Exposure method

A semiconductor device manufacturing method, comprising the steps of:

• providing an optical exposure apparatus operable to transfer a pattern of a first mask onto different shot areas of a semiconductor substrate in sequence and on a reduced scale;
• providing an X-ray exposure apparatus operable to transfer a pattern of a second mask onto one or more shot areas of a semiconductor substrate simultaneously and in a unit magnification;
• transferring, through the optical exposure apparatus, the pattern of the first mask onto plural shot areas of a particular semiconductor substrate;
• placing, after said transferring step, the particular semiconductor substrate in the X-ray exposure apparatus;
• detecting positional errors of those shot areas to which the pattern of the first mask has been transferred with respect to the pattern of the second mask;
• determining the number of shot areas to which the pattern of the second mask is to be transferred simultaneously through the X-ray exposure apparatus, on the basis of the detected positional errors;
• and
• transferring, through the X-ray exposure apparatus, the pattern of the second mask onto those shot areas to which the pattern of the first mask has been transferred.

A device manufacturing method comprising:

• providing an optical exposure apparatus operable to transfer a pattern of a mask onto different shot areas of a substrate in sequence;
• providing an X-ray exposure apparatus operable to transfer a pattern of a mask onto one or more shot areas of a substrate simultaneously;
• transferring, by use of the optical exposure apparatus, a pattern of a first mask onto plural shot areas of a particular substrate;
• placing, after said transferring step, the particular substrate in the X-ray exposure apparatus;
• detecting positional errors of those shot areas of the particular substrate to which the pattern of the first mask has been transferred, with respect to a pattern of a second mask;
• determining the number of shot areas to which the pattern of the second mask is to be transferred simultaneously with the X-ray exposure apparatus, on the basis of the detected positional errors;
• and
• transferring, with the X-ray exposure apparatus, the pattern of the second mask onto those shot areas of the particular substrate to which the pattern of the first mask has been transferred.

A set of masks for use in the manufacture of devices, comprising:

• a first mask having a first pattern, for use in an optical exposure apparatus operable to transfer a pattern of a mask onto plural shot areas of a substrate in sequence;
• and
• a second mask having a second pattern, for use in an X-ray exposure apparatus operable to transfer a pattern of a mask onto one or more shot areas of a substrate simultaneously,
• wherein the first and second masks have alignment marks which are arranged for detection of positional errors of those shot areas of a particular substrate to which the first pattern of the first mask has been transferred with the optical exposure apparatus, with respect to the second pattern of the second mask, and which are also arranged for determination of the number of shot areas of the particular substrate to which the second pattern of the second mask is to be transferred simultaneously with the X-ray exposure apparatus, on the basis of the detected positional errors.