Stage unit, drive table, and scanning exposure apparatus using the same

A stage apparatus comprising:

• a first stage that is movable linearly in a first direction;
• a second stage that is movable in said first direction and in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction with respect to said first stage;
• a first actuator having a first coil member and a first magnetic member to drive said second stage with a second thrust in said second direction with respect to said first stage;
• and
• a second actuator having a second coil member and a second magnetic member to drive said second stage with a first thrust in said first direction with respect to said first stage, said first thrust being larger than said second thrust.

A stage apparatus comprising:

• a first stage that is movable linearly in a first direction;
• a second stage that is movable in said first direction and in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction with respect to said first stage;
• a base that supports said first stage and said second stage;
• a position detector having an interferometer that cooperates with a reflective portion of said second stage, said interferometer being supported by said base;
• a first electromagnetic actuator having a first moving member to drive said second stage with a second thrust in said second direction with respect to said first stage;
• and
• a second electromagnetic actuator that is different from said first electromagnetic actuator and has a second moving member to drive said second stage with a first thrust in said first direction with respect to said first stage, said first thrust being different from said second thrust and a weight of said moving member being different from a weight of said second moving member;
• said second stage is a guideless stage having no associated guide member, other than said first and second electromagnetic actuators, to guide movement of said second stage in the first and second directions.

A stage apparatus for scanning an object that includes at least one of a mask and a photosensitive substrate, said stage apparatus being provided to a scanning exposure apparatus that illuminates said mask on which a transfer pattern is formed and scans said mask in a predetermined scanning direction and synchronously scans said substrate in a direction corresponding to said scanning direction, thereby exposing said pattern on said mask onto said substrate, comprising:

• a base;
• a scanning stage that is movable in said scanning direction on said base;
• a fine adjustment stage that is movable within predetermined ranges in said scanning direction and in a non-scanning direction perpendicular to said scanning direction with respect to said scanning stage, said fine adjustment stage mounting said object thereon;
• a first actuator arranged in said scanning direction to drive said fine adjustment stage in said scanning direction;
• a second actuator arranged in said non-scanning direction to drive said fine adjustment stage in said non-scanning direction, a weight of said first actuator being different from a weight of said second actuator;
• and
• a cooling unit that cools said actuators by circulating a predetermined cooling fluid, said cooling unit circulating said cooling fluid from said actuators arranged in the direction perpendicular to said scanning direction with respect to said scanning stage for driving said fine adjustment stage.

A lithographic device comprising in a following order:

• a substrate stage that is positionable by a first positioning device parallel to a first direction in order to position a substrate;
• an imaging system having a main axis directed parallel to a vertical direction perpendicular to the first direction;
• a mask stage that is positionable at least parallel to the first direction by a second positioning device in order to position a mask;
• and
• an illumination optical system that irradiates an exposure illumination light beam;
• wherein the second positioning device includes a first actuator that positions the mask stage over a comparatively small movement parallel to the first direction, and a second actuator that positions the mask stage over a comparatively large movement parallel to the first direction, the first actuator being driven to prevent a positional error of the mask at least when the second actuator is being at least one of accelerated and decelerated.

A scanning exposure apparatus that moves a mask with respect to a projection optical system while illuminating said mask on which a transfer pattern is formed and synchronously moves a photosensitive substrate with respect to said projection optical system, thereby projecting and exposing said pattern on said mask onto said substrate through said projection optical system, comprising:

• a base that holds the following elements;
• a scanning stage that is movable, with respect to said base, along a first direction corresponding to a moving direction of said mask and said substrate;
• a fine adjustment stage that is movable along the first direction with respect to said scanning stage, said fine adjustment stage mounting one of said mask and said substrate, and a size of said fine adjustment stage being smaller than a size of said scanning stage;
• and
• an actuator that drives said fine adjustment stage to prevent a positional error between said scanning stage and said fine adjustment stage at least when said scanning stage is being at least one of accelerated and decelerated during a scanning exposure operation.

A stage apparatus comprising:

• a first stage that is linearly movable in a first direction;
• a second stage that is movable in said first direction with respect to said first stage, a size of said second stage being smaller than a size of said first stage;
• and
• an actuator that drives said second stage in said first direction, said actuator driving said second stage at least when said first stage is being at least one of accelerated and decelerated, said actuator having a first portion connected to said first stage and a second portion connected to said second stage.

A stage driving method for driving, in a predetermined direction, a first stage that is arranged to be movable linearly in a first direction and for driving a second stage that is arranged to be movable at least in said first direction with respect to said first stage, comprising the steps of:

• providing an actuator to drive said second stage, said actuator having a first portion connected to said first stage and a second portion connected to said second stage;
• driving said first stage;
• and
• driving said second stage to prevent a positional error between said first stage and said second stage at least when said first stage is being at least one of accelerated and decelerated, a size of said second stage being smaller than a size of said first stage.

A method for making an exposure apparatus that transfers a pattern of a mask onto a substrate, comprising the steps of:

• providing a substrate stage on which said substrate is mounted;
• providing a first positioning device that positions said substrate stage parallel to a first direction;
• providing an imaging system having a main axis directed parallel to a vertical direction and perpendicular to the first direction;
• providing a mask stage on which said mask is mounted;
• providing a second positioning device that positions said mask stage at least parallel to the first direction;
• said second positioning device having a first actuator that positions said mask stage over a comparatively small movement parallel to the first direction, and a second actuator that positions said mask stage over a comparatively great movement parallel to the first direction, the first actuator being driven at least to prevent a positional error of said mask when the second actuator is being at least one of accelerated and decelerated;
• and
• providing an illumination optical system that irradiates an exposure illumination light beam.