Exposure method and exposure apparatus, stage unit, and device manufacturing method
AssigneeNikon Corporation
InventorYuichi Shibazaki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
By an exposure method including a process where in parallel with an exposure operation performed on a wafer on one of the wafer stages, the other wafer stage is temporarily positioned under the one wafer stage in order to interchange both wafer stages, a part of the interchange operation (exchange operation) of both stages according to a procedure of temporarily positioning the other wafer stage under the one wafer stage can be performed in parallel with the exposure operation of the wafer on the one wafer stage. Accordingly, the interchange can be performed in a shorter period of time than when the interchange operation begins from the point where the exposure operation of the wafer on the one wafer stage has been completed.
Claims22
An exposure method in which exposure processing is performed alternately with respect to substrates on two substrate stages, said method comprising:
- a process in which while an exposure operation is performed on a substrate on one substrate stage, the other substrate stage is concurrently positioned temporarily below said one substrate stage so as to interchange both substrate stages.
An exposure apparatus that alternately performs exposure processing with respect to substrates on two substrate stages, said apparatus comprising:
- an exposure optical system that exposes a substrate on each of said two substrate stages positioned in the vicinity of a predetermined first position;
- a mark detection system that detects a mark formed on a substrate on each of said two substrate stages positioned at a second position different from said first position;
- and
- an exchange unit that switches said both substrate stages in between an exposure operation of a substrate by said exposure optical system and a mark detection operation of said substrate by said mark detection system, in a procedure where a specific stage, which is at least one of said two substrate stages, is temporarily positioned below the remaining substrate stage.
An exposure apparatus that performs exposure processing on a substrate held on a stage that can move along a predetermined plane, said apparatus comprising:
- a drive unit connecting to said stage that drives said stage along said predetermined plane;
- and
- a vertical movement mechanism that moves said stage and at least a part of said drive unit in a direction intersecting said predetermined plane.
A stage unit, said unit comprising:
- a stage that can move along a predetermined plane;
- a first drive unit connected to said stage that makes said stage move along said predetermined plane;
- a vertical movement mechanism that moves said stage and at least a part of said first drive unit in a direction intersecting said predetermined plane.
A stage unit that alternately moves two stages with respect to a predetermined position for performing a predetermined processing, said unit comprising:
- an exchange unit that moves only one stage of said two stages so that said one stage is temporarily positioned under the other stage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.