Exposure apparatus and method for producing device
AssigneeNikon Corporation
InventorsNaoyuki Kobayashi, Akikazu Tanimoto, Yasushi Mizuno, Kenichi Shiraishi, Katsushi Nakano, Soichi Owa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There is provided an exposure apparatus capable of forming a desirable device pattern by removing unnecessary liquid when performing exposure by projecting a pattern onto the substrate via a projection optical system and the liquid. The exposure device projects an image of the pattern onto the substrate P via the projection optical system and the liquid so as to expose the substrate P. The exposure device includes a liquid removing mechanism 40 which removes the liquid remaining on a part 7 arranged in the vicinity of the image plane of the projection optical system.
Claims50
An exposure apparatus which projects an image of a pattern onto a substrate through a liquid to expose the substrate therewith, the exposure apparatus comprising:
- a projection optical system which projects the image of the pattern onto the substrate;
- a movable member which is movable on a side of an image plane of the projection optical system;
- a measuring member provided on the movable member;
- and
- a liquid-removing system which removes liquid remaining on the measuring member.
A liquid immersion exposure method comprising:
- moving a movable member on which a measuring member is provided;
- performing a measunng operation by using the measuring member;
- exposing a substrate, based on a result of the measuring operation, by projecting a pattern image onto the substrate via a projection optical system and liquid;
- and
- performing a removal operation in which liquid remaining on the measuring member is removed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.