Exposure apparatus and device fabricating method
AssigneeNikon Corporation
InventorsHideaki Hara, Hiroaki Takaiwa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate by filling a liquid between a projection optical system and the substrate, and projecting the image of a pattern onto the substrate through the projection optical system and the liquid, and includes a liquid removing mechanism that intermittently blows a gas against a reference member, movable mirror, and the like, to which the liquid is adhered in order to remove that liquid.
Claims55
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by filling a liquid between a projection optical system and said substrate, and projecting the image of a pattern onto said substrate through said projection optical system and said liquid, comprising:
- a liquid removing mechanism that intermittently blows a gas against a component to which said liquid is adhered in order to remove said liquid, said component disposed in a vicinity of the image plane of said projection optical system.
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by filling a liquid between a projection optical system and said substrate, and projecting the image of a pattern onto said substrate through said projection optical system and said liquid, comprising:
- a liquid removing mechanism that blows a gas against a component to which said liquid is adhered in order to remove said liquid, said component disposed in a vicinity of the image plane of said projection optical system;
- wherein,
- said liquid removing mechanism blows said gas while changing a flow speed thereof.
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by filling a liquid between a projection optical system and said substrate, and projecting the image of a pattern onto said substrate through said projection optical system and said liquid, comprising:
- a liquid removing mechanism having a vibrating apparatus that vibrates a component in order to remove said liquid adhering to said component, said component disposed in a vicinity of the image plane of said projection optical system.
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by filling a liquid between a projection optical system and said substrate, and projecting the image of a pattern onto said substrate through said projection optical system and said liquid, comprising:
- a liquid removing mechanism that removes said liquid that scattered from said substrate during exposure and adhered to a component disposed in a vicinity of the image plane of said projection optical system.
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by filling a liquid between a projection optical system and said substrate, and projecting the image of a pattern onto said substrate through said projection optical system and said liquid, comprising:
- a liquid removing mechanism that removes said liquid adhering to a component in parallel with the operation of exposing said substrate, said component disposed in a vicinity of the image plane of said projection optical system.
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by filling a liquid between a projection optical system and said substrate, and projecting the image of a pattern onto said substrate through said projection optical system and said liquid;
- comprising:
- a shield member that prevents an adherence of said liquid to a component, said shield member provided on the upper side of said component, said component disposed in a vicinity of the image plane of said projection optical system.
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by filling a liquid between a projection optical system and said substrate, and projecting the image of a pattern onto said substrate through said projection optical system and said liquid, comprising:
- a stage that has a holding surface, which holds said substrate, and that is capable of moving with respect to said projection optical system;
- and
- a liquid receiving member, which is disposed around said stage, that has a surface that receives said liquid and is positioned lower than said holding surface.
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by projecting an image onto said substrate through a liquid, which is supplied to said substrate, comprising:
- a stage that is capable of holding and moving said substrate;
- a position detection member, which is provided to said stage, that detects an information related to a position of said stage;
- and
- a liquid removing mechanism that removes said liquid adhering to said position detection member.
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by forming an immersion area of liquid on a substrate and projecting an image on said substrate through said liquid of said immersion area, comprising:
- a stage apparatus that is capable of holding and moving said substrate;
- an interferometer that detects a position information of said stage apparatus;
- and
- a reflecting surface, which is provided to said stage apparatus, that reflects a measurement beam from said interferometer;
- wherein,
- the upper end of said reflecting surface is positioned lower than said immersion area.
An exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate by projecting an image on said substrate through a liquid, which is supplied to said substrate, comprising:
- a substrate holding member that is capable of holding and moving said substrate;
- an interferometer that detects a position information of said substrate holding member;
- a plate shaped member, which is installed on the upper surface of said substrate holding member, that is liquid repellant;
- and
- a reflecting surface, which is provided to said substrate holding member below said plate shaped member, that reflects a measurement beam from said interferometer;
- wherein,
- at least one part of the end part of said plate shaped member protrudes, in a direction in which said measurement beam impinges said reflecting surface, on said incident direction side more than said reflecting surface.
An exposure apparatus that forms an image on a substrate by a projection optical system, comprising:
- a substrate holding member that is capable of holding and moving, at least within a plane, said substrate;
- an interferometer that detects a position information of said substrate holding member within said plane;
- and
- a reflecting surface, which is provided to said substrate holding member, that reflects a measurement beam from said interferometer;
- wherein,
- at least part of an optical path of said measurement beam which impinges said reflecting surface, passes below at least part of said substrate holding member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.