Exposure Apparatus, Exposure Method, and Method for Producing Device
First Claim
1. An exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate by radiating an exposure light beam onto the substrate through a liquid, the exposure apparatus comprising:
- a projection optical system which has a plurality of elements including a first element closest to an image plane and a second element which is second closest to the image plane with respect to the first element, wherein;
the first element has a first surface which is arranged opposite to a surface of the substrate and through which the exposure light beam passes, and a second surface which is arranged opposite to the second element and through which the exposure light beam passes;
the first element and the second element are supported in a substantially stationary state with respect to an optical axis of the projection optical system;
a space between the second element and the second surface of the first element is filled with a second liquid so that only a partial area, which includes an area of the second surface of the first element through which the exposure light beam passes, serves as a liquid immersion area; and
the exposure light beam is radiated onto the substrate to expose the substrate through a first liquid on a side of the first surface of the first element and the second liquid on a side of the second surface.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An exposure apparatus has a projection optical system. The projection optical system has a first optical element closest to an image plane thereof and a second optical element which is second closest to the image plane with respect to the first optical element. The first optical element has a lower surface arranged opposite to a surface of a substrate and an upper surface arranged opposite to the second optical element. A space between the second optical element and the upper surface of the first optical element is filled with a second liquid so that a liquid immersion area is formed in an area of the upper surface, the area including an area through which an exposure light beam passes. The substrate is exposed by radiating the exposure light beam onto the substrate through a first liquid on a side of the lower surface of the first optical element and the second liquid on a side of the upper surface. It is possible to avoid any deterioration of the exposure accuracy caused by the pollution of the optical element, and to suppress any enormous expansion of the liquid immersion area.
65 Citations
154 Claims
-
1. An exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate by radiating an exposure light beam onto the substrate through a liquid, the exposure apparatus comprising:
-
a projection optical system which has a plurality of elements including a first element closest to an image plane and a second element which is second closest to the image plane with respect to the first element, wherein;
the first element has a first surface which is arranged opposite to a surface of the substrate and through which the exposure light beam passes, and a second surface which is arranged opposite to the second element and through which the exposure light beam passes;
the first element and the second element are supported in a substantially stationary state with respect to an optical axis of the projection optical system;
a space between the second element and the second surface of the first element is filled with a second liquid so that only a partial area, which includes an area of the second surface of the first element through which the exposure light beam passes, serves as a liquid immersion area; and
the exposure light beam is radiated onto the substrate to expose the substrate through a first liquid on a side of the first surface of the first element and the second liquid on a side of the second surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76)
-
-
4. An exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate by radiating an exposure light beam onto the substrate through a liquid, the exposure apparatus comprising:
-
a projection optical system which has a plurality of elements including a first element closest to an image plane and a second element which is second closest to the image plane with respect to the first element, wherein;
the first element has a first surface which is arranged opposite to a surface of the substrate and through which the exposure light beam passes, and a second surface which is arranged opposite to the second element and through which the exposure light beam passes;
an outer diameter of a surface of the second element opposed to the first element is smaller than an outer diameter of the second surface of the first element;
the first element and the second element are supported in a substantially stationary state with respect to an optical axis of the projection optical system; and
the exposure light beam is radiated onto the substrate to expose the substrate through a first liquid on a side of the first surface of the first element and a second liquid on a side of the second surface. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 150)
-
-
22. An exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate by radiating an exposure light beam onto the substrate through a first liquid, the exposure apparatus comprising:
-
a projection optical system which has a plurality of elements including a first element closest to an image plane and a second element which is second closest to the image plane with respect to the first element; and
a first liquid immersion mechanism which supplies the first liquid, wherein;
the first element has a first surface which is arranged opposite to a surface of the substrate and through which the exposure light beam passes, and a second surface which is arranged opposite to the second element and which is substantially in parallel to the first surface;
an outer diameter of the second surface of the first element is greater than an outer diameter of the first surface of the first element; and
the exposure light beam is radiated onto the substrate to expose the substrate through the first liquid between the first element and the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 116, 121, 126, 131, 136, 141, 146, 151)
-
-
30. An exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate by radiating an exposure light beam onto the substrate through a first liquid, the exposure apparatus comprising:
-
a first liquid immersion mechanism which provides the first liquid onto the substrate; and
a projection optical system which has a plurality of elements including a first element closest to an image plane and a second element which is second closest to the image plane with respect to the first element, wherein;
the first element is arranged so that a first surface of the first element is opposed to a surface of the substrate, and a second surface of the first element is opposed to the second element;
a distance between the first surface and the second surface of the first element on an optical axis of the projection optical system is not less than 15 mm; and
the exposure light beam is radiated onto the substrate to expose the substrate through a first liquid on a side of the first surface of the first element. - View Dependent Claims (31, 55, 56, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 117, 122, 127, 132, 137, 142, 147, 152)
-
-
57. An exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate by radiating an exposure light beam onto the substrate through a first liquid, the exposure apparatus comprising:
-
a first liquid immersion mechanism which provides the first liquid onto the substrate; and
a projection optical system which has a plurality of elements including a first element closest to an image plane and a second element which is second closest to the image plane with respect to the first element, wherein;
the first element has a first surface which is arranged opposite to a surface of the substrate and through which the exposure light beam passes, and a second surface which is arranged opposite to the second element and through which the exposure light beam passes;
a distance between the first surface and the second surface of the first element on an optical axis of the projection optical system is greater than a distance between the first surface of the first element and the surface of the substrate on the optical axis of the projection optical system; and
the exposure light beam is radiated onto the substrate to expose the substrate through the first liquid between the substrate and the first surface of the first element and a second liquid between the second element and the second surface of the first element. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 118, 123, 128, 133, 138, 143, 148, 153)
-
-
64. An exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate by radiating an exposure light beam onto the substrate through a first liquid, the exposure apparatus comprising:
-
a projection optical system which has a plurality of elements including a first element closest to an image plane and a second element which is second closest to the image plane with respect to the first element;
a first liquid immersion mechanism which provides the first liquid to a space between the first element and the substrate; and
a second liquid immersion mechanism which provides a second liquid to a space between the first element and the second element independently from the first liquid immersion mechanism, wherein;
the first element has a first surface which is arranged opposite to a surface of the substrate and through which the exposure light beam passes, and a second surface which is arranged opposite to the second element and through which the exposure light beam passes;
the first liquid immersion mechanism has a flat liquid contact surface which is arranged opposite to the surface of the substrate, the liquid contact surface being arranged to surround an optical path for the exposure light beam between the substrate and the first surface of the first element; and
the exposure light beam is radiated onto the substrate to expose the substrate through the first liquid between the substrate and the first surface of the first element and the second liquid between the second element and the second surface of the first element. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 119, 124, 129, 134, 139, 144, 149, 154)
-
-
77. An exposure method for exposing a substrate by radiating an exposure light beam onto the substrate via a liquid and a projection optical system including a first element closest to an image plane and a second element which is second closest to the image plane with respect to the first element, wherein:
-
a first surface of the first element, which is opposed to the substrate, is smaller than a second surface of the first element which is opposed to the second element; and
a surface of the second element, which is opposed to the first element, is smaller than the second surface of the first element, the exposure method comprising;
providing a first liquid to a space between the substrate and the first surface of the first element;
providing a second liquid to a space between the first element and the second element; and
exposing the substrate by radiating the exposure light beam onto the substrate through the first liquid and the second liquid. - View Dependent Claims (78, 79, 80, 81)
-
Specification