Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Haruyuki Kusunoki

Hironori Yamamoto

Takao Kariya

Masaru Ohtsuka

Koichi Matsushita

Makoto Higomura

Yasuo Kawai

Takeshi Sasaki

Shinkichi Ohkawa

Motomu Furukawa

Toshihiko Yamaura

Kikuo Yasutome

Shigeo Yamazaki

Koji Furukawa

A precision cutting process machine aligns a workpiece to be subjected to a precision cutting process by a continuously rotating cutting tool relative to the cutting tool, and cuts the work into a predetermined pattern so as to form fine grooves at a predetermined pitch by a continuous cutting processes. The machine includes a main body base portion and an up-and-down moving table driven in the up-and-down direction with respect to the main body base portion. The cutting tool, which is arranged on the up-and-down moving table, sets a plane formed upon rotation of the cutting tool on a plane along the back-and-forth direction of the main body base portion and is continuously rotated; back-and-forth moving table is driven in the back-and-forth direction with respect to the main body base portion, a right-and-left moving table is fixed on the back-and-forth moving table and driven in the right-and-left direction with respect to main body base portion, a holding device is arranged on the right-and-left moving table for detachably holding the work, and a measurement device is arranged on the up-and-down moving table for measuring dimensions of the workpiece in the up-and-down and right-and-left directions. In order to perform the cutting process of the workpiece held by the holding device, the moving amount in the up-and-down direction of the cutting tool, which is arranged on the up-and-down table and continuously rotated, is measured by the measurement device while the moving amount, in the right-and-left direction, of the workpiece held by the holding device on the right-and-left moving table is measured by the measurement device.

Precision cutting process machine and precision cutting process method

A stage device usable, e.g., in an X-ray exposure apparatus, for moving a semiconductor wafer placed in a vacuum ambience and held by a wafer chuck, is disclosed. In the stage device, the wafer chuck holds the wafer so that the surface of the wafer onto which a circuit pattern is to be transferred is placed in a vertical plane, and the wafer chuck is moved vertically and horizontally for step-and-repeat exposure of the wafer. The device includes a guide mechanism, locking mechanism and a constant-tension spring mechanism, to thereby ensure high-accuracy movement of the wafer chuck in the vertical direction as well as high-precision positioning of the wafer. Further, in the stage device, a drive source producing a drive to move the wafer chuck is disposed in a vacuum ambience while, on the other hand, the supply of operating fluids to air bearing assemblies, for guiding the movement of the wafer chuck, is achieved by use of metal pipes coupled by rotary joints. The wafer chuck is resiliently supported by one of the air bearing assemblies, such that the wafer chuck can be moved in the vacuum ambience very accurately and without difficulties.

Movable stage mechanism

Growing community of inventors

Abiko, Japan

Haruyuki Kusunoki