Method of controlling a stage and a system such as an exposing apparatus using the same

An exposure apparatus comprising:

• a stage mechanism on which a substrate is being held, said stage mechanism comprising an X-directional major-movement stage, a Y-directional major-movement stage, an X-directional minor-movement stage, a Y-directional minor-movement stage, and a Z-directional tilt stage;
• means for exposing the substrate with radiation energy;
• and
• a controller for driving said stage mechanism comprising:
• means for setting a plurality of processes in response to the inputting of an instruction to perform the plurality of processes selected from the following groups of processes:
• a) a wafer receipt process, b) a pre-alignment process, c) a mask replacement process, d) a mask alignment process, e) an exposure shot positioning process, and f) a fine alignment process;
• means for setting a plurality of drive modes for driving various combinations of the stages to perform the plurality of processes in said exposure apparatus, each corresponding to one of said set processes, each drive mode operating some combination of stages;
• means for storing data associating each of the plurality of processes to be performed in said exposure apparatus with one of the drive modes driving a combination of the stages;
• means for instructing any of the plurality of processes that are set, to be performed in said exposure apparatus in accordance with its associated drive mode by driving a combination of the stages;
• means for calculating the amount of positional change of a stage that occurs when the other stages are driven along their respective axes prior to the performing of any of the plurality of processes in said exposure apparatus;
• means for performing a particular set process by driving the combination of stages specified by the drive mode corresponding to the particular set process in accordance with the data stored in said storing means and the calculating performed by said calculating means and in response to the instructing of said instruction means.

A method of controlling a movable stage comprising an X-directional major-movement stage mechanism, a Y-directional major-movement stage mechanism, an X-directional minor-movement stage mechanism, a Y-directional minor-movement stage mechanism, and a Z-directional tilt stage mechanism, said method comprising the steps of:

• inputting a plurality of target positions in an exposure apparatus, selected from the following groups of positions:
• a) a position in an exposure shot region, b) a pre-alignment position, c) a wafer replacement position, d) a wafer chuck retracted position, and e) a mask alignment position;
• setting a plurality of drive modes for driving the various combinations of the stage mechanisms so that the stage is driven to the input target positions, each drive mode corresponding to one of said input plurality of target positions, each drive mode operating some combination of the stage mechanisms;
• storing data associating each of the plurality of target positions with one of the drive modes driving some combination of the stage mechanisms and instructing the stage to move to any of the target positions that are input, in accordance with their associated drive mode by driving a particular combination of the stage mechanisms;
• calculating the amount of positional change of a stage mechanism that occurs when the other stage mechanisms are driven along their respective axes prior to the driving of the stage to an input target position;
• and
• driving the stage to a particular input target position by driving the combination of stage mechanisms specified by the drive mode corresponding to the particular input target position in accordance with the data stored in the storing step and the calculating performed in the calculating step.

An exposure apparatus comprising:

• a stage mechanism on which a substrate is being held, said stage mechanism comprising an X-directional major-movement stage, a Y-directional major-movement stage, an X-directional minor-movement stage, a Y-directional minor-movement stage, and a Z-directional tilt stage;
• means for exposing the substrate with radiation energy;
• and
• a controller for driving said stage mechanism comprising:
• means for inputting a plurality of target positions selected from the following groups of positions:
• a) a position in an exposure shot region, b) a pre-alignment position, c) a wafer replacement position, d) a wafer chuck position when mask is replaced, and e) a mask alignment position;
• means for setting a plurality of drive modes for driving various combinations of the stages to drive the stage mechanism to input target positions, each drive mode being set in response to the inputting of a particular corresponding target position and each drive mode operating some combination of stages;
• means for storing data associating each of the plurality of input target positions with one of the drive modes driving a combination of said stages;
• means for instructing said stage mechanism to move to any input target position in accordance with its associated drive mode by driving a combination of said stages;
• means for calculating the amount of positional change of a stage that occurs when the other stages are driven along their respective axes prior to the driving of said stage mechanism to an input target position;
• and
• means for driving said stage mechanism to a particular input target position by driving the combination of stages specified by the drive mode corresponding to the particular input target position in accordance with the data stored in said storing means and the calculating performed by said calculating means in response to the instructing performed by said instructing means.

