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US 7,119,952 B2Granted
Optical instrument, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorSumitada Yamamoto
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AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorSumitada Yamamoto
Estimating the term…
An exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate to ultraviolet light via a pattern of a reticle. The apparatus includes an optical element disposed on a path of the ultraviolet light extending from a light source to the substrate, a holder configured to hold the optical element, and a container configured to accommodate the optical element therein. The container has a partition wall with an opening through which the holder extends. The partition wall and the holder have a gap therebetween inside the opening. The holder is configured to move in a range of the opening so as to adjust a position of the optical element. The partition wall and the holder is configured so that a portion of the gap can be filled with a detachable filling cover. The apparatus further includes an outer cover detachably mounted on the container to cover the partition wall gas-tightly, and a supplier configured to supply inert gas into the container.
An exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate to ultraviolet light via a pattern of a reticle, said apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
No references of this kind are recorded.
For microlithography: alignment mark detection, e.g. TTR, TTL, off-axis detection, array detector, video detection
For use with infrared or ultraviolet radiation: for use with ultraviolet radiation
Photomechanical production of textured or patterned surfaces
Optical elements, systems or apparatus
Term ended 25 Jan 2025 (estimated)
This invention relates to an optical instrument containing an element to be used in an inactive (inert) gas ambience.
Production of semiconductor devices constituted by an extraordinarily fine pattern, such as LSIs or VLSIs, uses a reduction type projection exposure apparatus, which functions to print, by reduction projection, a circuit pattern formed on an original, such as a mask, onto a substrate being coated with a photosensitive material. Due to increases in semiconductor device packing density, requirements for reduction in pattern linewidth have become more severe. Thus, simultaneously with resist process developments, the resolving power of an exposure apparatus, as well, has been improved to meet this requirement.
The resolving power of an exposure apparatus can be improved either by changing the exposure wavelength to shorter ones or by enlarging the numerical aperture (NA) of the projection optical system.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a main portion of a projection exposure apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic views, respectively, for explaining details of an adjusting mechanism in the first embodiment of the present invention.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings.
An exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention may be any type of an exposure apparatus known in the art, provided that ultraviolet light, or the like, is used as exposure light, that the path for exposure light inside the apparatus is filled with or replaced by an inactive gas, and that a pattern of an original, such as a mask, is projected and transferred to a photosensitive substrate through a projection optical system.
The ultraviolet light to be used as exposure light in an exposure apparatus of the present invention is not particularly limited. However, the invention is particularly effective when used with deep ultraviolet light, specifically, fluorine (F2) excimer laser light having a wavelength of about 157 nm. In the following, referring to the drawings, preferred embodiments will be described in relation to examples wherein the original is a reticle and the photosensitive substrate is a wafer.