Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Yukio Yamane

Yoshinori Miwa

Tomoharu Hase

Kazuya Ono

Kazuo Takahashi

Kotaro Akutsu

Eiji Osanai

Shuichi Yabu

Takao Ukaji

Tsuneo Takashima

An exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate to a pattern of a mask by use of exposure light. The apparatus includes an optical system for directing the exposure light from a light source to the substrate, the optical system having an optical element, a first casing for accommodating therein an optical surface of the optical element, and a second casing for accommodating therein the optical element and the first casing, a first port provided in the first casing, a second port provided in the second casing, a supplier for supplying an inert gas into the first casing and the second casing, and a supplier for supplying an inert gas into the first casing and the second casing through the first port and the second port.

Exposure apparatus and method of cleaning optical element of the same

An exposure apparatus includes a light source, which emits an exposure beam, an optical system including a casing and an optical element, the casing having a closed space and the optical element being disposed in the casing, a first supplier, which supplies an inert gas into the closed space, a second supplier, which supplies one of oxygen and clean air into the closed space and a controller, which changes a wavelength of the exposure beam between exposure of a substrate and cleaning of the optical element.

An exposure apparatus for transferring a pattern of a mask onto a substrate. The apparatus includes a door and a sensor for detecting ozone in a space enclosed by the door. Opening of the door is prohibited when ozone concentration detected by the sensor is not less than a predetermined value.

Exposure apparatus and manufacturing method using the same

An exposure apparatus includes an illumination system for illuminating a mask with an exposure beam having a wavelength of 250 nm or less, wherein a pattern of the mask can be lithographically transferred to a substrate through the illumination by the illumination system, a conditioning system for circulating an inside gas of the exposure apparatus and a control system for performing at least one of ozone removal and ozone detection, for ozone in the gas circulated.

Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method using the same

An exposure apparatus for transferring a pattern onto an object. The apparatus includes an optical member constituting part of an optical system arranged between a light source and the object, a rotor having a hole extending in an axial direction thereof, the optical member being mounted in the hole, a stator, the rotor and the stator constituting a motor for rotating the optical member, and a non-contact bearing for supporting the rotor.

Exposure apparatus

An exposure apparatus includes an illumination system including an optical element and an inside movable portion, and a driving mechanism for driving the movable portion. The driving mechanism includes at least one of a non-contact type bearing and a non-contact type motor. The illumination system can be placed in a predetermined gas ambience, while the movable portion can be placed in the same gas ambience.

Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method

An exposure apparatus in which an exposure process is performed by projecting an exposure beam of X-rays or ultraviolet rays from an excimer laser, for example, to a substrate, is provided with an arrangement wherein an inert gas containing a small amount of oxygen is supplied to a closed space where an optical element is disposed, and wherein the exposure beam is projected thereto by which ozone is produced in the closed space. An organic compound deposited on the optical element can be removed by a photochemical reaction through projection of the exposure beam and the produced ozone.

A positioning system includes an X-Y table having a substrate holding surface for holding a substrate, the holding surface being movable in directions of X and Y axes, respectively, relative to a base table, a rotational table being rotationally movable about each of the X and Y axes and also being movable in a direction of a Z axis which is perpendicular to both of the X and Y axes, a controller for driving controlling the X-Y table and the rotational table and a storage device for storing, beforehand, information regarding rotation about the X or Y axis to be caused during motion of the X-Y table. The controller actuates the rotational table on the basis of the information stored in the storage device to correct rotation about the X or Y axis caused during motion of the X-Y table.

Positioning system

A positioning system wherein a holding surface for holding a substrate is movable relative to a base in directions of X, Y and Z axes and in rotational directions about the X, Y and Z axes, wherein there are plural guiding devices associated respectively with motions in the directions of X, Y and Z axes and in the rotational directions about the X, Y and Z axes, respectively, and wherein each guiding device comprises a non-contact static bearing device.

Positioning system and method and apparatus for device manufacture

A substrate transfer system includes a temporary support for temporarily supporting a substrate, a chuck for holding the substrate by attraction, a stage for supporting the chuck movably in a predetermined direction intersecting a substrate supporting face of the temporary support, a driving system for moving the stage in the predetermined direction, a measuring system for measuring a position of the stage with respect to the predetermined direction, a position servo system for controlling the driving system on the basis of the measurement by the measuring system to thereby servo control the position of the stage with respect to the predetermined direction, and a control system adapted to release the substrate attracting and holding operation of the chuck on the basis of a value corresponding to an amount of operation applied from the position servo system to the driving system. This substrate transfer system assures transfer of a substrate with small stress to the substrate, as well as high speed and high precision transfer of the substrate with a simplified .theta. alignment mechanism.

Substrate transfer system

A system for detecting yawing of an article movable in first and second orthogonal directions along a plane includes a first yawing detecting device for detecting any angular change of a first surface of the article opposed to the first yawing detecting device, during movement of the article in the first direction; and a second yawing detecting device for detecting any angular change of a second surface of the article different from the first surface and opposed to the second yawing detecting device, during movement of the article in the second direction.

Position detecting system

An exposure apparatus and an exposure method capable of performing high-precision superposition exposure by preventing the thermal deformation of a position measurement target, for controlling positioning of a moved member, from influencing the correction of an error in the positioning of the moved member. The exposure apparatus projects an image of a pattern, formed on a mask, onto a photosensitive substrate through a projection optical system. A stage, on which the photosensitive substrate is mounted, is movable in at least X-axis and Y-axis directions in an imaging plane of the projection optical system. Position measuring devices measure the position of the stage in each of the two directions and are disposed so that the Abbe error is substantially zero with respect to the position at which the substrate is exposed to the pattern image. A pattern detector is disposed on a measuring axis of the position measuring devices with respect to one of the two directions to optically detect an alignment pattern formed on the photosensitive substrate. A rotation measuring device measures the amount of rotation of a measurement target of the position measuring devices with respect to the X- and Y-axis directions, and a controller controls the position and the amount of rotation of the stage on the basis of the amount of rotation measured by the rotation measuring device, the positions measured by the position measuring devices, and information regarding the position of the pattern detected by the pattern detector.

Apparatus and method for exposure

A plate-like article holding device particularly suitably usable in an exposure apparatus for printing a pattern of a reticle or mask on a semiconductor wafer, as a wafer holding device for holding the wafer at a pattern printing station, is disclosed. In an embodiment, the holding device includes a wafer chuck having a wafer attracting surface and a plurality of throughbores formed in relation to the attracting surface. Also, the device includes a plurality of support pillars provided in relation to the throughbores, respectively, and having end faces effective to support a wafer by attraction. There is provided a driving mechanism for moving the wafer chuck in a direction substantially perpendicular to the wafer attracting surface of the chuck so as to allow that the supporting end faces of the support pillars project outwardly beyond the wafer attracting surface of the wafer chuck or, alternatively, they are accommodated within the wafer chuck. A wafer having been conveyed to the device is first attracted to and supported by the supporting pillars as they are projected from the wafer attracting surface of the chuck. Thereafter, the wafer chuck is moved by the driving mechanism so that the wafer attracting surface thereof contacts the wafer.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Yukio Yamane