Exposure method and apparatus using near field light
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKenji Saito, Ryo Kuroda, Yasuhisa Inao
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Abstract
There is provided an exposure method including the steps for arranging an object to be exposed and a transparent plate that includes a thin film, within such a range that near field light from the thin film may operate on the object, the thin film having a light transmittance that changes according to an intensity of light of incidence, and exposing the object with the near field light generated by projecting a pattern on a mask onto the thin film of the transparent plate.
Claims34
An exposure method comprising the steps of:
- arranging an object to be exposed and a transparent plate that includes a thin film, within such a range that near field light from the thin film may operate on the object, the thin film having a light transmittance that changes according to an intensity of light of incidence;
- and
- exposing the object with near field light generated by projecting a pattern on a mask, onto the thin film of the transparent plate.
An exposure apparatus comprising:
- a transparent plate arranged within such a range that near field light from said transparent plate may operate on an object to be exposed, said transparent plate including a thin film whose light transmittance changes according to an intensity of light of incidence;
- and
- a projection optical system for projecting a pattern on a mask onto the thin film of the transparent plate and for exposing the object with the near field light generated by the projection.
A device fabricating method using an exposure apparatus comprising a transparent plate arranged within such a range that near field light from the transparent plate may operate on an object to be exposed, the transparent plate including a thin film whose light transmittance changes according to an intensity of light of incidence, and a projection optical system for projecting a pattern on a mask onto the thin film in the transparent plate and exposes the object with near field light generated by said projection, said method comprising the steps of:
- exposing the object using the exposure apparatus;
- and
- performing a predetermined process for the object exposed.
A device fabricated from an object exposed by using an exposure apparatus comprising a transparent plate arranged an object to be exposed within such a range that near field light from the transparent plate may operate on the object, the transparent plate including a thin film whose light transmittance changes according to an intensity of light of incidence, and a projection optical system for projecting a pattern on a mask onto the thin film of the transparent plate and for exposing the object with the near field light generated by the projection.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.