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:
Apr. 18, 2000
Filed:
Nov. 27, 1998
Shinetsu Miura, Kawasaki, JP;
Yoshiki Mimura, Yokohama, JP;
Ushiodenki Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A device for exposure of the peripheral area of a wafer with a small shape and at low costs in which, using a device for stepped exposure of the peripheral area of a wafer, the peripheral area of a wafer can be exposed in a ring shape. A wafer to which resist has been applied is placed on a rotary support and rotated once. The seated state of the wafer and a singular orienting shape such as an Ori-Fla or the like are determined. Based on this information, the wafer is positioned in a given position. Then, the rotary support is moved by means of an X-Y support and exposure is performed. If the coordinates of the center of rotation (X.THETA., Y.THETA.) are taken accurately a ring shape is approached in practice (if, for example, .THETA.=0.1.degree. and for a polygon with 3600 corners a circle is approached), there is no problem. Two exposure devices are not necessary, specifically one device for stepped exposure of the peripheral area of a wafer and one device for ring-shaped exposure of the peripheral area. The peripheral area of the wafer can be exposed both in a step-shape and also ring-shape with a single device. Therefore the area occupied by the device can be reduced, as can equipment costs. In the case of stepped exposure of one part of the peripheral area of the wafer and ring-shaped exposure of the other part thereof, the wafer need not be transported. Furthermore, the peripheral edge of the wafer need be determined only once. Therefore throughput can be increased. Using a device for stepped exposure of the peripheral area of the wafer, the peripheral area of the wafer can be exposed in a ring shape without using a memory with a high capacity. The peripheral area of the wafer can be exposed in a ring shape without bringing the wafer center and the center of the rotary support into agreement with one another. Therefore a centering device is unnecessary. The centering process is eliminated. Thus both the device and actuation can be simplified.