Nikon Corporation

Nippon Kogaku K.k.

Other

Nikon Precision Incorporated

Kazuo Ushida

Kyoichi Suwa

Masaomi Kameyama

Toshihiro Sasaya

Koichi Matsumoto

Yutaka Suenaga

Romeo I Mercado

Ilya Grodnensky

Eric R Johnson

Kazumasa Endo

Kenji Nishi

Takashi Mori

Masashi Tanaka

Kinya Kato

Shigeru Hirukawa

Kazuaki Suzuki

Hideki Komatsuda

Tohru Kiuchi

Sumio Hashimoto

Yasuaki Tanaka

Toshio Matsuura

Yoshiyuki Shimizu

Seiro Murakami

Satoru Anzai

Koichi Ohno

Masaya Komatsu

Takeshi Suto

Toshiyuki Namikawa

Shinichi Nakamura

Hiroyuki Tsuchiya

A projection exposure apparatus includes illuminating optical means for illuminating a projection negative, and projection optical means for projection-exposing the projection negative illuminated by the illuminating optical means onto a substrate, the illuminating optical means including light source means for supplying exposure light, annular light source forming means for forming an annular secondary light source by the light from the light source means, and condenser means for condensing the light beam from the annular light source forming means on the projection negative, and is designed to satisfy the following condition:&#x2153;&#x2266;d/d&#x2266;&#x2154;,where dis the inner diameter of the annular secondary light source, and dis the outer diameter of the annular secondary light source.

Projection exposure apparatus

A high-performance projection exposure apparatus and method which can adjust optical characteristics which are rotationally asymmetric with respect to the optical axis of projection optical system and which remain in the projection optical system. In exemplary embodiments, the projection exposure apparatus includes an illumination optical system, a projection optical system and a plurality of optical elements. The illumination optical system illuminates a first object, and the projection optical system projects an image of the first object onto a second object under a predetermined magnification. The optical elements are set between the first object and the second object, and has rotationally asymmetric powers with respect to an optical axis of the projection optical system. Consequently, the optical elements can correct an optical characteristic rotationally asymmetric with respect to the optical axis of the projection optical system remaining in the projection optical system.

Projection exposure apparatus and method with adjustment of rotationally asymmetric optical characteristics

Apparatus for performing measurement of a dimension of a test marked formed by overlapping feature imaged onto a an image forming layer of a semiconductor wafer and the calculation of the critical dimensions of the features from test mark. This is used in semiconductor processing. Also included is software configured to program a measurement device to perform the measurement and calculation of the dimension of a test mark.

Apparatus for preforming measurement of a dimension of a test mark for semiconductor processing

An exposure method comprises the steps of: providing a resist-coated substrate; providing a first mask including first and second regions having respective patterns formed therein; conducting a first exposure process in which the patterns in the first and second regions of the first mask are projected onto the substrate so as to expose first and second regions of the substrate which correspond to the patterns, respectively; and conducting a second exposure process after completion of said first exposure process so as to make an additional exposure of the second region of the substrate. By virtue of the incorporation of the second exposure process so as to make an additional exposure of the second region of the substrate, the resist linewidth which would be otherwise produced in the second region of the substrate by the first exposure process can be compensated through the second exposure process.

Exposure method

A method for forming a critical dimension test mark, and the use of the mark to characterize and monitor imaging performance is provided. Methods in accordance with the present invention encompass an exposure of an essentially standard critical dimension bar at each of two overlapping orientations that are rotated about an axis with respect to each other. The overlapped portion forming a critical dimension test mark that is useful for enabling low cost, rapid determination of sub-micron critical dimensions for characterizing exposure tool imaging performance and in-process performance monitoring using optical measurement systems.

Method for use of a critical dimensional test structure

A method of manufacturing an exposure apparatus includes a step of providing a projection optical system that projects a pattern image formed on a mask onto a photosensitive substrate. Additionally, a surface of a correction member having a predetermined thickness is locally tooled or processed in order to correct random aberration that remains in the projection optical system. The tooled correction member is arranged between the mask and the substrate, irrespective of the mask. Furthermore, when the projection optical system is provided, an aberration caused due to the predetermined thickness of the correction member is taken into account in advance.

Method of manufacturing and using correction member to correct aberration in projection exposure apparatus

Method for forming a critical dimension test structure and its use

An illumination apparatus is provided capable of obtaining identical line widths at all positions in an image surface. A projection exposure apparatus using this illumination apparatus is also provided as well as a method of manufacturing the projection exposure apparatus and a method of manufacturing a device using this apparatus. The illumination apparatus includes a light source system for supplying a light beam, an optical integrator for forming a plurality of light sources based on a light beam from the light source and a condenser optical system for converging beams from the plurality of light sources for illuminating an illuminated surface. The apparatus also has a filter placed in a location that is in an optically conjugate relationship to the illuminated surface. The filter has at least a first area corresponding to a first portion of the plurality of light sources, and a second area corresponding to a second portion of the plurality of light sources other than the first portion. The filter has at least one first filter element having a first transmissivity distribution provided over the entirety of the first area of the filter. The filter also has at least one second filter element having a second transmissivity distribution that is the inverse of the first transmissivity distribution provided over the entirety of the second area of the filter.

