Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsYoshinori Miwa, Eiji Sakamoto
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is an exposure apparatus to be used with an excimer laser as a light source, which includes an optical system disposed along a path of excimer laser light, a chamber for accommodating the optical system therein and having an inside space being able to be replaced by a predetermined gas, a gas circulation mechanism having a gas discharging port for discharging a gas from the chamber and a gas supply port for supplying a gas into the chamber, and a switching device for selectively using plural purifiers disposed in a portion of a gas circulation path.
Claims54
An exposure apparatus to be used with an excimer laser as a light source, said apparatus comprising:
- an optical system disposed along a path of excimer laser light;
- a chamber for accommodating said optical system therein and having an inside space being able to be replaced by a predetermined gas;
- a gas circulation mechanism having a gas discharging port for discharging a gas from said chamber and a gas supply port for supplying a gas into said chamber;
- and
- switching means for selectively using plural purifiers disposed in a portion of a gas circulation path.
An exposure apparatus to be used with an excimer laser as a light source, said apparatus comprising:
- first and second chambers for maintaining a predetermined gas ambience at a path of excimer laser light;
- and
- an optical member for spatially separating said first and second chambers from each other, and being transmissive to the excimer laser light;
- wherein said optical member contains fluorine compound glass.
An exposure apparatus to be used with an excimer laser as a light source, said apparatus comprising:
- first and second chambers for maintaining a predetermined gas ambience at a path of excimer laser light;
- and
- a movable member for connecting said first and second chambers with each other, to secure gas tightness and to enable absorption of relative displacement between said first and second chambers.
An exposure apparatus for use with an excimer laser as a light source, said apparatus comprising:
- an optical system having plural optical elements and a reflection member for deflecting light;
- and
- gas supplying means for supplying a gas to a space separated by optical elements of said optical system;
- wherein, in a space where said reflection member is present, a line connecting a vent hole for supplying a gas to the space and a vent hole for discharging the gas from the space intersects an optical axis of the optical elements separating the space, as viewed from a direction orthogonal to the optical axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.