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. 12, 2005
Filed:
Mar. 04, 2004
Yuji Imai, Saitama, JP;
Yuji Imai, Saitama, JP;
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
When the ordinary exposure is performed, a wafer, to which a photoresist is applied by a resist coater, is transported onto a wafer stage of a projection exposure apparatus to perform the exposure, followed by development by a developing apparatus. When the characteristic is evaluated, respective shot areas on the wafer applied with the photoresist are exposed with an image of a predetermined evaluating mark in a narrow area in an effective field of a projection optical system of the projection exposure apparatus. The characteristic of the resist coater or the developing apparatus is evaluated by detecting a state of a resist pattern after the development. When the image formation characteristic of the projection exposure apparatus is evaluated, the wafer is exposed with images of a plurality of predetermined evaluating marks in a wide area in the effective field. The respective characteristics of the resist coater, the exposure apparatus, and the developing apparatus for constructing a lithography system can be evaluated respectively independently.