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US 9,316,921 B2Granted
Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and method for producing device
AssigneeNikon Corporation
InventorsNaoyuki Kobayashi, Soichi Owa, Shigeru Hirukawa, Yasuhiro Omura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate by irradiating exposure light on the substrate through liquid. The exposure apparatus has a substrate holder for holding the substrate, a substrate stage capable of moving the substrate held by the substrate holder, and a temperature adjusting system for adjusting the temperature of the substrate holder. The temperature of the substrate is controlled so that there is no difference in temperature between the substrate and the liquid, thereby preventing a reduction in exposure accuracy resulting from variation in temperature of the liquid.
Claims46
A liquid immersion exposure apparatus comprising:
- a projection system;
- an immersion area forming member having a liquid supply inlet and a liquid recovery outlet, the immersion area forming member having an opening through which an exposure beam is projected, the immersion area forming member forming a liquid immersion area on a portion of a surface of a substrate during exposure of the substrate;
- a substrate stage system having a first substrate holding member by which the substrate is held, the substrate stage system moving the substrate held by the first substrate holding member below and relative to the projection system and the immersion area forming member;
- a first temperature sensor provided at the first substrate holding member of the substrate stage system;
- a first temperature adjustment system which performs temperature adjustment for the first substrate holding member, a part of the first temperature adjustment system being provided at the first substrate holding member;
- a second temperature adjustment system connected to a liquid supply apparatus, the second temperature adjustment system performing temperature adjustment for liquid delivered from the liquid supply apparatus, the temperature-adjusted liquid being supplied from the liquid supply inlet of the immersion area forming member;
- and
- a controller which controls the first and second temperature adjustment systems,
- wherein the controller controls a temperature adjustment operation based on a measurement result of the first temperature sensor such that a temperature of the liquid to be supplied from the liquid supply inlet is substantially the same as a temperature of the substrate held by the first substrate holding member, and
- wherein during the exposure, the substrate held by the first substrate holding member is exposed with the exposure beam through the liquid supplied from the liquid supply inlet of the immersion area forming member.
7 more elements
A liquid immersion exposure method comprising:
- holding a substrate with a first substrate holding member of a substrate stage system, the substrate stage system moving the substrate held by the first substrate holding member below and relative to a projection system and an immersion area forming member;
- forming, during exposure of the substrate, a liquid immersion area on a portion of a surface of the substrate with the immersion area forming member, the immersion area forming member having a liquid supply inlet, a liquid recovery outlet and an opening through which an exposure beam is projected onto the surface of the substrate from the projection system through the liquid immersion area;
- measuring a temperature at the first substrate holding member of the substrate stage system with a first temperature sensor provided at the first substrate holding member of the substrate stage system;
- performing temperature adjustment for the first substrate holding member with a first temperature adjustment system, a part of the first temperature adjustment system being provided at the first substrate holding member;
- performing temperature adjustment for liquid delivered from a liquid supply apparatus with a second temperature adjustment system connected to the liquid supply apparatus, the temperature-adjusted liquid being supplied from the liquid supply inlet of the immersion area forming member;
- and
- controlling the first and second temperature adjustment systems, wherein
- the controlling controls a temperature adjustment operation based on a measurement result of the first temperature sensor such that a temperature of the liquid to be supplied from the liquid supply inlet is substantially the same as a temperature of the substrate held by the first substrate holding member, and
- during the exposure, the substrate held by the first substrate holding member is exposed with the exposure beam through the liquid supplied from the liquid supply inlet of the immersion area forming member.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.