pupil region of the projection optical system, and
• is orthogonal to a periodic direction of the periodic pattern, and
• formed in the pupil region by a plurality of diffracted light beams including diffracted light of not lower than the 2nd-order from the periodic pattern;
• and
• control exposure of the substrate such that:
• each point in a shot region of the substrate is exposed in not less than two focus states;
• and
• the shot region is exposed in each of a first focus state and a second focus state,
• wherein Z2=λ/[(1−λ2/P2/4)1/2−(1−9×λ2/P2/4)1/2]/2 is satisfied,
• where Z2 is a distance between a position of the substrate in the first focus state in an optical axis direction of the projection optical system and a position of the substrate in the second focus state in the optical axis direction, P is a pitch of the periodic pattern in the periodic direction, and λ is a wavelength of exposure light.

An exposure apparatus that comprises an illumination optical system configured to illuminate an original including a periodic pattern and a projection optical system configured to form an image of the original on a substrate, the exposure apparatus further comprising:

• a controller configured to:
• cause light from the illumination optical system to be obliquely incident on the original such that a light intensity distribution is:
• line-symmetric with respect to a straight line that:
• passes through an origin of a pupil region of the projection optical system, and
• is orthogonal to a periodic direction of the periodic pattern, and
• formed in the pupil region by a plurality of diffracted light beams including diffracted light of not lower than the 2nd-order from the periodic pattern;
• and
• control exposure of the substrate such that each point in a shot region of the substrate is exposed in not less than two focus states,
• wherein Δλ=λ0/[(1−λ02/P2/4)1/2−(1−9×λ02/P2/4)1/2]/C is satisfied,
• where C is a value of an axial chromatic aberration of the projection optical system, P is a pitch of the periodic pattern in the periodic direction, Δλ is a full width at half maximum of exposure light, and λ0 is a peak of the exposure light.

An exposure method of exposing a substrate using an illumination optical system configured to illuminate an original including a periodic pattern and a projection optical system configured to form an image of the original on the substrate, the method comprising:

• causing light from the illumination optical system to be obliquely incident on the original such that a light intensity distribution:
• includes four high light intensity portions,
• is line-symmetric with respect to a straight line that:
• passes through an origin of a pupil region of the projection optical system, and
• is orthogonal to a periodic direction of the periodic pattern, and
• is formed in the pupil region by a plurality of diffracted light beams including diffracted light of lower than 2nd-order and diffracted light of not lower than the 2nd-order from the periodic pattern;
• and
• controlling exposure of the substrate such that each point in a shot region of the substrate is exposed in not less than two focus states based on a relationship between focus states and phase differences of two lights among four lights from the four high light intensity portions,
• wherein a phase difference between the two lights periodically changes in accordance with a focus state.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor apparatus, the method comprising:

• forming a groove in a substrate and forming a pixel separation portion in the groove;
• forming a light intensity distribution that:
• includes four high light intensity portions, each having a higher light intensity than in a remaining portion,
• is arranged line-symmetrically with respect to a straight line that:
• passes through an origin of a pupil region of a projection optical system configured to form an image of an original having a periodic pattern on the substrate, and
• is orthogonal to a periodic direction of the periodic pattern, and
• is formed in the pupil region by a plurality of diffracted light beams including diffracted light of lower than 2nd-order and diffracted light of not lower than the 2nd-order from the periodic pattern;
• and
• exposing the substrate such that each point in a shot region of the substrate is exposed in not less than two focus states based on a relationship between focus states and phase differences of two lights among four lights from the four high light intensity portions,
• wherein a phase difference between the two lights periodically changes in accordance with a focus state.