Nikon Corporation

Toru Kiuchi

Kenji Nishi

Yukio Kakizaki

Kesayoshi Amano

Toshikazu Umatate

Nobutaka Magome

Hiromitsu Iwata

Junichi Morino

The stage apparatus has a movable stage structure body which holds a substrate plate to be processed and is movable on a base structure body. This stage apparatus comprises a receipt edge orifice disposed at least at a portion of a fluid path which is disposed at said stage structure body; and a feed edge orifice being detachably engageable with said receipt edge orifice at a predetermined position on a base structure body and providing or discharging a predetermined fluid to the receipt edge orifice during said engagement of said feed edge orifice with said receipt edge orifice.

Stage apparatus, exposure apparatus and method for exposing substrate plate

The stage apparatus can improve static and dynamic features by reducing the number of electrical wiring or tubes for air pressure disposed in a movable main stage member of a movable stage apparatus. The movable stage apparatus has a base structure body and a movable stage structure body. When the movable stage structure body is transferred on the base structure body to a position in which to exchange wafers, a receiving terminal part disposed on the movable stage structure body comes into contact with a feed terminal part disposed on the base structure body and a battery loaded on the movable stage structure body is charged with electric current supplied from the feed terminal part. When the stage structure body is apart from the position in which to exchange wafers, adsorption of the wafer loaded on the stage structure body is sustained electrically by utilizing the electricity of the battery. A control over the start of adsorption or the release thereof upon the action for exchanging wafers is effected in a wireless or wire coupler system.

Stage apparatus and method for producing circuit device utilizing the same

An exposure method for irradiating a mask with an illumination light through an illumination optical system and exposing photosensitive substrate to the illumination light through a projection optical system including the steps of supplying gas having less absorption of the illumination light to a light path of the illumination light, at least a portion of the illumination optical system and the projection optical system; and changing an exposing condition for the photosensitive substrate in accordance with a variation in transmittance or in reflectance of at least one of the illumination optical system and the projection optical system, resulting from irradiation of the illumination light and attenuation of the illumination light in the light path.

Exposure apparatus, exposure method using the same and method of manufacture of circuit device

In order to reduce mask pattern transfer error caused by expansion of the mask substrate during transferring the circuit pattern onto the photosensitive substrate, a mask substrate is loosely supported on a plurality of mounts on the mask stage so that the mask substrate can freely expand in response to changes in its temperature. A measuring instrument (such as a temperature sensor or an interferometer) is used to measure a value representing the expansion amount of the mask substrate. Alignment and positioning of the mask substrate and the photosensitive substrate is adjusted in response to the expansion amount of the reticle, based on the measured value.

Mask substrate, projection exposure apparatus equipped with the mask

This specification discloses a method of and an apparatus for manufacturing a disc medium which utilize the projection exposure technique of a stopper for lithography, rotate a circular photosensitive substrate which provides the disc medium at the same speed as a circular reticle having a pattern of information tracks while rotating the reticle, and irradiate the reticle with illuminating light of a slit-like shape or a sectoral shape extending in the diametrical direction of the circular reticle to thereby effect rotation scan exposure.

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Tokyo, Japan

Toru Kiuchi