Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Kawasaki Steel Corporation

Pioneer Electronic Corporation

Pioneer Video Corporation

Other

Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited

Molecular Imprints, Inc.

Canon Nanotechnologies, Inc.

Makoto Mizuno

Ryuichi Ebinuma

Ichiro Onuki

Ryo Nawata

Koji Hanihara

Byung-Jin Choi

Hiroshi Ito

Shigeyuki Uzawa

Tsuyoshi Arai

Yasuo Yagi

Itaru Tsuchiya

Keita Misawa

Masaaki Fujishima

Masanori Iwahashi

Toshihiro Shimizu

Makoto Sasaki

Hideki Matsumoto

Mitsuru Inoue

Yukio Takabayashi

Kiyoshi Arai

Steven C Shackleton

Shinichi Shudo

Fumio Sakai

Toshio Sada

Hiroyuki Tomita

Kohei Wakabayashi

Tsuyoshi Homma

Eita Kinoshita

Naoto Fuse

Katsuhiro Shimazu

Naoki Matsukawa

Toshinori Minowa

Masaru Iwai

Masatsugu Horiuchi

Methods, systems, and apparatus for adjusting a relative position of templates including determining a first plurality of position points of a surface of a region adjacent to an active region of a first template, the surface of the adjacent region and a surface of the active region forming a continuous surface of the first template; identifying a plane of the surface of the adjacent region of the first template based on the first plurality of position points; determining a second plurality of position points of a surface of an active region of a second template, the active region of the second template protruding from a surface of the second template; identifying a plane of the surface of the active region of the second template based on the second plurality of position points; and adjusting a relative position of the first template and the second template based on the identified planes.

System and method for adjusting a position of a template

The present invention provides an imprint apparatus which performs an imprint process of molding an imprint material on a substrate using a mold and forming a pattern on the substrate, the apparatus including a substrate chuck configured to hold the substrate, a protective plate configured to surround the substrate chuck, and a suction mechanism configured to suction at least a part of a gap between the substrate chuck and the protective plate, wherein while the suction mechanism suctions at least the part of the gap, the substrate chuck holds a plate which is different from the substrate on which the pattern is to be formed.

Imprint apparatus, foreign particle removal method, and method of manufacturing article

A pharmaceutical for the prophylaxis or treatment of hypertension or a disease derived from hypertension. The pharmaceutical is characterized by comprising (i) a specific mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist and (ii) one or more components selected from the following components (A) to (C), for administration simultaneously or separately at a time interval: (A) an angiotensin II receptor antagonist, (B) a calcium antagonist, and (C) a diuretic.

Pharmaceutical for prophylaxis or treatment of hypertension

A method of performing an imprint process on each of a plurality of shot regions of a substrate, wherein each shot region includes at least one of at least one valid chip area and at least one invalid chip area, the invalid chip area including an inhibited area in which resin coating is inhibited, the imprint process for a shot region including both the invalid chip area and the valid chip area includes coating the valid chip area of the shot region with the resin, bringing a pattern surface of a mold into contact with the resin, and curing the resin, and in the step of coating, at least the inhibited area of the invalid chip area is not coated with the resin.

Imprint method, imprint apparatus, and article manufacturing method

Provided is an imprint apparatus that imprints a pattern formed on a mold onto a substrate. The imprint apparatus includes a substrate holder that holds the substrate and can move in a direction along the surface of the substrate; a gas supply unit for supplying a gas into a space between a pattern part of the mold and the substrate; and a wall part that is disposed so as to enclose the space that is supplied with gas, wherein at a position opposed to the substrate and the mold, the wall part faces the substrate holder or the substrate with a gap therebetween.

Imprint apparatus and article manufacturing method

An optical element positioning apparatus of the present invention includes a moving unit including an optical element, a drive mechanismconfigured to drive the moving unit, a position measuring sensorconfigured to measure a position of the optical element, and an optical element controllerconfigured to control the drive mechanismbased on a measurement result by the position measuring sensor. An incident position (p point) at which a principal ray of a central field enters the optical elementis displaced from an optical axis of an optical system including the optical element, and the position measuring sensormeasures the incident position in an optical axis direction.

