Motion compensation system and method for lithography

A lithography system to pattern a workpiece with exposure fields each formed from a different single pulse of radiation of a mask, said system comprising

• a mask holder system disposed to support the mask in a mask plane parallel to said workpiece;
• a drive unit operatively connected to the mask frame to impart an oscillatory motion to the mask frame and the mask in the mask plane;
• a radiation source to generate pulses of radiation having a temporal duration greater than one microsecond;
• a radiation source controller in operation communication with said radiation source to control the emission of the radiation pulses from said radiation source;
• an illuminator arranged to receive pulses from said radiation source and illuminate a mask in said mask holder system at said mask plane;
• a projection lens oriented to receive pulses of radiation having passed through the mask and adapted to form exposure fields on the workpiece;
• a workpiece stage to support the workpiece;
• a workpiece stage position control unit coupled to said workpiece stage to translate said workpiece stage and the workpiece thereon through a scan path relative to the projection lens;
• and
• a main controller in communication with said workpiece stage position control unit, said workpiece stage, said radiation source control unit and said mask holder system to coordinate the oscillation of the mask in the mask plane parallel to the scan path of the workpiece with the movement of the workpiece and the emission of pulses of radiation from said radiation source to reduce smearing when performing each radiation pulse exposure to create an exposure field on said workpiece.

A lithography system for performing single-pulse exposures of a moving workpiece, comprising:

• a flash-lamp to provide pulses of radiation;
• an illuminator optically coupled to the flash lamp to collect the pulses of illumination;
• a mask holder system disposed to receive and support a mask in the mask plane and oscillate the mask in the mask plane;
• a projection lens optically coupled to the illuminator to receive said pulses of illumination and to project said pulses of illumination to said mask plane to image the mask onto the workpiece;
• a workpiece stage to support and move the workpiece beneath the projection lens during imaging of the mask onto the workpiece;
• and
• a main controller connected to the flash-lamp, the mask holder system and the workpiece stage to coordinate the oscillation of the mask, the illumination of the mask plane, and the movement of the workpiece stage to reduce image smearing when exposing each field on the workpiece with a single pulse of radiation.

A lithography system capable of compensating for image smear when exposing an exposure field with a single pulse of radiation on a moving workpiece with a mask, said system comprising:

• a radiation pulse source;
• an illuminator coupled to receive radiation pulses from the radiation pulse source and to direct said radiation pulses to a mask plane;
• a mask holder system to hold and oscillate said mask in the mask plane;
• an optical projection lens system disposed to receive an image from the mask and to project that image onto the workpiece;
• and
• a control system coupled to the radiation pulse source, the mask holder system and the workpiece to provide pulses of radiation, and to move the mask and the workpiece to reduce image smear when forming each exposure field.

A method of reducing image smear when forming an exposure field with a single pulse of radiation on a moving workpiece, the method steps comprising:

• a. oscillating a mask in a mask plane that is parallel to a plane of said workpiece with a direction of oscillation that is parallel to movement of said workpiece;
• b. coordinating speeds of movements of said mask and said workpiece;
• c. illuminating said mask with a pulse of radiation while the mask moves in the same direction as the workpiece;
• and
• d. projecting an image of the mask onto the moving workpiece.