Exposure apparatus, microdevice, photomask, and exposure method
AssigneeNikon Corporation
InventorsNobuyuki Irie, Katsuaki Ishimaru
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An exposure apparatus exposes, for example, a substrate for production of a working reticle through a master reticle on which a pattern is formed. The apparatus is provided with three support members for supporting the substrate substantially horizontally at three locations outside illuminated areas of the substrate, e.g., a pattern area, alignment mark areas, and information mark areas.
Claims27
An exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate with an exposure beam, comprising:
- a moving body movably disposed on a predetermined surface, on which the substrate is placed to illuminate a sensitive surface of the substrate with the exposure beam;
- and
- three first support members disposed on the moving body, each of the first support members has a contact surface with a surface of the substrate different from the sensitive surface to support the substrate substantially horizontally, each of the first support members are located at positions in a portion different from an illuminated area with the exposure beam in the sensitive surface of the substrate, the substrate supported by the three first support members being moved by the moving body and being exposed with the exposure beam.
An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the substrate is a mask substrate for production of a working mask.
An exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate with an exposure beam, comprising:
- a substrate holder having a top surface on which the substrate is placed and a bottom surface, and
- a moving body movably disposed on a predetermined surface, the moving body has three support members abutting against the bottom surface to support the substrate holder, the supported substrate holder being moved by the moving body, and the substrate placed on the supported substrate holder being exposed with the exposure beam.
An exposure method for exposing a substrate with an exposure beam, comprising:
- supporting the substrate substantially horizontally on a moving body disposed on a predetermined surface, by three support members each of which has a contact surface with a different surface from a sensitive surface of the substrate, the three support members are located at positions in a portion different from an illuminated area that is illuminated with the exposure beam in the sensitive surface, the supported substrate being moved by the moving body;
- and
- exposing the substrate supported by the three support members with the exposure beam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.