Nikon Corporation

Osamu Tanitsu

Hirohisa Tanaka

Takashi Mori

Tomoyuki Matsuyama

Koji Shigematsu

Mitsunori Toyoda

Hisashi Nishinaga

Hiroyuki Hirota

Yasushi Mizuno

Tsuneyuki Hagiwara

Masahiro Nakagawa

Naonori Kita

Ikuo Hikima

Nozomu Emura

Kinya Kato

Yuji Kudo

Norio Komine

Masato Shibuya

Takehito Kudo

Kenichi Muramatsu

Kayo Sugiyama

Hideki Komatsuda

Noriaki Yamamoto

Kiyoto Mashima

Nobumichi Kanayamaya

Masaya Yamamoto

Tetsuo Takahashi

Kenji Nishi

Soichi Owa

Katsuhiko Murakami

Shinichi Kurita

Hideo Hirose

Kyoji Nakamura

Kouji Muramatsu

Norio Miyake

Ryuji Takaya

Risa Yoshimoto

Akihiko Goto

An illumination optical apparatus that illuminates an object with illumination light includes a first spatial light modulator in an optical path of the illumination light, and having a plurality of first mirror elements; a second spatial light modulator in the optical path of the illumination light from the first spatial light modulator, and having a plurality of second mirror elements; a control unit which controls the first and second spatial light modulators to control postures of the first and second mirror elements; and an optical integrator in the optical path of the illumination light from the second spatial light modulator on an incidence side of an illumination pupil plane of the illumination optical apparatus. The control unit controls the postures of the first and second mirror elements to set a light intensity distribution of the illumination light on the illumination pupil plane.

Spatial light modulator unit, illumination optical system, exposure device, and device manufacturing method

An illumination optical system which illuminates an illumination objective surface with a light from a light source. The illumination optical system includes a spatial light modulator which includes a plurality of optical elements arranged within a predetermined plane and controlled individually, and which forms a light intensity distribution in an illumination pupil of the illumination optical system; and a polarization unit which is arranged in a position optically conjugate with the predetermined plane, and which polarizes an incident light beam having a first and second partial light beams, coming into the polarization unit such that the first and second partial light beams have polarization states different from each other, and emits the polarized incident light beam as an outgoing light beam, wherein the polarization unit changes, in a cross section of the outgoing light beam, a ratio between a cross sectional areas of the first and second partial light beams.

Illumination optical system, exposure apparatus, device production method, and light polarization unit

There is disclosed a polarization-modulating element for modulating a polarization state of incident light into a predetermined polarization state, the polarization-modulating element being made of an optical material with optical activity and having a circumferentially varying thickness profile.

Polarization-modulating element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method

One embodiment relates to a spatial light modulator unit comprising: a spatial light modulator with a plurality of optical elements; a spatial light modulation element applying spatial light modulation to the incident light and making rays of intensity levels according to positions of the respective optical elements; and a control unit.

An exposure apparatus includes an optical member that can be provided on a stage. The optical member has a first surface contacting a liquid when moved to face a projection system, and a second surface contacting a gas and transmitting light having come from the projection system via the liquid and the first surface. The optical member is configured such that at least a large-angle ray of the light, which has an angle with an optical axis of the projection system sufficiently large to undergo total reflection at an end surface of the projection system when the liquid is absent, travels from the projection system to the second surface without passing through gas. The second surface transmits the large-angle ray, which is received by the light-receiving surface.

Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and method for producing device

An illumination optical apparatus has an optical unit. The optical unit has a light splitter to split an incident beam into two beams; a first spatial light modulator which can be arranged in an optical path of a first beam; a second spatial light modulator which can be arranged in an optical path of a second beam; and a light combiner which combines a beam having passed via the first spatial light modulator, with a beam having passed via the second spatial light modulator; each of the first spatial light modulator and the second spatial light modulator has a plurality of optical elements arranged two-dimensionally and controlled individually.

Optical unit, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method

According to one embodiment, a spatial light modulator unit is used in the illumination optical system for illuminating an illumination target surface with light from a light source and comprises: a spatial light modulator with a plurality of optical elements arrayed in a predetermined plane and controlled individually; a spatial light modulation element which applies spatial light modulation to the incident light from the light source and which makes rays of intensity levels according to positions of the respective optical elements, incident on the plurality of optical elements; and a control unit which individually controls the plurality of optical elements on the basis of information about the intensity levels of the rays incident on the respective optical elements.

To optionally forming a multilevel light intensity distribution on an illumination pupil plane, the illumination apparatus implements K&#xf6;hler illumination on an illumination target surface, using as a light source the light intensity distribution formed on the illumination pupil plane on the basis of light from a light source. The illumination apparatus has a spatial light modulator, a condensing optical system, and a controller. The spatial light modulator has reflecting surfaces which are two-dimensionally arranged and postures of which can be controlled independently of each other. The condensing optical system condenses light from the reflecting surfaces to form a predetermined light intensity distribution on the illumination pupil plane. The controller controls the number of reflecting surfaces contributing to arriving light, for each of points on the illumination pupil plane forming the light intensity distribution, according to a light intensity distribution to be formed on the illumination pupil plane.

Illumination apparatus, illumination method, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method

An exposure apparatus irradiates a substrate with light via a projection system and liquid, and includes a stage that moves below the projection system, and a light-receiving element having a light-receiving surface. An optical member provided on the stage has a first surface contacting the liquid when moved to face the projection system, and a second surface contacting a gas and transmitting light having come from the projection system via the liquid and the first surface. The optical member is configured such that at least a large-angle ray of the light, which has an angle with an optical axis of the projection system sufficiently large to undergo total reflection at an end surface of the projection system when the liquid is absent, travels from the projection system to the second surface without passing through gas. The second surface transmits the large-angle ray, which is received by the light-receiving surface.

Growing community of inventors

Kumagaya, Japan

Osamu Tanitsu