The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 11, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 07, 1995
Osamu Inoue, Himeji, JP;
Kiyotada Nakamura, Himeji, JP;
Takashi Mori, Kawasaki, JP;
Tetsuo Kikuchi, Tokyo, JP;
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A semiconductor exposure device having excellent throughput using a mercury lamp as an exposure light source. The mercury lamp is capable of providing an efficient i-ray output, with a small i-ray half width value, allowing correction of chromatic aberration. The semiconductor exposure device is further provided with an illumination optical system for illuminating a target surface and a projection optical system for projecting the image on the target surface. The illumination optical system is provided with the mercury lamp, an optical integrator, an optical system for guiding a flux of light emitted from the mercury lamp to the optical integrator and a condenser lens for converging the light from the optical integrator. The semiconductor exposure device is provided with a power source and an associated control circuit for supplying an electric current to the mercury lamp. The power source is configured to allow the mercury lamp to have an average electric field E satisfying the following relational expression with respect to the lamp input power W.sub.L (W), provided that the value obtained by deducting 11 V from the lamp voltage V.sub.L (V) of the mercury lamp and dividing the difference by the electrode-to-electrode distance d (mm) is the average electric field E (=V.sub.L -11/d) (V/mm):