Knife edge set of mask aligner, large-view-field mask aligner, and exposure method

Abstract

A shutter blade assembly for a photolithography machine, a large-field of view (FoV) photolithography machine and an exposure method are disclosed. A scanning-directional shutter blade subassembly is moved once during each illuminance test and then moved above alignment marks after the test. During exposure, the scanning-directional shutter blade subassembly moves with a mask stage in the same direction and at the same speed so that it stays stationary relative to the alignment marks on a photomask (). In case of full-FoV exposure, it is not necessary for a non-scanning-directional shutter blade subassembly to be moved, while in case of partial-FoV exposure, it is moved into the partial exposure FoV and defines there a window for obtaining a light spot with a desired shape by modulating illumination light. After that, with the non-scanning-directional shutter blade subassembly being maintained stationary, the exposure FoV can be shifted from the current exposed region to a new region to be exposed simply by moving the mask and wafer stages. This process can be repeated until all the regions to be exposed have been exposed. Since the need for multiple shutter blade assemblies is dispensed with, structural simplification can be achieved, the requirements for control accuracy can be lowered.