Exposure method and exposure apparatus using near-field light and exposure mask
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsYasuhisa Inao, Ryo Kuroda, Takako Yamaguchi
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Abstract
A photolithography method using near-field light comprises a step of controlling the position of an exposure mask and an object to be processed so as to make the object to be located in a region where near-field light is present, and a step of exposing the object to near-field light while controlling the intensity of such light as a function of the aperture density of the exposure mask. The intensity of near-field light is controlled by modifying the aperture width or modifying the transmittivity of the exposure mask depending on the aperture density.
Claims15
An exposure method using near-field light, said method comprising:
- a step of controlling the position of an exposure mask to control the distance between the exposure mask and an object to be processed so as to make the object to be located in a region where near-field light is present;
- and
- a step of exposing the object to be processed to light by controlling the intensity of near-field light as a function of the aperture density of the exposure mask.
An exposure apparatus using near-field light, said apparatus comprising:
- a light irradiating means for irradiating light to be used for exposure;
- a gap controlling means for controlling the gap between an object to be processed and an exposure mask;
- a support means for supporting the exposure mask having at least a pair of apertures of a size smaller than the wavelength of light to be used for exposure arranged in a region of a size as large as the wavelength of light to be used for exposure;
- and
- a control means for controlling the intensity of near-field light as a function of the aperture density of the exposure mask.
An exposure mask comprising at least a pair of apertures of a size smaller than the wavelength of light to be used for exposure arranged in a region of a size as large as the wavelength of light to be used for exposure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.