Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Toshikazu Matsushita

Masao Kosugi

Shuichi Yabu

Masakatsu Ohta

A semiconductor device manufacturing projection exposure apparatus in which a pattern of a reticle is projected onto a semiconductor wafer through a projection optical system having a lens element and in which the reticle is irradiated with a light of a predetermined wavelength to thereby transfer the pattern of the reticle onto the semiconductor wafer. The apparatus includes a chamber adapted to house the reticle, the wafer and the projection optical system in a substantially closed space, detectors for detecting a temperature and a pressure of a gas contained in the space, and an adjusting unit for adjusting the temperature and pressure of the gas in the chamber, from the outside of the chamber, the operation of the adjusting unit being controlled on the basis of the detection by the detectors, whereby the temperature and pressure of the gas contained in the space are regulated so as to be best suited to retain a predetermined optical performance of the projection optical system and, whereby, high-precision pattern transfer is assured.

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Tokyo, Japan

Toshikazu Matsushita