An exposure apparatus comprising:

• a stage mechanism on which a wafer is being held;
• means for exposing the wafer with radiation energy;
• and
• a controller for driving said stage mechanism comprising:
• means for setting one of (1) a plurality of processes in the exposure apparatus selected from the following processes:
• a) a wafer receipt process, b) a pre-alignment process, c) a mask replacement process, d) an exposure shot positioning process, and e) a fine alignment process, and (2) a plurality of target positions selected from the following positions:
• a) a position in an exposure shot region, b) a pre-alignment position, c) a wafer replacement position, and d) a fine-alignment position;
• means for setting a plurality of drive modes for driving said stage mechanism to the plurality of target positions and for driving said stage mechanism to perform the plurality of processes, each drive mode corresponding to one of said set plurality of processes or target positions;
• means for storing data
• associating each of the plurality of processes to be performed in the exposure apparatus and for associating each of the target positions with one of the drive modes,
• instructing said stage mechanism to be driven to perform any of said plurality of processes that are set in accordance with its associated drive mode, and
• instructing said stage mechanism to be driven to any of said target positions that are input in accordance with its associated drive mode;
• wherein said stage mechanism is drivable along a plurality of axes, wherein driving of said stage mechanism along one axis changes the position of said stage mechanism along another axis,
• means for calculating the amount of positional change of said stage mechanism that occurs along the another axis when said stage mechanism is driven along the one axis prior to the performing of any of the set plurality of processes in the exposure apparatus and prior to driving said stage mechanism to any of the set target positions, and
• wherein the positional change comprises at least one of i) a change in the attitude of said stage mechanism, ii) an abbe error of said stage mechanism, and iii) a change about X and Y axes of major-movement of said stage mechanism, and
• means for driving said stage mechanism to perform any one of the plurality of processes that are set in a drive mode corresponding to the set process in accordance with the data stored by said storing means, and in accordance with the calculating performed by said calculating means if the drive mode corresponding to the set process corrects the positional change along the another axis, and for driving said stage mechanism to any one of the target positions that are set in a drive mode corresponding to the set target position in accordance with the data stored in said storing means, and in accordance with the calculating performed by said calculating means if the drive mode corresponding to the set target position corrects the positional change along the another axis.

An exposure apparatus comprising:

• a stage mechanism on which a wafer is being held;
• means for exposing the wafer with radiation energy;
• first measuring means for measuring positional information of said stage mechanism in a predetermined direction;
• second measuring means for measuring positional information of said stage mechanism in the predetermined direction;
• a controller for driving said stage mechanism comprising:
• means for setting one of (1) a plurality of processes in the exposure apparatus selected from the following processes:
• a) a wafer receipt process, b) a pre-alignment process, c) a mask replacement process, d) an exposure shot positioning process, and e) a fine alignment process, and (2) a plurality of target positions selected from the following positions:
• a) a position in an exposure shot region, b) a pre-alignment position, c) a wafer replacement position, and d) a fine-alignment position;
• means for setting a plurality of drive modes for driving said stage mechanism, each corresponding to one of said set plurality of processes or target positions, wherein said drive modes comprise a first drive mode in which said stage mechanism is driven by using said first measuring means and a second drive mode in which said stage mechanism is driven by using said second measuring means;
• means for storing data
• associating each of the plurality of processes to be performed in the exposure apparatus and for associating each of the target positions with one of the drive modes,
• instructing said stage mechanism to be driven to perform any of said plurality of processes that are set in accordance with its associated drive mode, and
• instructing said stage mechanism to be driven to any of said target positions that are set in accordance with its associated drive mode;
• means for calculating the amount of positional change of said stage mechanism that occurs along one axis when said stage mechanism is driven along another axis prior to the performing of any of the plurality of set processes in the exposure apparatus and prior to driving said stage mechanism to any of the set target positions;
• and
• means for driving said stage mechanism to perform any one of the plurality of processes that are set in a drive mode corresponding to the set process in accordance with the data stored by said storing means, and in accordance with the calculating performed by said calculating means if the drive mode corresponding to the set process corrects the positional change, and for driving said stage mechanism to any one of the target positions that are set in a drive mode corresponding to the set target position in accordance with the data stored in said storing means, and in accordance with the calculating performed by said calculating means if the drive mode corresponding to the set target position corrects the positional change along the another axis.