Optical element positioning apparatus

An optical element is moved in six-degrees-of-freedom. Three first displacement sensors are disposed on a base plate and measure respective displacement amounts of three mutually different points on the optical element in a first direction. A second displacement sensor measures a displacement amount of one point on the optical element in a second direction. Two third displacement sensors measure respective displacement amounts of two mutually different points on the optical element in a third direction. A transformation processor transforms the six measured displacement amounts. A calibration processor calibrates the transformed displacement amounts with a calibration matrix of which coefficients are previously obtained to calibrate the displacement amounts in the six-degrees-of-freedom, which have errors due to measurement errors of the displacement sensors. A controller outputs command values based on differences between the calibrated displacement amounts and target displacement amounts.

Optical element positioning apparatus, projection optical system and exposure apparatus

An exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system for projecting a pattern of a reticle onto a substrate to be exposed, via a liquid that is filled in a space between the substrate and a final lens that is closest to the substrate, a movement restricting part for restricting a movement of the liquid by forming a interval between the movement restricting part and the substrate, the interval is smaller than a interval of the space, and a moving part for moving the movement restricting part so that the interval between the movement restricting part and the substrate increases.

Exposure apparatus

An optical-element driving mechanism is configured to drive an optical element, and includes a uniaxial driving mechanism that includes a linear actuator that drives in a first direction, and a link mechanism that converts a displacement in a direction orthogonal to the first direction. The linear actuator is level with the link mechanism in an optical-axis direction. The uniaxial driving mechanism is arranged in order of the link mechanism and the linear actuator in a radial direction when viewed form an optical axis of the optical element.

Driving mechanism and optical element driving apparatus

A driving apparatus comprising an optical element, a supporting block for supporting said optical element by contacting said optical element onto three supporting contact areas, a driving mechanism for practically connecting said supporting block to three driving contact areas and for moving said supporting block via the driving contact area, wherein a difference between an angle of each of the three supporting contact areas in a rotational direction around a rotation axis and an angle of each of the three driving contact areas corresponding with the three supporting contact areas is 10&#xb0; or smaller, where the three supporting areas are substantially located on a first plane, and the rotational axis which is perpendicular to the first plane and passes through a barycenter of the three supporting contact areas.

Driving apparatus, optical system, exposure apparatus and device fabrication method

A driving system for driving an optical element in a first direction includes a linear actuator for producing a displacement in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, a displacement picking unit being extendable in a third direction, perpendicular to both of the first and second directions, for picking out a displacement of the linear actuator, and a direction converting unit disposed at the third-direction side of the linear actuator, for converting a direction of the displacement picked out by the displacement picking unit.

Driving system and optical-element driving system

A holding apparatus configured to hold an optical element includes a supporting member configured to support the optical element, a cylindrical member configured to support the supporting member, a plurality of sensors configured to detect a position of the optical element and the supporting member, and a drive unit configured to drive the supporting member based on outputs from the plurality of sensors. The supporting member includes a plurality of projection portions that contact the optical element. A direction of each vertex of a polygon formed by connecting the plurality of projection portions with a straight line substantially coincides with a direction of each vertex of a polygon formed by connecting the plurality of sensors with a straight line.

Optical element holding apparatus

A driving system for driving an optical element in a first direction. The system includes a linear actuator for producing a displacement in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, a displacement picking unit being extendable in a third second direction, perpendicular to both of the first and second directions, for picking out a displacement of the linear actuator, and a direction converting unit, disposed at the third-direction second-direction side of the linear actuator, for converting a direction of the displacement picked out by the displacement picking unit into a third direction, perpendicular to both the first and second directions.

The present invention provides a positioning apparatus capable of performing six-axis micro adjustment of an optical element in an exposure apparatus with high accuracy, and the exposure apparatus. The positioning apparatus of the present invention includes a first measurement unit for measuring a position/inclination of a moving part having an optical element while being kept from contact with the moving part, and a driving unit capable of driving the moving part in directions of six axes with respect to a fixed part while being kept from contact with the moving part, based on the result of measurement by the first measurement unit.

Growing community of inventors

Utsunomiya, Japan

Makoto Mizuno