Projection exposure apparatus
AssigneeNikon Corporation
InventorKenji Nishi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Constant speed drive of a reticle and a wafer in a relative scanning direction and positioning of the reticle and the wafer are simultaneously performed with high precision by a slit scanning exposure scheme. A reticle side scanning stage for scanning a reticle relative to a slit-like illumination area in the relative scanning direction is placed on a reticle side base. A reticle side fine adjustment stage for moving and rotating the reticle within a two-dimensional plane is placed on the reticle side scanning stage. The reticle is placed on the reticle side fine adjustment stage. Constant speed drive and positioning of the reticle and a wafer are performed by independently controlling the reticle side scanning stage and the reticle side fine adjustment stage.
Claims34
An exposure apparatus for radiating exposure light on a predetermined illumination area on a mask on which a pattern to be transferred is formed, and exposing the pattern on a photosensitive substrate, comprising:
- a scanning system for synchronously scanning the mask and the photosensitive substrate in a predetermined first direction of the illumination area while maintaining a predetermined speed ratio;
- and
- an illumination condition setting portion for setting the illumination area to be rectangular, and letting a light intensity distribution of the illumination area in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction have a trapezoidal shape so that a middle portion of the distribution exhibits a substantially constant light intensity, and two side portions of the distribution exhibit a gradually decreasing light intensity.
A projection exposure apparatus comprising:
- a pulse light source for pulse-emitting exposure light;
- an illumination optical system for illuminating a predetermined illumination area on a mask, on which a pattern to be transferred is formed, with the exposure light;
- a projection optical system for projecting an image of the pattern, irradiated with the exposure light, onto a photosensitive substrate;
- a scanning system for synchronously scanning the mask and the photosensitive substrate at least twice in a predetermined first direction of the illumination area while maintaining a predetermined speed ratio;
- a substrate moving system for moving the photosensitive substrate in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction while first and second scanning operations with respect to the mask and the photosensitive substrate are performed by said scanning system;
- and
- a controller for controlling at least one of said pulse light source and said scanning system such that a position of the photosensitive substrate in the first direction at the time when said pulse light source performs pulse emission, in the first scanning operation with respect to the photosensitive substrate and the mask coincides with that in the second scanning operation.
A scanning exposure apparatus comprising:
- a scanning system for synchronously scanning a mask and a photosensitive substrate for scanning exposure;
- and
- an adjusting system for moving the mask to decrease a positional deviation between the mask and the substrate, independently of scanning of the mask which is performed by said scanning system, during the scanning exposure.
A scanning exposure apparatus for projecting a pattern image of a mask onto a sensitive plate through a projection optical system in a scanning manner, the exposure apparatus comprising:
- (a) a plate stage for scanning the plate in at least one-dimensional direction under said projection optical system for the scanning exposure;
- (b) a first mask stage for scanning the mask in at least said one-dimensional direction above said projection optical system for the scanning exposure;
- (c) a second mask stage for finely moving the mask on said first mask stage in each of translational and rotational directions;
- (d) a first driving system for synchronously driving said plate stage and said first mask stage with a predetermined velocity ratio for the scanning exposure;
- (e) a detecting system for detecting a positional deviation amount between the mask and the plate in a real time manner during the scanning exposure;
- and
- (f) a second driving system for driving said second mask stage to decrease the detected deviation amount during the scanning exposure.
A scanning exposure apparatus for projecting a pattern image of a mask onto a sensitive plate through a projection optical system in a scanning manner, the exposure apparatus comprising:
- (a) a plate stage for moving the plate in at least one-dimensional direction under said projection optical system which has an imaging reduction ratio 1/.beta.;
- (b) a first mask stage for moving the mask in at least said one-dimensional direction above said projection optical system;
- (c) a second mask stage for finely moving the mask on said first mask stage in each of translational and rotational directions;
- (d) an illuminating system for irradiating the mask with a radiation having a slit shaped distribution elongated perpendicular to said one-dimensional direction on the mask in order to project a slit shaped partial pattern image of the mask onto the plate through said projection optical system;
- (e) a first driving system for synchronously, relatively driving said plate stage and first mask stage with a velocity ratio B for the scanning exposure of the plate by said slit shaped partial pattern image of the mask;
- (f) a detecting system for detecting a deviation amount from an ideal positional relation of the mask and the plate occurring at a term of the scanning exposure;
- and
- (g) a second driving system for driving said second mask stage to correct the deviation during the scanning exposure when said detected deviation amount is out of a predetermined tolerance.
A scanning exposure apparatus for projecting a pattern image of a mask onto a sensitive plate through a projection system having a predetermined magnification ratio in a scanning manner, the apparatus comprising:
- (a) a scanning system for synchronously, relatively scanning the mask and the plate with respect to a projection field of said projection system at a velocity ratio corresponding to said magnification ratio during the scanning exposure;
- (b) a finely movable stage provided on said scanning system for finely moving the mask relative to said scanning system in each of translational and rotational directions;
- (c) a detecting system for detecting a positional deviation amount between an ideal positional relation and an actual positional relation of the mask and the plate during the scanning exposure;
- and
- (d) a control system for driving said finely movable stage based on said detected deviation amount in order to decrease the positional deviation of the mask and the plate.
A scanning exposure method in which a pattern area of a mask is transferred onto a sensitive plate through a projection optical system in a scanning manner, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) irradiating the mask with a radiation having a slit shaped intensity distribution in order to project a slit image portion of said pattern area of the mask toward the plate through said projection optical system;
- (b) synchrouously scanning each of the mask and the plate relative to said projection optical system in a scanning direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of said slit image portion at a predetermined velocity ratio by using a scanning mechanism for the scanning exposure;
- (c) detecting a deviation value between an ideal positional relation and an actual positional relation of the mask and the plate at a term of the scanning exposure;
- and
- (d) correcting a position of the mask determined by said scanning mechanism so as to decrease said detected deviation value by using a fine moving mechanism provided on said scanning mechanism at the term of the scanning exposure.
A scanning exposure method in which a pattern area of a mask is transferred onto a sensitive plate through a projection system in a scanning manner, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) irradiating the mask with a radiation in order to project an image portion of said pattern area of the mask onto the plate through said projection system;
- (b) synchronously scanning each of the mask and the plate relative to said projection system in a scanning direction at a predetermined velocity ratio by using a scanning mechanism for the scanning exposure;
- (c) detecting a deviation between an ideal positional relation and an actual positional relation of the mask and the plate at a term of the scanning exposure;
- and
- (d) correcting a position of the mask determined by said scanning mechanism for decreasing said detected deviation by using a fine moving mechanism provided on said scanning mechanism at the term of the scanning exposure.
A scanning exposure apparatus for projecting a pattern image of a mask onto a sensitive plate through a projection system in a scanning manner, the exposure apparatus comprising:
- (a) a plate stage for moving the plate under said projection system in an X direction for the scanning exposure and in a Y direction perpendicular to the X direction;
- (b) a first mask stage for moving the mask in the X direction for the scanning exposure above said projection system;
- (c) a second mask stage for finely moving the mask on said first mask stage in each of translational and rotational directions;
- (d) first driving means for synchronously driving each of said plate stage and said first mask stage with a predetermined velocity ratio in the X direction during the scanning exposure;
- and
- (e) second driving means for driving said plate stage and said second mask stage to maintain a translational relation of the mask and plate in the Y direction and for driving said second mask stage to maintain a relative rotational relation of the mask and the plate, during the scanning exposure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.