Nikon Corporation

Hitachi, Ltd.

Sanyo Denki Co., Ltd.

Hiroshi Ooki

Masato Shibuya

Soichi Owa

Kazuya Okamoto

Hirohisa Tanaka

Shinichi Nakajima

Jun Iwasaki

Yutaka Iwasaki

Tomoya Noda

Atsushi Sakai

Tsuneyuki Hagiwara

Yumiko Ouchi

Hisao Osawa

Masaomi Kameyama

Yasuo Yonezawa

Toshihiko Ozawa

Yutaka Takeuchi

Shingo Maeda

Shigeto Murata

Masaya Komatsu

Katsumi Ogino

Kazuyuki Kitazawa

Yoshifumi Tokoyoda

Yuji Kadomatsu

Tadayosi Kokubo

An illumination optical system can form a pupil intensity distribution with a desired beam profile. The illumination optical system for illuminating an illumination target surface with light from a light source is provided with a spatial light modulator which has a plurality of optical elements arrayed on a predetermined surface and individually controlled and which variably forms a light intensity distribution on an illumination pupil of the illumination optical system; a divergence angle providing member which is arranged in a conjugate space including a surface optically conjugate with the predetermined surface and which provides a divergence angle to an incident beam and emits the beam; and a polarizing member which is arranged at a position in the vicinity of the predetermined surface or in the conjugate space and which changes a polarization state of a partial beam of a propagating beam propagating in an optical path.

Illumination optical assembly, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method

There is provided an optical characteristic measuring method for measuring an optical characteristic of an optical system which forms, on a second plane, an image of an object arranged on a first plane, the optical characteristic measuring method including: arranging, on the first plane, a first area through which a measuring light passes or by which the measuring light is reflected; arranging a second area, through which the measuring light passes or by which the measuring light is reflected, on the second plane at a position corresponding to the first area; and detecting, via one of the first area and the second area, a light amount of the measuring light via the optical system and the other of the first area and the second area; wherein at least one of the first area and the second area has a shape such that a light amount, of the measuring light which passes or which is reflected via the optical system, is changed depending on the optical characteristic.

Optical characteristic measuring method, optical characteristic adjusting method, exposure apparatus, exposing method, and exposure apparatus manufacturing method by detecting a light amount of measuring light

[Object] Copy processing time is reduced by selecting an optimum copy method according to the content of difference data and the status of a system. [Solution] When the primary disk storage apparatus and the secondary disk storage apparatus are separated from each other after dual writing operation and a copy pair regarding which data is written to only the primary disk storage apparatus is to be resynchronized, the host computer selects either host-computer-based copy processing executed via the host computer or inter-disk-control-device copy processing executed between the first disk control device and the second disk control device, on the basis of information about copy processing including a difference data amount between the primary disk storage apparatus and the secondary disk storage apparatus, a data transfer amount between the respective apparatuses, and performance information of each apparatus.

Copy processing management system and copy processing management method

A microscope apparatus can generate information of a super-resolved image at high speed. For that purpose, the microscope apparatus of the present invention is equipped with an image-forming optical system for forming an intermediate image of light emitted from a specimen, a relay optical system for forming an image of the intermediate image, an illuminating optical system that jointly owns an optical path of the image-forming optical system and illuminates the specimen through the optical path of the image-forming optical system, and a spatial modulator disposed on a formation plane of the intermediate image. In this microscope apparatus, the specimen is subjected to structured illumination by an image of the spatial modulator. Light from the specimen which is modulated by the structured illumination is automatically remodulated in the spatial modulator.

Microscope

A method and apparatus for measuring a wave front aberration of a projection lens with high precision and a related calibration method. The apparatus includes: either a light source and an element producing a first point source in combination with the light source or a first point source generating part; a magnifying projection optical system projecting and magnifying a point image of the first point source projected by a test object; a detector detecting the magnified point image projected and magnified by the magnifying projection optical system; a supporting member supporting the magnifying projection optical system and the detector; a calculating part calculating a wave front aberration; and either a second point source producing element or a second point source generating part.

Wave surface aberration measurement device, wave surface aberration measurement method, and projection lens fabricated by the device and the method

Image-formation methods and photosensitive materials used in such methods are disclosed that form very high-resolution patterns. The photosensitive materials comprise an ingredient that is triggered by a radical to undergo a latent-image-forming reaction. The radicals are produced by photons from an illumination light. Alternatively, the ingredient is triggered by a reactive-intermediate compound that is activated by the exposure-produced radical. The photosensitive materials possess a non-linear sensitivity characteristic in which the latent-image reaction density increases according to the m,power (m>1) of the incident light intensity. The photosensitive material can be applied to a sensitive substrate for exposure. Multiple exposures of the sensitive substrate are performed using a projected mask pattern in the presence of a radical deactivator. The multiple exposures can be performed while: (a) changing the exposure intensity distribution on the photosensitive material, or (b) shifting the projected mask pattern and the sensitive substrate relative to each other by a specified amount, or (c) using a different projected mask pattern for each exposure.