Illumination apparatus, a projection exposure apparatus having the same,

In the projection optical system that projects an image of the first object onto the second object with a fixed reduction ratio and a projection aligner equipped therewith, said projection optical system comprises, viewed from said first object side, in order of succession, the first group of lenses with positive refractive power, and the second group of lenses virtually consists of afocal system, and the third group of lens with positive refractive power, and if the focal length of said projection optical system is represented by F, the projection magnification ratio of said projection optical system is represented by B, the distance between said first object and said second object is represented by L, the distance from said first object to the lens surface that is closest to said first group of lenses is represented by d.sub.0, the focal length of said first group of lenses is represented by f.sub.1, and the focal length of said third group of lenses is represented by f.sub.3 herein, then the following conditions should be satisfied:

Projection optical system and projection exposure apparatus

A projection optical system of a projection exposure apparatus according to the present invention has a plurality of optical members made of glass materials at least one of which has a temperature characteristic of index of refraction different from that of the other glass material. Further, a temperature control device for controlling a temperature of at least one of the optical members is provided. An imaging characteristic of the projection optical system is controlled. The imaging characteristic to be controlled is a non-linear magnification or curvature of field. The temperature control device sets the temperature to be controlled to a variable target temperature determined in accordance with the imaging characteristic of the projection optical system. An exposing operation for transferring a mask pattern to a photosensitive substrate is started after the temperature of the optical member to be controlled reaches a predetermined allowable range of the target temperature.

Projection exposure apparatus wherein focusing of the apparatus is

A projection optical system that projects an image of an object in an object surface onto an image surface with a fixed reduction magnification comprises, in light path order from the object surface: a first group of lenses with positive refractive power; a second group of lenses forming an approximately afocal system; and a third group of lenses with positive refractive power. The projection optical system has a focal length F, the projection optical system has a projection magnification B, the object surface and the image surface are separated by a distance L, and a lens surface in the first group of lenses that is closest to the object surface is separated from the object surface by a distance d.sub.0. A paraxial marginal ray from an axial object point on the object surface enters the second group of lenses G.sub.2 at an entrance height h.sub.1 from an optical axis, and the paraxial marginal ray from the axial object point on the object surface emerges from the second group of lenses G.sub.2 at an emergence height h.sub.2 from the optical axis. The optical system is characterized by the following:

In the projection optical system that projects an image of the first object onto the second object with a fixed reduction ratio and a projection aligner equipped therewith, said projection optical system comprises, viewed from said first object side, in order of succession, the first group of lenses with positive refractive power, and the second group of lenses virtually consists of afocal system, and the third group of lens with positive refractive power, and if the focal length of the overall system is represented by F, the projection magnification ratio of said projection optical system is represented by B, the distance between said first object and said second object is represented by L, and when a ray from the second object side of said projection optical system that is parallel to the optical axis of said projection optical system is incident on said projection optical system, a distance between a point where an extension on the first object side of said ray intercepts the optical axis and said first object plane is represented by e, and a height of said ray on said first object from the optical axis of said projection optical system, when said ray, coming through said projection optical system, reaches said first object is represented by h, then the following conditions should be satisfied:

The projection optical system of the present invention decreases particularly the secondary spectrum of chromatic aberration and minimizes restrictions on lens design. The projection optical system of a projection exposure apparatus which irradiates a light beam from a light source on a mask to expose a pattern of the mask onto a photosensitive substrate through the projection optical system has at least one diffraction optical element, at least one quartz lens, and at least one fluorite lens. The diffraction optical element has a positive power, the quartz lens has a negative power, and the fluorite lens has a positive power. An Ar--F laser is preferably used as a light source.

Projection optical system and projection exposure apparatus using the

A projection exposure apparatus can correct focal point movement caused by an environmental change, such as a change in temperature or atmospheric pressure, during an operation, while minimizing occurrence of a new aberration such as a spherical aberration caused by focus correction. The projection exposure apparatus of this invention exposes a mask pattern on a photosensitive substrate via a projection optical system. The projection optical system includes a refraction or reflection type optical member, and a diffraction type correction optical member. The correction optical member has focal position movement with an environmental change during an operation in a direction opposite to the direction of focal position movement of the optical member with the environmental change during the operation.

A projection exposure apparatus includes illuminating optical means for illuminating a projection negative, and projection optical means for projection-exposing the projection negative illuminated by the illuminating optical means onto a substrate, the illuminating optical means including light source means for supplying exposure light, annular light source forming means for forming an annular secondary light source by the light from the light source means, and condenser means for condensing the light beam from the annular light source forming means on the projection negative, and is designed to satisfy the following condition:

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Tokyo, Japan

Kazuo Ushida