Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method

• US 20070150779A1
• Filed: 03/09/2006
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ASML Holding NV, ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV)
• Original Assignee: ASML Holding NV, ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV)
• Inventors: Visser, Huibert, Schmidt, Robert-Han, Robbins, George, Callan, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,714,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/720
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70041 by pulsed sources, e.g. multiplexing, pulse duration, interval control or intensity control
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70358 Scanning exposure, i.e. relative movement of patterned beam and workpiece during imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70425 Imaging strategies, e.g. for increasing throughput or resolution, printing product fields larger than the image field or compensating lithography- or non-lithography errors, e.g. proximity correction, mix-and-match, stitching or double patterning
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70725 control

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for compensating for the movement of a substrate in a lithographic apparatus during a pulse of radiation include providing a pivotable mirror configured to move a patterned radiation beam incident on the substrate in substantial synchronism with the substrate.

Claims

1. A lithographic projection apparatus, comprising:

a projection system configured to project a patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of a substrate;

a positioning structure configured to move the substrate relative to the projection system during exposure by the patterned radiation beam;

a pivotable mirror configured to move the patterned radiation beam relative to the projection system during at least one pulse of the patterned radiation beam; and

an actuator configured to oscillatingly pivot the mirror according to an oscillation timing that substantially corresponds to a pulse frequency of a radiation system and such that the patterned radiation beam is scanned in substantial synchronism with the movement of the substrate during the at least one pulse.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the actuator is controlled by a controller, wherein the controller, actuator and radiation system are interconnected in a control loop arrangement, and wherein the control loop is configured to maintain substantial synchronism between oscillation of the mirror and pulses of the radiation system.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pivotable mirror is supported by a support assembly, and a frequency of the oscillation timing substantially corresponds to a resonance frequency of the mirror and its support assembly.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the support assembly further comprises the actuator.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the support assembly further comprises a counter-mass constructed and arranged to isolate forces produced by the actuator from a remaining part of the apparatus.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the actuator comprises a plurality of motors, constructed and arranged to impart rotational forces on the mirror.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when in use, the mirror oscillates with a sinusoidal motion.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein, when in use, the pulses of the radiation system substantially correspond in timing to a zero crossing of the sinusoidal motion of the mirror oscillation.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when in use, a position of the patterned radiation beam relative to the projection system can be further shifted in order to compensate for an error of movement of the substrate during a pulse of the patterned radiation beam.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the actuator is configured such that it can control a position of a mid-point of an oscillation of the pivotable mirror.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the pivotable mirror is configured to oscillate about a first axis and the actuator is configured to control an angular position of the mid-point of the oscillation of the pivotable mirror about the first axis.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the pivotable mirror is configured to oscillate about a first axis and the actuator is configured to control an angular position of the mid-point of the oscillation of the pivotable mirror about a second axis, the second axis being substantially perpendicular to the first axis and lying in a plane substantially parallel to a surface of the pivotable mirror at a location on which the patterned radiation beam would be incident on the pivotable mirror.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the actuator is configured to control a relative phase of a pulse frequency of the radiation system and an oscillation of the pivotable mirror.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the actuator is constructed to oscillatingly pivot the pivotable mirror relative to a base of the actuator, and further comprising a second actuator configured to control the position of the base relative to the projection system.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the actuator is configured to oscillate the pivotable mirror about a first axis and the second actuator is configured to control an angular position of the base relative to the projection system about a second axis, the second axis being substantially parallel to the first axis.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the actuator is configured to oscillate the pivotable mirror about a first axis and the second actuator is configured to control an angular position of the base relative to the projection system about a third axis, the third axis being substantially perpendicular to the first axis and lying in a plane substantially parallel to a surface of the pivotable mirror at a location on which the patterned radiation beam would be incident on the pivotable mirror.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the second actuator comprises a Lorentz actuator and is configured to minimize transfer of a vibration from the actuator to the remainder of the lithographic projection apparatus.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mirror is substantially planar.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mirror is located proximate a pupil plane of the projection system, or a conjugate plane thereof.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mirror is located at a conjugate plane of a pupil plane of the projection system.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the positioning structure is configured to move the substrate at a substantially constant velocity relative to the projection system during a plurality of pulses of the patterned radiation beam and during intervals therebetween, and wherein, when in use, the patterned radiation beam is moved in substantial synchronism with movement of the substrate for a duration of at least one pulse of the patterned radiation beam.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when in use, the patterned radiation beam is scanned in substantial synchronism with movement of the substrate during a plurality of pulses of the patterned radiation beam, such that a pattern is projected onto substantially a same place on the substrate a plurality of times.

23. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein (i) an intensity of the patterned radiation beam, (ii) an illumination of a programmable patterning structure, (iii) a pupil filtering, or (iv) any combination of (i) to (iii), are changed for at least one of a plurality of projections of the patterned radiation beam that are directed onto substantially the same place on the substrate.

24. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when in use, a configuration of a pattern is changed between a plurality of projections of the patterned radiation beam that are directed onto substantially the same place on the substrate.

25. A device manufacturing method, comprising:

moving a substrate relative to a projection system that projects a patterned radiation beam onto a substrate during exposure;

oscillatingly pivoting a pivotable mirror according to an oscillation timing that substantially corresponds to a pulse frequency of the patterned radiation beam so as to alter a path of the patterned radiation beam in substantial synchronism with movement of the substrate; and

projecting the patterned radiation beam onto the substrate.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein moving the substrate includes moving the substrate at a substantially constant velocity relative to the projection system during a plurality of pulses of the patterned radiation beam and during intervals therebetween, and wherein the path is altered in substantial synchronism with the movement of the substrate for a duration of at least one pulse of the patterned radiation beam.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising altering the path of the patterned radiation beam in substantial synchronism with the movement of the substrate during a plurality of pulses of the patterned radiation beam, such that a pattern is projected onto substantially a same place on the substrate a plurality of times.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising changing a configuration of the pattern between a plurality of projections of the patterned radiation beam that are directed onto substantially the same place on the substrate.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising changing (i) an intensity of the patterned radiation beam, (ii) an illumination of a programmable patterning structure, (iii) a pupil filtering, or (iv) any combination of (i) to (iii), for at least one of the plurality of projections that are directed onto substantially the same place on the substrate.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the mirror oscillates with a sinusoidal motion.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein pulses of the patterned radiation beam substantially correspond in timing to zero crossings of the sinusoidal motion of the mirror.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the path of the patterned radiation beam is further shifted in order to compensate for an error of movement of the substrate during a pulse of the patterned radiation beam.

33. An apparatus comprising a projection system, the projection system having:

a pivotable mirror configured to receive a patterned beam of radiation; and

an actuator functionally connected to the pivotable mirror and configured to oscillatingly pivot the mirror.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the pivotable mirror is positioned in a pupil plane of the optical system, or a conjugate plane thereof.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the actuator is configured to oscillate the mirror at a frequency in the range of 1-10 kHz.

36. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising a radiation source;

and

a patterning device constructed and arranged to receive a radiation beam provided by the radiation source and to pattern the radiation beam.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the patterning device is a programmable patterning device.