Projection Optical Device And Exposure Apparatus

Inactive Publication Date: 2008-03-20
NIKON CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] A second object of this invention is to provide an exposure apparatus which can maintain a high device performance capability, such as a positioning performance capability, and obtain high rigidity where necessary, and lighten the entire mechanism portion.
[0036] In an exposure apparatus utilizing a projection optical device according to the second aspect of this invention, when a cooling liquid is supplied to the surrounding of the projection optical system, the vibration can be reduced.

Problems solved by technology

In exposure apparatus, rigidity of: (i) the stages which move and position a reticle and a wafer, (ii) a support mechanism of the stages, and (iii) a mechanism portion of the support mechanism and the like of a projection optical system, significantly affects the performance capability of the apparatus, such as a vibration control performance capability, an exposure accuracy (overlay accuracy or the like), weight of the mechanism portion, and manufacturing cost of the exposure apparatus.
In general, an exposure apparatus having a mechanism portion with high rigidity, while providing a high apparatus performance capability, tends to have a heavy mechanism portion, and a higher manufacturing cost.
For example, in a mechanism portion, when members with high rigidity are coupled to each other through members having high rigidity, vibration can be easily transmitted, a bi-metal effect is generated at the time of temperature change (if different materials are used for the members), and the temperature characteristics may be deteriorated.
However, as a result of increasing rigidity of the mechanism portion, when the weight of the mechanism portion increases, there also is a possibility of increased construction cost of the device manufacturing factory in which exposure apparatus is installed (in order to deal with the weight of the exposure apparatus).
However, among conventional technology, with respect to a method of using a material with specific stiffness and light weight, the material can be used only for a portion of the mechanism portion due to its high manufacturing cost, the material shape, or the like, so the lightening of the entire mechanism portion is not yet significantly improved.
However, there is a possibility that control at the time of scanning and stage positioning also becomes complex because the structure of the mechanism portion becomes complex.
Additionally, although the projection optical system can be supported by using the parallel link mechanism, this tends to cause the structure of the mechanism portion to become even more complex.
However, once the mechanism portion becomes complex, the estimated accuracy of the thermal distortion amount of the mechanism portion and the fluctuation amount of the imaging characteristic deteriorates, and therefore it is possible that the exposure accuracy may deteriorate.

Method used

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  • Projection Optical Device And Exposure Apparatus
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  • Projection Optical Device And Exposure Apparatus

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

first embodiment

[0053] The following explains a first exemplary embodiment of this invention with reference to FIGS. 1-6. In this embodiment, the invention is applied to a step and repeat exposure type projection exposure apparatus such as a stepper or the like, and to a step and scan exposure type projection exposure apparatus such as a scanning stepper or the like.

[0054]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of different functional units which constitute a projection exposure apparatus of this embodiment. In FIG. 1, a chamber in which the projection exposure apparatus is located, is omitted. In FIG. 1, a laser light source 1 is provided. The laser light source 1 can be a KrF excimer laser (wavelength 248 μm) or an ArF excimer laser (wavelength 193 μm), for example. The light source also could be a device which radiates an oscillating laser beam in an ultraviolet range such as an F2 laser (wavelength 157 nm), a device which radiates a harmonic laser beam in a vacuum ultraviolet range which can be obtained by ...

second embodiment

[0102] The following explains a second exemplary embodiment of this invention with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. With respect to the projection exposure apparatus of this example, a mechanism which stabilizes the temperature of the projection optical system PL is added to the projection exposure apparatus of FIG. 2. In FIGS. 7 and 8, the same symbols are used for the portions corresponding to the portions of FIG. 2, and their detailed description is omitted. Furthermore, in FIG. 7, in order to clarify understanding of the additional structure, the air duct 16 and the small air conditioning device 17 of FIG. 2 are omitted.

[0103]FIG. 7 shows a schematic structure of a mechanism portion of the projection exposure apparatus of this example. In FIG. 7, a recovery tank 45 which collects a cooling liquid is provided on the floor, a supply tank 48 which stores the liquid is provided in the vicinity of one vertex of the triangle frame-shaped upper column 34, and a support member 49B which con...

third embodiment

[0107] The following explains a third embodiment of this invention with reference to FIG. 9. In this example, in the same manner as in the embodiment of FIG. 2, this invention is applied to a step and repeat exposure type projection exposure apparatus. In FIG. 9, the same symbols are used for the portions corresponding to the portions of FIG. 2, and their detailed description is omitted.

[0108]FIG. 9 shows a schematic structure of a mechanism portion of the projection exposure apparatus of this example. In FIG. 9, three columns 33A, 33B (the third column, 33C, is undepicted) are fixed to the floor F (which also could be a supporting frame located on a floor), and extend parallel to the Z axis. The upper column 34B is supported on the columns 33A, 33B, 33C via passive-type vibration isolation members 51A, 511B (and undepicted 51C), which include, for example, an air damper and / or a coil spring. Furthermore, the flange 18 (support member) is integral with the projection optical system...

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PUM

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Abstract

A projection optical device includes a projection optical system which projects an image of a pattern, a support device having a flexible structure to support the projection optical system, and a positioning device having an actuator to position the projection optical system. The projection optical device can include a frame to which one end of the flexible structure is attached. The projection optical system may hang from the frame via the support device, or it may be supported from below by the support device. A projection optical device also can include a liquid supply which supplies a temperature-controlled liquid to a side surface of a projection optical system utilizing gravity to cause the temperature-controlled liquid to flow along the side surface of the projection optical system.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 614,426, filed Sep. 30, 2004. The disclosure of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 614,426 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of Invention [0003] This invention relates to a projection optical device provided with a projection optical system which projects an image of a predetermined pattern, and to an exposure apparatus which is used in order to transfer a pattern of a mask onto a substrate in order to manufacture various devices such as, for example, a semiconductor device, a liquid crystal display, etc. [0004] 2. Description of Related Art [0005] In a lithography process, which is one process used to manufacture a semiconductor device, an exposure apparatus is used in order to transfer and expose a pattern formed on a reticle (or a photomask, etc.) onto a wafer (or a glass plate, etc.) coated by photoresist as a substrate. Various types o...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): G03B27/42G03B27/54
CPCG03F7/70808G03F7/709G03F7/70891G03F7/70833H01L21/6715
Inventor EBIHARA, AKIMITSULEE, MARTIN E.YUAN, BAUSAN
Owner NIKON CORP
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