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. 25, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 13, 1996
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The invention relates to a projection exposure apparatus for detecting a light-intensity distribution of a spatial image of a mask pattern formed through a projection optical system. The projection exposure apparatus has a knife-edge member which is disposed on the main surface of a wafer stage such that a plane including an exposure surface of a photosensitive substrate is leveled with a light incidence surface of the knife-edge member. The knife-edge member has a transmission area for transmitting the exposure light passing through the projection optical system, a light shielding area for preventing transmission of the exposure light, and a knife-edge defined as a boundary line between the transmission area and the light shielding area. The projection exposure apparatus detects the light-intensity distribution of light from the spatial image while moving the spatial image of the mask pattern and the knife-edge of the knife-edge member relatively to each other. The information related to the light-intensity distribution is used in optically adjusting a projection optical system, or the like.