Nikon Corporation

Manabu Toguchi

Nobutaka Fujimori

Masaki Kato

Kei Nara

Masaichi Murakami

Katsuya Machino

Tomoyuki Watanabe

Hiroshi Shirasu

Yasuo Aoki

Tomohide Hamada

Toshio Matsuura

Masami Seki

Makoto Tsuchiya

Kazuhiko Hori

Tadaaki Shinozaki

Masahiro Iguchi

Kenji Shimizu

Kunihiro Kawae

Kazuo Murano

A substrate is held by adsorption by a substrate holding frame that is formed into a frame shape and is lightweight, and the substrate holding frame is driven along a horizontal plane by a drive unit that includes a linear motor. Below the substrate holding frame, a plurality of air levitation units are placed that support by levitation the substrate in a noncontact manner such that the substrate is substantially horizontal, by jetting air to the lower surface of the substrate. Since the plurality of air levitation units cover a movement range of the substrate holding frame, the drive unit can guide the substrate holding frame (substrate) along the horizontal plane at high speed and with high precision.

Object moving apparatus, object processing apparatus, exposure apparatus, object inspecting apparatus and device manufacturing method

An exposure apparatus for exposure-transferring an image of a pattern projected through an optical system having a plurality of optical units Lto Lonto an object P, comprises a correcting device which corrects a position of at least one of a plurality of images to be projected onto the object P by the plurality of optical units Lto Lso that displacements of the optical units Lto Lare compensated.

Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and producing method of microdevice

It is an object of the present invention to smoothly join divided patterns adjacent to each other in a synchronous moving direction when a mask and a substrate are moved in synchronization, and the divided patterns are joined and picture-synthesized on the substrate. According to the invention, when the mask and the substrate are moved in synchronization with respect to irradiation with an exposing light, the divided patterns of the mask are projected on the substrate, and a plurality of divided patterns adjacent on the substrate are joined and exposed, the divided patterns adjacent to each other in the synchronous moving direction partially overlap each other.

Scanning exposure method and system

Disclosed is an exposure apparatus designed to expose the pattern of a mask through a projection optical system on a substrate by using an exposure light. This exposure apparatus comprises a line width detector for detecting the pattern line width of the mask, and a control unit for controlling the light exposure of the exposure light based on the detecting result of the line width detector. Thus, exposure is easily carried out on the substrate without any line width differences even if a plurality of masks are used.

Exposure apparatus

In the exposure method of the invention, a first pattern and a second pattern are joined and exposed on a substrate using a mask having a pattern. The pattern on the mask has a common pattern for the first pattern and the second pattern, and a non-common pattern different from the common pattern and formed continuously with the common pattern. The common pattern and at least a part of the non-common pattern are selected to effect the joining and exposing. According to this method, the number of masks required for exposure processing accompanying screen synthesis can be reduced.

Exposure method and exposure apparatus and mask

An exposure method, exposure apparatus and mask are suitable for manufacturing an active matrix liquid crystal display including, for example, a gate electrode layer and a source/drain electrode layer. A stitching portion between unit patterns in a second layer is offset from the stitching portion in a first layer by a predetermined distance. The stitching portions of the second layer are always positioned over unit patterns of the first layer. Accordingly, the contrast gap that occurs at the stitching portion as a boundary is defined only by an error in the exposure position of the second layer. The contrast gap is not affected by an error in the exposure position of the first layer, unlike the conventional method. Because the contrast gap caused by the error in the exposure position of the first layer is eliminated, the total contrast gap that occurs at the stitching portion as a boundary is significantly reduced.

Exposure method, exposure apparatus, and mask

A projection exposure apparatus includes an illumination optical system for illuminating a plurality of partial areas on a mask. A plurality of projection optical systems each project images of the partial areas thus illuminated onto a photosensitive substrate. A mask table holds the mask. A position detector detects a position of the mask table. A substrate table holds the photosensitive substrate. A plurality of first reference marks are provided on the mask table; each of the plurality of first reference marks are disposed at a position corresponding to each of the plurality of projection optical systems. A plurality of second reference marks are provided on the substrate table; the second reference marks are substantially conjugate with the first reference marks with respect to the projection optical systems and are in a predetermined positional relation with the first reference marks in in-plane directions of the mask and the photosensitive substrate. A positional deviation detector detects positional deviations between the first reference marks and second reference marks when light beams from the illumination optical system are radiated onto the plurality of first reference marks to project the plurality of first reference marks through the projection optical systems onto the plurality of second reference marks. A correcting device corrects imaging characteristics of the projection optical systems, based on the positional deviations. The first reference marks can comprise a single aperture of a plurality of apertures. A reverse-type aperture may be employed. The positional deviation detector may include a single photodetector or a plurality of photodetectors.

Projection exposure apparatus and method having a positional deviation

A method of dividing a circuit pattern to be transferred by a photoprinting apparatus from a reticle to a photosensitive surface. The circuit pattern has a display section and a conductor section. The method includes dividing the circuit pattern into a plurality of divided patterns wherein each of the divided patterns includes at least a part of the display section and a part of the conductor section; and forming a plurality of reticles, each of the reticles having at least one of the divided patterns thereon.

Method of dividing and exposing patterns

A method of measuring the orthogonality of a movement coordinate system of a stage unit having a stage which two-dimensionally moves along the movement coordinate system determined by first and second axes that cross each other, by mounting a measurement substrate having at least three measurement patterns on the stage, the at least three measurement patterns including at least two first patterns arranged on a line parallel to a third axis on an array coordinate system determined by the third and fourth axes crossing each other, and at least two second patterns arranged on a line parallel to the fourth axis; aligning the third axis with respect to the first axis of the movement coordinate system; obtaining a difference in an angle between the fourth axis of the array coordinate system and the second axis of the movement coordinate system as a first deviation by detecting the positions of the second patterns on the movement coordinate system in an aligned state; rotating the measurement substrate by 90 degrees from the aligned state and mounting the measurement substrate on the stage; aligning the fourth axis with respect to the first axis of the movement coordinate system; obtaining a difference in an angle between the third axis of the array coordinate system and the second axis of the movement coordinate system as a second deviation by detecting the positions of the first patterns on the movement coordinate system in the aligned state; and obtaining the orthogonality of the movement coordinate system on the basis of the first and second deviations.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Manabu Toguchi