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US 6,445,440 B1Granted
Motion feed-through into a vacuum chamber and its application in lithographic projection apparatuses
AssigneeASML Netherlands B.V.
InventorsTheodorus H. J. Bisschops, Jakob Vijfvinkel, Hermanus M. J. R. Soemers, Johannes C. Driessen, Michael J. M. Renkens, Adrianus G. Bouwer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A long-stroke movement is fed-through into a vacuum chamber by providing a sliding seal over an aperture in the vacuum chamber wall. The object to be moved, which may be a mask or wafer table in a lithographic apparatus, within the vacuum chamber is connected to or mounted on the sliding seal and moved by movement of the sliding seal. The sliding seal may be a plate, a bowl or a labyrinth of interleaved plates.
Claims17
A lithographic projection apparatus, comprising:
- a radiation system constructed to supply a projection beam of radiation;
- a first object table provided with a mask holder for holding a mask;
- a second object table provided with a substrate holder for holding a substrate;
- a projection system constructed and arranged to image an irradiated portion of the mask onto a target portion of the substrate;
- a vacuum chamber having a wall enclosing at least one of said first and second object tables, said vacuum chamber wall having an aperture therein;
- a sliding seal constructed and arranged to seal said aperture and being displaceable in at least one direction parallel to said vacuum chamber wall through a predetermined range of movement whilst maintaining the seal of said aperture;
- a mechanical linkage constructed and arranged to transmit displacement of said sliding seal to the object table within said vacuum chamber to cause corresponding movement thereof;
- and
- a seal positioning assembly constructed and arranged to displace said sliding seal, thereby to displace said object table within said vacuum chamber.
6 more elements
A lithographic projection apparatus, comprising:
- a radiation system construct to supply a projection beam of radiation;
- a first object table provided with a mask holder for holding a mask;
- a second object table provided with a substrate holder for holding a substrate;
- a projection system constructed and arranged to image an irradiated portion of the mask onto a target portion of the substrate;
- a first vacuum chamber accommodating at least one of said first and second object tables;
- a second vacuum chamber adjacent to said first vacuum chamber;
- a support extending from said second vacuum chamber to said first vacuum chamber and moveably supporting the object table accommodated within said first vacuum chamber;
- a sliding seal plate connected to said support for separating said first and second vacuum chambers, said sliding seal plate being moveable in at least one direction in its plane and extending outside said first and second vacuum chambers;
- and
- a seal positioning assembly situated outside said first and second vacuum chambers constructed and arranged to displace said sliding seal plate, thereby to displace said object table within said first vacuum chamber.
7 more elements
A lithographic projection apparatus, comprising:
- a radiation system constructed to supply a projection beam of radiation;
- a first object table provided with a mask holder for holding a mask;
- a second object table provided with a substrate holder for holding a substrate;
- a projection system constructed and arranged to image an irradiated portion of the mask onto a target portion of the substrate;
- a first vacuum chamber accommodating at least one of said first and second object tables;
- a second vacuum chamber adjacent to said first vacuum chamber and separated therefrom by a vacuum chamber wall having an aperture;
- a first stage provided in said second vacuum chamber and displaceable over a first range of movement in a first plane;
- a second stage supported by said first stage and displaceable over a second range of movement in a second plane, said first and second planes being substantially parallel and said first range of movement being greater than said second range of movement, said second stage supporting said object table within said first vacuum chamber through said aperture;
- and
- an annular sliding seal plate connected to said first stage, said sliding seal plate opposing portions of the vacuum chamber wall and said second stage so as to separate said first and second vacuum chambers throughout said first and second ranges of movement.
7 more elements
A method of manufacturing a device using a lithographic projection apparatus, comprising
- mounting a mask on a first object table,
- mounting a substrate on a second object table, at least one of said object tables being disposed in a vacuum chamber;
- supplying a projection beam of radiation;
- sealing an aperture in a wall of said vacuum chamber with a sliding seal that is displaceable in at least one direction parallel to said vacuum chamber wall through a predetermined range of movement while maintaining the seal of said aperture;
- transmitting a displacement of said sliding seal to said at least one object table within said vacuum chamber to cause corresponding movement thereof;
- and
- displacing said sliding seal to thereby displace said at least one object table within said vacuum chamber;
- imaging an irradiated portion of the mask onto a target portion of the substrate so as to expose said substrate to an image of aid mask.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.