Nikon Corporation

Nikon Engineering Co., Ltd.

Katsushi Nakano

Kenichi Shiraishi

Soichi Owa

Akikazu Tanimoto

Naoyuki Kobayashi

Yasushi Mizuno

Satoshi Takahashi

Mineyuki Nishino

Tomoharu Fujiwara

Masahiko Okumura

Takeyuki Mizutani

Tarou Sugihara

Hiroyuki Nagasaka

Yasuhiro Omura

Takeshi Okuyama

Kousuke Suzuki

Kazuya Okamoto

Tsuneyuki Hagiwara

Yoshihiko Suzuki

Junji Nakamura

Koichi Kamijo

Hirotaka Kohno

Shinichi Kojima

Tetsuji Onuki

Shigeru Morimoto

Yusaku Uehara

Shigeki Kageyama

Natsuko Sagawa

An information calculation method includes: calculating liquid information regarding a liquid on an object, which faces an optical member that emits exposure light, when moving the object; and calculating region information indicating a region, in which the liquid information satisfies predetermined conditions, on the object.

Information calculation method, exposure apparatus, exposure method, device manufacturing method, program, and recording medium

An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate using exposure light via a liquid. The exposure apparatus comprises a substrate holding part, which releasably holds and is capable of moving a substrate, a management apparatus, which manages a status of usage of a dummy substrate that the substrate holding part is capable of holding.

Exposure apparatus, exposure method, exposure apparatus maintenance method, exposure apparatus adjustment method and device manufacturing method

A liquid immersion exposure apparatus exposes a substrate with an exposure beam via a liquid immersion area formed on a portion of a surface of the substrate. The apparatus includes a projection system, a first nozzle member having an aperture through which the exposure beam is projected, the first nozzle member having a liquid supply inlet and a liquid recovery outlet, a second nozzle member having a gas supply inlet via which a gas is supplied to a space surrounding the liquid immersion area during the exposure, a driving system which moves the second nozzle member relative to the first nozzle member, and a stage system having a holder which holds the substrate and which is movable relative to and below the projection system, the first nozzle member and the second nozzle member.

Exposure apparatus and method for producing device

An immersion type lithographic apparatus includes at least one immersion space and an immersion system configured to at least partially fill the immersion space with a liquid. The apparatus is configured to rinse at least part of the immersion space with a rinsing liquid before the apparatus is used to project a patterned beam of radiation onto a substrate.

Immersion lithographic apparatus rinsing outer contour of substrate with immersion space

An exposure apparatus includes an optical element via which a patterned beam is projected onto a substrate through exposure liquid filled in a space between the optical element and the substrate. The apparatus also includes a member having a flow passage in which exposure liquid flows, the flow passage being in fluidic communication with the space. The apparatus also includes a cleaning system which cleans the member.

A cleaning of a liquid immersion exposure apparatus is performed at a different time than an exposure operation. A stage is placed under a liquid supply inlet during a cleaning operation. The cleaning operation is performed at the different time than the exposure operation in which an immersion liquid is supplied onto a substrate held on a holder of the stage. The immersion liquid is supplied from a liquid supply inlet during the cleaning operation. The immersion liquid is supplied to a portion of the stage different from a portion at which the substrate is held by the holder of the stage.

An exposure method includes holding a substrate held by a substrate holder on a substrate stage moving on an image plane side of a projection optical system; forming an immersion area the image plane side of the projection optical system by using a liquid supplied from a liquid supplying mechanism; and exposing a substrate by exposure light via the projection optical system and the immersion area. During a period when exposure of the substrate is not performed, an upper portion of the substrate holder is cleaned by moving the substrate stage relative to the immersion area, and an upper portion of a measuring stage is cleaned by moving the measuring stage relative to the immersion area. A cleaning liquid can be used as a liquid for forming the immersion area during cleaning. High-resolution immersion exposure is performed at a high throughput by suppressing entering of foreign materials into the liquid.

Exposure method and apparatus, maintenance method and device manufacturing method

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 mechanismwhich removes the liquid remaining on a partarranged in the vicinity of the image plane of the projection optical system.

Provided is an exposure apparatus that is able to prevent liquid from remaining on a measuring part. An exposure apparatus comprises a measuring system (), which has a first pattern () formed on the upper surface of a substrate stage, and a second area (S) specified on the upper surface in the vicinity of a first area (S), which includes the first pattern (), and a second pattern () is formed in the second area (S) so that the liquid (LQ) that has remained so as to span the first area (S) and the second area (S) retreats from the first area (S) and collects in the second area (S).

Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method

An exposure method for exposing a substrate with exposure light that irradiates the substrate via a liquid, wherein the concentration of an eluted substance in the liquid on the substrate is set so as to satisfy the condition R&#x2212;R&#x2266;1.0&#xd7;10when Ris the transmittance of the liquid containing an eluted substance eluted from the substrate per 1 mm in the optical path direction of the exposure light, and Ris the transmittance of the liquid that does not contain the eluted substance per 1 mm in the optical path direction of the exposure light.

Exposure method, device manufacturing method, and substrate

An exposure apparatus is provided with an optical system including a liquid, a sensor system for acquiring energy information of an energy beam which is incident on the liquid, and a controller which predicts variation of optical properties of the optical system including the liquid due to energy absorption of the liquid based on the energy information acquired using the sensor system and controls exposure operation with respect to an object based on the prediction results. According to the exposure apparatus, exposure operation without being influenced by the variation of the optical properties of the optical system including the liquid due to the energy absorption of the liquid becomes possible.

Exposure method, exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method

A lithographic apparatus includes a substrate table which holds a substrate, a projection system which projects a patterned beam of radiation onto the substrate, the projection system having a final optical element adjacent the substrate, a liquid supply system which provides a liquid to a space between the projection system and the substrate table, and a cleaning system which cleans the substrate table.

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Kumagaya, Japan

Katsushi Nakano