Image formation method with photosensitive material

A linear/rotary actuator capable of carrying out both linear motion and rotary motion either individually or concurrently as desired while controlling both motions as desired. A rotary driving motor includes a hollow shaft. When the rotary driving motor rotates a third nut fitted on a spline section of the rotary driving motor, an output shaft rotatably fitted on a linear shaft through bearings is rotated. The linear shaft 21 is provided thereon with a threaded section. A spline section and a first nut is threadedly fitted on the threaded section and a second nut kept stationary is fitted on the spline section. The first nut is rotated while being fixed in a hollow shaft of a linear driving motor. Rotation of the linear driving motor leads to rotation of the first nut, resulting in the linear shaft 21 being linearly moved in an axial direction thereof, so that the output shaft may be linearly moved.

Linear/rotary actuator and winding machine including same

After a photoresist is applied onto a wafer, a contrast enhancement material (CEM) layer is applied onto this photoresist. A pattern is projected through this CEM layer onto the photoresist. Next, this CEM layer is removed from the photoresist and thereafter a new CEM layer is again applied onto the photoresist. Another pattern is projected through this new CEM layer onto the photoresist, whereby the photoresist is exposed in accordance with a composite pattern of the two patterns. This composite pattern can surpass the resolution limit of projection optical system.

Exposure method and apparatus

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for microlithographically exposing a photosensitive substrate comprising single-exposure areas and multiple-exposure areas. After exposing the substrate, line widths in the single-exposure areas are substantially the same as line widths in the multiple-exposure areas. Also disclosed are masks comprising a first mask pattern used to expose the single-exposure areas once and a plurality of other mask patterns for exposing the multiple-exposure areas a predetermined number of times. Each of the other mask patterns allows a lower intensity of illumination light flux to be distributed to the multiple-exposure areas per exposure of the substrate than allowed by the first mask pattern. Consequently, the average intensity of illumination-light flux distributed to the single-exposure area after one exposure is substantially equal to the average intensity of illumination-light flux distributed to the multiple-exposure areas after a predetermined number of exposures of such areas.

Microlithography projection-exposure masks, and methods and apparatus

Projection exposure systems and methods are disclosed that achieve higher light intensities and reduce the time required for each exposure in multiple exposures of non-linear resists such as a two-photon-absorption resist. Using spatial redistribution of laser light, an illumination optical system forms an illumination region that illuminates only a portion of the pattern on a mask with spatially coherent light from a light source. The system forms the entire mask pattern on a substrate by repeating a non-linear exposure while moving the illumination region and the mask pattern relative to one another. To exploit temporal redistribution of laser light, an illumination optical system employs a pulsed-oscillation-type laser light source to form a mask pattern while varying the light intensity profile on a mask.

Projection exposure system and method

An observation apparatus of the present comprises (i) a light source for generating light; (ii) a separating optical system which splits the light from the light source into two different polarized light beams; (iii) a condenser optical system which converges the two polarized light beams from the separating optical system so as to respectively form light spots on two different positions on a sample object; (iv) a polarization selecting means which has a predetermined analyzer angle and selects a specific polarized light component from composite light made of the two polarized light beams by way of the sample object; (v) light detecting means which detects the polarized light component selected by the polarization selecting means; and (vi) phase difference adjustment means which adjusts a phase difference between the two polarized light beams by way of the sample object and guides composite light composed of the two polarized light beams as circularly polarized light to the polarization selecting means, when the sample object does not modulate both phase and amplitude of the light incident thereon. Accordingly, this observation apparatus can detect a phase difference generated between the two light components respectively emitted from both side of a level difference on the sample object.

Apparatus for observing a surface using polarized light

The present invention relates to a projection exposure method and an exposure apparatus for projecting a pattern on a photo-mask through a projection optical system onto a predetermined photosensitive material. The photosensitive material is a nonlinear photosensitive material in which the effective light intensity distribution is nonlinear to the intensity of incident exposure light. Further, multiple exposure is made with plural patterns having a certain lateral shift therebetween, or multiple exposure is made with shifting the position of an identical pattern, whereby multiple exposure is effected with patterns different in intensity distribution on the photosensitive material. A high-resolution pattern can be formed over the resolution limit of projection optical system by the above arrangement.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Hiroshi Ooki