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. 15, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 17, 2000
Kenji Nishi, Yokohama, JP;
Kazuya Ota, Tokyo, JP;
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Two stages (WS ), (WS ) holding wafers can independently move between a positional information measuring section (PIS) under an alignment system ( ) and an exposing section (EPS) under a projection optical system (PL). The wafer exchange and alignment are performed on the stage (WS ), during which wafer (W ) is exposed on the stage (WS ). A position of each shot area of wafer (WS ) is obtained as a relative position with respect to a reference mark formed on the stage (WS ) in the section (PIS). Relative positional information can be used for the alignment with respect to an exposure pattern when the wafer (WS ) is moved to the section (EPS) to be exposed. Therefore, it is not necessary that a stage position is observed continuously in moving the stage. Exposure operations are performed in parallel by the two wafer stages (WS ) and (WS ) so as to improve the throughput.