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US 7,009,681 B2Granted
Exposure apparatus and method, and device fabricating method using the same
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorKenichiro Shinoda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system for exposing and transferring a pattern on a mask onto an object, an illumination optical system for forming a secondary light source surface approximately conjugate with a pupil in the projection optical system, and for illuminating the mask, and a mechanism for making non-uniform at least one of a transmittance distribution from the secondary light source to the object and a light intensity distribution on the secondary light source surface.
Claims13
An exposure apparatus comprising:
- an illumination optical system for illuminating a mask;
- and
- a projection optical system for projecting a pattern of the mask onto an object;
- wherein said illumination optical system includes;
- a) a first fly-eye lens for forming a secondary light source approximately conjugate with a pupil in said projection optical system,
- b) a second fly-eye lens for illuminating the first fly-eye lens, and
- c) a mechanism that makes a light intensity distribution of the secondary light source non-uniform, said mechanism has a controller for controlling transmittance according to an incident angle of exposure light near an exit end of the second fly-eye len.
4 more elements
An exposure apparatus comprising:
- an illumination optical system for illuminating a mask;
- and
- a projection optical system for projecting a pattern of the mask onto an object,
- wherein said illumination optical system includes:
- (a) an optical integrator for forming a secondary light source approximately conjugate with a pupil in said projection optical system, and
- (b) a secondary light-source adjusting mechanism for adjusting a light intensity distribution of the secondary light source according to transmittance distribution from a surface of the secondary light source to the object,
- wherein said secondary light-source adjusting mechanism adjusts the light intensity distribution of the secondary light source with respect to each of a rotationally symmetrical component and a rotationally asymmetrical component according to the transmittance distributions.
4 more elements
An exposure apparatus comprising:
- an illumination optical system for illuminating a mask;
- and
- a projection optical system for projecting a pattern of the mask onto an object;
- wherein said illumination optical system includes;
- (a) an optical integrator for forming a secondary light source approximately conjugate with a pupil in said projection optical system, and
- (b) a secondary light-source adjusting mechanism for adjusting a light intensity distribution of the secondary light source according to transmittance distribution from a surface of the secondary light source to the object,
- wherein said secondary light-source adjusting mechanism includes:
- (i) a condenser optical system;
- (ii) a light mixture mechanism for reflecting and mixing light from said condenser optical system;
- and
- (iii) an imaging zoom lens for imaging a light intensity distribution formed at an exit surface of said light mixture mechanism at a position approximately conjugate with aa incident surface of said optical integrator, and
- wherein said secondary light-source adjusting mechanism adjusts the light intensity distribution of the secondary light source by adjusting a divergent angle from said condenser optical system.
9 more elements
A device fabricating method comprising the steps of:
- projecting and exposing a pattern of a mask onto an object using an exposure apparatus;
- and
- developing the exposed object,
- wherein said exposure apparatus includes:
- an illumination optical system for illuminating the mask;
- and
- a projection optical system for projecting the pattern of the mask onto an object;
- wherein said illumination optical system includes,
- a) a first fly-eye lens for forming a secondary light source approximately conjugate with a pupil in said projection optical system,
- b) a second fly-eye lens for illuminating the first fly-eye lens, and
- c) a mechanism that makes a light intensity distribution of the secondary light source non-uniform, said mechanism has a controller for controlling transmittance according to an incident angle of exposure light near an exit end of the second fly-eye lens.
8 more elements
An exposure apparatus comprising:
- an illumination optical system for illuminating a mask;
- and
- a projection optical system for projecting a pattern of the mask onto an object;
- wherein said illumination optical system includes,
- a) a condenser optical system,
- b) a light mixture mechanism for reflecting and mixing light from said condenser optical system,
- c) an optical integrator far forming a secondary light source approximately conjugate with a pupil in said projection optical system,
- d) an imaging zoom lens for imaging a light intensity distribution formed at an exit surface of said light mixture mechanism at a position approximately conjugate with an incident surface of said optical integrator, and
- e) a mechanism that makes a light intensity distribution of the secondary light source non-uniform, said mechanism adjusts the light intensity distribution by adjusting a divergent angle of light emitted from said condenser optical system.
6 more elements
A device fabricating method comprising the steps of:
- projecting and exposing a pattern of a mask onto an object using an exposure apparatus;
- and
- developing the exposed object,
- wherein said exposure apparatus includes:
- an illumination optical system for illuminating the mask;
- and
- a projection optical system for projecting the pattern of the mask onto the object;
- wherein said illumination optical system includes,
- a) a condenser optical system,
- b) a light mixture mechanism for reflecting and mixing light from said condenser optical system,
- c) an optical integrator for forming a secondary light source approximately conjugate with a pupil in said projection optical system,
- d) an imaging zoom lens for imaging a light intensity distribution formed at an exit surface of said light mixture mechanism at a position approximately conjugate with an incident surface of said optical integrator, and
- e) a mechanism that makes a light intensity distribution of the secondary light source non-uniform, said mechanism adjusts the light intensity distribution by adjusting a divergent angle of light emitted from said condenser optical system.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.