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:
Sep. 09, 2003
Filed:
May. 06, 2002
Arthur Winfried Eduardus Minnaert, Veldhoven, NL;
Henricus Wilhelmus Maria Van Buel, Eindhoven, NL;
ASML Netherlands B.V., Veldhoven, NL;
Abstract
An optical exposure method carried out on a substrate that is at least partially covered by a layer of radiation-sensitive material, the method comprising: providing a plurality of projection beams of radiation; a first irradiating step of irradiating a peripheral annulus of the layer of radiation-sensitive material with a first one of said projection beams; and a second irradiating step of irradiating at least one inner portion of the radiation-sensitive material situated nearer the center of the substrate than the inner periphery of the outer region with a second one of said projection beams; wherein said first and second irradiating steps are carried out with the substrate positioned at the same location. The method can be used for edge bead removal (both coarse and fine detail) and marker clearout at a single station. Stencils can be used to modify the shape and size of the irradiating steps. Such a method can be incorporated as a part of a device manufacturing method but can be used as an single method. A lithographic projection apparatus can be adapted to apply this method, and the main projection apparatus beneficially shares metrology data with the optical exposure apparatus.