Exposure apparatus and exposure method
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYoshinori Miwa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate using a plurality of masters. The apparatus includes a stage being able to install at least one of the plurality of masters, a first housing surrounding the stage, a second housing for stocking at least one of the plurality of masters, the second housing being installed adjacent to the first housing or installed in an interior of the first housing, the second housing being allowed to communicate with the first housing, and a third housing being installed between an inside space and an outside space of the first housing, the third housing being different from the first and second housings. The first and second housings are filled by an inert gas or are adapted to be evacuated.
Claims10
An exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate to a pattern of a reticle, said apparatus comprising:
- a reticle stage, to hold the reticle, the substrate is exposed to the pattern of the reticle on said reticle stage;
- a stage housing, surrounding said reticle stage, to be filled with a first atmosphere therein, the first atmosphere being different from a second atmosphere of an outside of said stage housing;
- a load-lock chamber through which the reticle is transferred from the outside of said stage housing to an inside of said stage housing;
- and
- a stocker, for stocking the reticle which has been transferred from the outside of said stage housing through said load-lock chamber, said stocker having a unit to selectively open said stocker for exposing an inside of said stocker to the inside of said stage housing to transfer the reticle between said reticle stage and said stocker.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.