Nikon Corporation

Other

Masamitsu Yanagihara

Masakazu Sekiguchi

Tomoyuki Matsuyama

Masahiro Nei

Seiji Miyazaki

Tetsuya Yamamoto

Hideji Goto

Satoshi Hagiwara

Isao Totsuka

Kei Nara

Tsuyoshi Naraki

Masami Seki

Junji Hazama

Hideki Koitabashi

Tomoyuki Watanabe

Hiroshi Shirasu

Hiroshi Chiba

Susumu Mori

Tetsuo Kikuchi

Tsuyoshi Narabe

Noritsugu Hanazaki

Yoshiyuki Katamata

Tomohide Hamada

Masaichi Murakami

Hiroshi Kitano

Noriaki Yamamoto

Tadaaki Shinozaki

Masanobu Ito

Tsuyohsi Narabe

Tomohiro Katsume

Osamu Nakamura

Yoichi Hamashima

Kei Hara

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 and a method which make it possible to enhance the fineness of pattern in spite of the trend to enlarge the size of the photosensitive substrate and device. In this apparatus, a mask and the photosensitive substrate are allowed to synchronously scan, and the optical projecting system thereof is provided with a scanning direction adjusting means which is designed to adjust the position of scanning direction of a projected image to be projected onto the substrate, wherein a non-linear component of error is determined in advance and the result thus determined is stored as a correction value for the apparatus, thereby enabling the pattern exposure to be performed while continuously controlling the image-adjusting mechanism on the basis of the correction value.

Exposure method and apparatus

An exposure apparatus has a field stop, disposed in a position conjugate to the reticle, for regulating an illumination area on the reticle. The field stop is constructed of two aperture members including light shielding portions, rectangular first and second apertures and light reducing portions formed at sides of these apertures. The exposure apparatus also has a drive system for shifting a position of the light reducing portion. and relatively moving the two aperture members during the projection.

Exposure apparatus and field stop thereof

In the scanning exposure method of the present invention, a mask and a substrate are moved in a synchronous manner, and first patterns and a second pattern are connectedly exposed on the substrate. At least a portion of the first patterns and at least a portion of the second pattern form a common pattern, and the common pattern and non-common patterns, which differ from the common pattern, are formed in mask as the first patterns and the second pattern. The first patterns and the second pattern are connected by means of the common pattern.

Scanning exposure method and scanning type exposure apparatus

Scanning type exposure apparatus and exposure method

An exposure apparatus has a field stop, disposed in a position conjugate to a reticle, for regulating an illumination area on the reticle. The field stop is constructed of two aperture members including light shielding portions, rectangular first and second apertures and light reducing portions formed at sides of these apertures. The exposure apparatus also has a drive system for shifting positions of light reducing portions and relatively moving the two aperture members during the projection.

Positional discrepancies of images of segmental areas, which are caused by stretching of a substrate in the Y direction, are corrected by changing magnifications of respective projection optical systems and inclinations of parallel plane glass pieces with respect optical axes. After that, positional discrepancies of the images after the correction are accurately detected by using a calibration system for the projection optical systems. Thus it is possible to confirm whether or not the positional discrepancies are accurately corrected. If the correction is insufficient as a result of the confirmation, at least one of correction of the magnifications of the respective projection optical systems and shift of the images projected through the respective projection optical systems onto the substrate is executed again so that amounts of the positional discrepancies are sufficiently small. On the other hand, the positional discrepancy can be easily determined by storing positional information and a detected signal concerning an image formed by a projection optical system in synchronization with a clock, followed by signal processing.

Projection exposure apparatus, method for correcting positional

An alignment device includes an image pickup optical system for picking up an image of a first reference mark disposed on a mask and an image of a second reference mark disposed on a photosensitive substrate through an image pickup optical system, a memory for storing information associated with the imaging characteristics of the image pickup optical system, and a correction system for correcting the positions of the first and second reference marks, detected using image information from the image pickup system, on the basis of the information associated with the imaging characteristics of the image pickup optical system.

Alignment device and method based on imaging characteristics of the

To improve the focus accuracy during alignment and to improve the alignment accuracy even if a substrate has warpage, during alignment, an approximate focus plane is obtained by using only the detection results at focus points of focus sensors located near the ends of a substrate, close to alignment points, and without using the detection results at focus points of two central focus sensors. The auto-focus operation is performed by using the above operation results. As a result, a substrate is driven so as to be adjusted to the approximate focus plane during alignment.

Exposure method and apparatus including focus control

An image in which a feature corresponding to a reference mark formed at a predetermined position in an exposure apparatus is formed at a predetermined position in an arbitrary area is stored as a reference image, and a reference image including an image corresponding to the reference mark is detected from an image to be processed obtained by picking up an image near the reference mark to detect the position of the reference mark in the image to be processed, thus enabling detection of the positional relationship between a reference in the exposure apparatus and substrate alignment means.

Position detection method

In a scanning type exposure apparatus for exposing an entire surface of a pattern region on a mask to a substrate by scanning the mask and the substrate with respect to a projection optical system in a predetermined direction with a speed ratio in accordance with a magnification of the projection optical system, there are provided a plurality of illumination optical systems for illuminating respective areas of the pattern region on the mask with respective light fluxes from respective light source; a plurality of projection optical systems arranged so as to correspond to the respective illumination optical systems, the projection optical systems projecting respective images of the areas illuminated by the respective illumination optical systems onto respective projection areas on the substrate; a memory device for obtaining and storing a change of shape of the substrate; a magnification changing device for changing a magnification of at least one of the projection optical systems in accordance with the change of shape of the substrate; and an imaging position changing device for changing the position of said image projected via the at least one projection optical systems in accordance with the change in magnification.

Growing community of inventors

Zama, Japan

Masamitsu Yanagihara