Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Hiroaki Takeishi

Reiji Mitarai

Mitsuru Inoue

Isao Iwai

Hiroshi Itoh

Ryuichi Ebinuma

Kazunori Iwamoto

Eiji Osanai

Masahiro Morisada

Naoki Kawamata

Yoichi Kubota

Mikio Sato

Katsuhiro Fujii

A scanning type exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system which projects a pattern of a reticle onto a wafer, which is held by a wafer chuck, a scanning stage system which scanningly moves the reticle and the wafer synchronously with respect the projection optical system, and an inspection system which automatically inspects influence of particles on at least one of the wafer and on the wafer chuck. The inspection system includes a focus detector which measures a focus state of the wafer and a calculator which calculates outputs of the focus detector.

Exposure apparatus and a device manufacturing method using the same

A scan exposure apparatus according to this invention determines a scan velocity and a focus measurement position from process conditions and the like and determines a threshold &#x394; of the focus measurement position on the basis of the scan velocity. The scan exposure apparatus executes focus measurement if a stage position falls within the range of the threshold &#x394;.

Scan exposure apparatus and method, and device manufacturing method

A scan exposure apparatus includes a stage which moves while mounting a substrate thereon, a projection optical system which projects a pattern on the stage, a horizontal position measurement unit which measures a horizontal position of the stage, and a measurement unit which measures a plane position of the substrate. A controller controls the stage so as to make an image plane of the projection optical system and a plane of the substrate coincide with each other on the basis of a measurement result by the measurement unit if a deviation of the horizontal position of the stage measured by the horizontal position measurement unit during scan exposure from a predetermined position falls within a tolerance. The tolerance is determined on the basis of a scan velocity of the stage.

A fine (short-stroke) stage is mounted on an XY slider and is capable of being moved over a minute range in the XY directions. Though the XY slider is moved along the X direction by a Y guide bar, movement along the X direction is decided by an X guide bar. If the relative angle between the direction of the X guide bar and the surface of a bar mirror of the fine stage is represented by &#x3b1;, then the X guide bar will be moved by &#x3b1;x when the XY slider has been moved by x along the X direction by the Y guide bar. After the fine stage is thus positioned, the relative positional relationship between the fine stage and the XY slider is held constant.

Stage device, method of controlling same, and exposure apparatus

A scanning type exposure apparatus includes a substrate stage for holding a substrate and for moving the substrate in at least one of a scanning direction and a rotational direction, an original stage for holding an original and for moving the original in at least one of the scanning direction and the rotational direction, an optical system for transferring a pattern of the original onto the substrate, and a controller for controlling movements of the substrate stage and the original stage. The controller synchronously controls the substrate stage and the original stage in the scanning direction, and independently controls the substrate stage and the original stage in the rotational direction.

Scanning type exposure apparatus and a device manufacturing method using the same

A scan exposure apparatus includes a mask stage on which a mask is to be placed, a substrate stage on which a substrate is to be placed, and a detection unit for detecting a surface shape of the substrate in each of a plurality of areas thereof. The surface shape is taken into consideration to drive the substrate stage in an exposure process. The apparatus further includes a controller for deciding scanning speeds of the mask stage and the substrate stage for each of a plurality of the areas based on the result of detection by the detection unit so as not to exceed a predetermined value of a synchronization error between the mask stage and the substrate stage.

Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and semiconductor device manufacturing method

A scanning exposure apparatus has a wafer stage, a reticle stage, a projection optical system for projecting an image of a reticle onto a substrate on the wafer stage, X-Y laser interferometers for measuring the position of the wafer stage in the X direction, Z interferometers for measuring the wafer stage position in the Z direction, and X-Y laser interferometers for measuring the position of the reticle stage in the X and Y directions, and transfers the image of the reticle onto the wafer by exposure while synchronously driving the wafer stage and reticle stage. The exposure apparatus includes a plurality of laser heads for generating laser beams to be provided to the interferometers. A reference signal is supplied from one laser head to the remaining laser heads to synchronize all laser heads.

Exposure apparatus

A scanning type exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system which projects a pattern of a reticle onto a wafer, which is held by a wafer chuck, a scanning stage system which scanningly moves the reticle and the wafer synchronously with respect to the projection optical system and an inspection system which inspects influence of particles on at least one of the wafer and on the wafer chuck. The inspection system includes a focus detector which measures a focus state of the wafer and a calculator which calculates outputs of the focus detector.

An exposure apparatus for scanning a reticle and a wafer in synchronism to optically transfer a pattern drawn on the reticle onto the wafer, thereby forming a device. The apparatus includes a first driver for holding and scanning the reticle, a second driver for holding and scanning the wafer, a determining device and a controller. The determining device determines a scanning distance of the first driver and the second driver by a sum of a first distance through which the first driver and the second driver travel until reaching a scanning speed, a second distance through which the first driver and the second driver travel during exposure and a third distance through which the first driver and the second driver travel during a settling time from a time when the first driver and the second driver reach the scanning speed to a time when exposure is enabled. The controller controls the first driver and the second driver by exposure parameters, the settling time being variably set in accordance with the exposure parameters.

Exposure method and exposure apparatus

An exposure apparatus optically transfers a pattern drawn on an original plate onto an exposure target. When positioning a stage, which is movable with an exposure target or original plate being mounted thereon, the coordinate origin as the reference is switched, when necessary, to match the operating state of the apparatus. The stage is positioned with reference to coordinate information having this coordinate origin as the reference.

A vibration driven motor including a plurality of polarized piezo-electric elements disposed on a vibrator, in which cyclic signals different in phase selectively are applied to the respective elements to form standing waves to drive a moved body. A direction of polarization of each of the piezo-electric elements in the motor is identical. A plurality of consecutive elements are grouped, and cyclic signals of predetermined phase selectively are applied to predetermined element groups.

Wave driven motor

A scanning exposure apparatus wherein a portion of a pattern of an original is projected onto a substrate through a projection optical system and the original and substrate are scanningly moved relative to the projection optical system, whereby the pattern of the original is transferred onto the substrate. The apparatus includes an original stage for holding the original, a base for supporting the original stage, and a supporting device for supporting the base at three positions, through a damper device and a pillar device. The three positions define an approximately isosceles triangle, and the scan direction is parallel to a straight line that connects a point of intersection of isosceles sides of the triangle and a gravity center thereof.

Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method using the same

A control device for an ultrasonic motor includes a control calculation circuit for calculating position, i.e., the rotation amount and speed of the motor, a linearization function generation circuit for receiving the output signal from the control calculation circuit and outputting the amplitude information of a stator constituting the motor and the phase difference information of two driving signals for driving the stator, and a driving circuit responsive to the output signal from the generation circuit to supply the driving signals to the stator.

Growing community of inventors

Utsunomiya, Japan

Hiroaki Takeishi