Nikon Corporation

Masahiro Nei

Shigeru Hirukawa

Soichi Owa

Jiro Inoue

Hiroyuki Nagasaka

Nobutaka Magome

Masakazu Sekiguchi

Naoyuki Kobayashi

Kenichi Shiraishi

Hiroaki Takaiwa

Tomoyuki Matsuyama

Masamitsu Yanagihara

Yasufumi Nishii

Yoshihiko Kudo

Tetsuya Yamamoto

Hirotaka Kohno

Motokatsu Imai

Isao Totsuka

Satoshi Hagiwara

Hiroshi Chiba

Tohru Kiuchi

Yuuki Ishii

Naomasa Shiraishi

Dai Arai

Tetsuo Taniguchi

Masahiko Yasuda

Masahiko Okumura

Tadashi Nagayama

Masato Hamatani

Hiroki Tateno

Kazuhiro Hirano

Taro Ogata

Takeyuki Mizutani

Takahiro Horikoshi

Kenichiro Kaneko

Takahisa Kikuchi

To determine the state of a subject person with a simple structure, an image determining device includes: an imaging unit that captures an image from a first direction, the image including the subject person; a first detector that detects size information from the image, the size information being about the subject person in the first direction; a second detector that detects position-related information, the position-related information being different from the information detected by the first detector; and a determining unit that determines the state of the subject person, based on a result of the detection performed by the first detector and a result of the detection performed by the second detector.

Image determining device to determine the state of a subject

To appropriately guide a subject person while protecting a privacy of the subject person despite use of an captured image of the subject person, a guidance system includes: an image capturing unit capable of capturing an image containing a subject person from a first direction; a detection unit that detects a size of an image of the subject person from the image captured by the image capturing unit; and a guidance unit that provides guidance for the subject person based on a detection result of the detection unit.

Guidance system, detection device, and position assessment device

An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate by projecting a pattern image onto the substrate through a liquid. The exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system by which the pattern image is projected onto the substrate, and a movable member which is movable relative to the projection optical system. A liquid-repellent member, at least a part of a surface of which is liquid-repellent, is provided detachably on the movable member, the liquid-repellent member being different from the substrate.

Exposure method, substrate stage, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method

An exposure apparatus comprises a liquid immersion system, a first mover, and a prescribed member. The exposure apparatus exposes a substrate via an optical member and a liquid. The liquid immersion system performs supply and recovery of the liquid. The first mover can move in a first area, and can hold the liquid between itself and the optical member. The prescribed member is removed from the first mover when the first mover withdraws from a position opposing the optical member, and can hold the liquid between itself and the optical member.

Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and device manufacturing method

A vacuum system for an immersion exposure apparatus includes a flow passage connected to a vacuum source, and a separator provided on the flow passage. The separator separates any gas from a liquid sucked into the flow passage together with the gas.

Exposure apparatus and method for producing device

An exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system for projecting a pattern on a reticle onto an object to be exposed. The apparatus also includes a reference mark that serves as a reference for an alignment between the reticle and the object. The apparatus also includes a first fluid that has a refractive index of 1 or greater, and fills a space between at least part of said projection optical system and the object and a space between at least part of said projection optical system and the reference mark. In addition, an alignment mechanism aligns the object by using said projection optical system and the first fluid.

An exposure apparatus performs exposure for a substrate by filling a space between a projection optical system and the substrate with a liquid and projecting an image of a pattern onto the substrate through the liquid by using the projection optical system. The exposure apparatus includes a substrate stage for holding the substrate, a liquid supply unit for supplying the liquid to a side of an image plane of the projection optical system, and a focus/leveling-detecting system for detecting surface information about a surface of the substrate not through the liquid. The exposure apparatus performs liquid immersion exposure for the substrate while adjusting a positional relationship between the surface of the substrate and the image plane formed through the projection optical system and the liquid, on the basis of the surface information detected by the focus/leveling-detecting system. The liquid immersion exposure can be performed at a satisfactory pattern transfer accuracy.

An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate P by locally filling a side of an image plane of a projection optical system PL with a liquidand projecting an image of a pattern onto the substrate P through the liquidand the projection optical system PL. The exposure apparatus includes a recovery unitwhich recovers the liquidoutflowed to the outside of the substrate P. When the exposure process is performed in accordance with the liquid immersion method, the pattern can be transferred accurately while suppressing any environmental change even when the liquid outflows to the outside of the substrate.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Masahiro Nei