Imprinting apparatus

Abstract

An imprinting apparatus comprises a first carrier for carrying a flexible stamp and a second carrier movable relative to the first carrier and configured to carry a substrate having a resist layer. The first and second carriers are arranged such that the flexible stamp can be made to contact the substrate. The second carrier comprises a main frame which may be moved (relative to a reference frame) in a Z axis direction by a main actuator, and a chuck with a set of three chuck actuators, each with a stroke smaller than the stroke of the main actuator, for translating a portion of the chuck relative to the main frame in the Z-axis direction. The Z axis movement of the chuck is divided into two stages, with separate long stroke and short stroke drivers. This enables a very stiff support to be created with precise imprint gap control.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.