Optical projection aligner equipped with rotatable fly-eye lens unit
AssigneeNEC Corporation
InventorTadao Yasuzato
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A projection aligner is equipped with a diaphragm having four sectoral openings arranged in symmetry with respect to orthogonal symmetrical lines respectively aligned with two orthogonal directions of a reticle pattern, and a rotating system is provided for a fly-eye lens so as to align two orthogonal symmetrical lines of the fly-eye lens with the two orthogonal symmetrical lines of the diaphragm, thereby improving a resolution of the reticle pattern on a photo-resist layer.
Claims10
An aligner for transferring a pattern image from a reticle to a photo-sensitive layer, comprising:
- a partial coherent light generating system having a fly-eye lens implemented by a plurality of single lens units for producing a partial coherent light;
- a diaphragm having an open area so as to cause said partial coherent light to be incident into said reticle for generating said pattern image fallen onto said photo-sensitive layer;
- and
- a rotating system associated with said fly-eye lens for regulating the relative relation between said fly-eye lens and said reticle through a rotation of said fly-eye lens to a predetermined angular position with respect to standard coordinates.
A projection aligner for transferring a pattern image from a reticle to a photo-sensitive layer, comprising:
- a partial coherent light generating system having a fly-eye lens comprising a plurality of single lens units for producing a partial coherent light, said partial coherent light illuminating said reticle for generating said pattern image on said photo-sensitive layer;
- a diaphragm having an open area so as to transfer said partial coherent light to said reticle;
- and
- a rotating system associated with said fly-eye lens for regulating the relative relation between said fly-eye lens and said reticle through a rotation of said fly-eye lens to a predetermined position.
A projection aligner for transferring a pattern image from a reticle to a photo-sensitive layer, said reticle having a reticle pattern extending in a first direction and repeated in a second direction, comprising
- a partial coherent light generating system having
- a light source for generating an incoherent light,
- a guide mirror unit provided around said light source for condensing said incoherent light,
- a cold mirror provided on an optical path for a condensed incoherent light reflected on said guide mirror for eliminating long-wave light components from said condensed incoherent light,
- a lens unit provided on an optical path for a long-wave eliminated light reflected on said cold mirror for producing a parallel light,
- an interference filter unit provided on an optical path for said parallel light for generating a partial coherent light, and
- a fly-eye lens provided on an optical path for said partial coherent light passing through said interference filter unit, and comprising a plurality of single lens units for decreasing variation of the intensity of said partial coherent light, said plurality of single lens units being arranged in symmetry with respect to at least one first symmetrical line;
- a diaphragm provided on an optical path for said partial coherent light passing through said fly-eye lens, and having a plurality of open areas symmetry with respect to at least one second symmetrical line, said at least one second symmetrical line being aligned with one of said first and second directions of said reticle pattern;
- an optical path guide system provided between said diaphragm and said reticle for bending an optical path passing through said diaphragm;
- a projection lens unit provided between said reticle and said photo-sensitive layer;
- and
- a rotating system provided for rotating said fly-eye lens to a predetermined position wherein said at least one first symmetrical line and said at least one second symmetrical line are aligned with each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.