Nikon Corporation

Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Motokatsu Imai

Hiroyuki Nagasaka

Soichi Owa

Nobutaka Magome

Shigeru Hirukawa

Kenichi Shiraishi

Hiroaki Takaiwa

Masahiro Nei

Yasufumi Nishii

Yoshihiko Kudo

Hirotaka Kohno

Jiro Inoue

Susumu Makinouchi

Kou Ohno

Tsuyoshi Matsumoto

Yasuhiko Hashimoto

Koh Ohno

Yuuji Yamazaki

Shigeki Yamauchi

Tohru Morita

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 forms an immersion area by supplying a liquid onto a part of a substrate, and forms a prescribed pattern on the substrate through the liquid. A spare immersion area which is capable of holding part of the liquid on the substrate, is formed at the outer circumference of the immersion area. It is possible to prevent the separation of the liquid, which is disposed between a lower surface of a projection optical system and a substrate surface, from the lower surface of the projection optical system in accordance with the relative movement of the projection optical system and the substrate.

Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and device fabrication method

An exposure apparatus forms an immersion area by supplying a liquid onto a part of a substrate, and forms a prescribed pattern on the substrate through the liquid. A spare immersion area, which is capable of holding part of the liquid on the substrate, is formed at the outer circumference of the immersion area. It is possible to prevent the separation of the liquid, which is disposed between a lower surface of a projection optical system and a substrate surface, from the lower surface of the projection optical system in accordance with the relative movement of the projection optical system and the substrate.

Modular encoder and method of manufacturing the same

A disclosed multiple rotating absolute encoder comprises an encoding plate with a first pattern and a second pattern formed thereon, a first detection unit for reading the first pattern and outputting an information in one rotation of the encoding plate, a second detection unit for reading the second pattern and outputting a first rotation information of the encoding plate, a calculation unit for calculating a second rotation data based on the information in one rotation and the first rotation data, a selection unit for monitoring a rotation speed of the encoding plate and selecting either the first rotation data or the second rotation data in accordance with the rotation speed, and a data calculation unit for calculating rotation information of the encoding plate on the basis of either the first rotation data or the second rotation data selected by the selection unit and the information in one rotation.

Multiple rotating absolute encoder capable of accurately latching

An absolute encoder device comprises a code plate having a 1-track type absolute pattern whose minimum reading unit length is .lambda., a first incremental pattern with a pitch .lambda., and a second incremental pattern with pitch 2.sup.-n .lambda.. The device also comprises a detector section, which is movable relative to the code plate, which includes a detector detecting the absolute pattern and obtaining an absolute pattern signal, a detector detecting a first incremental pattern and obtaining a first incremental signal, and a detector detecting a second incremental pattern and obtaining a second incremental pattern signal. A shorter cyclic incremental signal is generated from the first incremental signal by interpolating and the shorter cyclic signal is synchronized with the second incremental signal. The absolute pattern signal, the second incremental signal and the synchronized first incremental signal represent the relative positional relationship between the code plate and the detector section.

Absolute encoder using interpolation to obtain high resolution

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Yokohama, Japan

Motokatsu Imai