EXPOSURE APPARATUS, EXPOSURE METHOD, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTRUING DEVICE

• US 20100265483A1
• Filed: 01/22/2010
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nikon Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nikon Corporation
• Inventors: Kiuchi, Tohru, Mizutani, Hideo
• Granted Patent: US 8,264,666 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 355/71
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70275 Multiple projection paths, e.g. array of projection systems, microlens projection systems or tandem projection systems
• 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 7/70791 Large workpieces, e.g. glass substrates for flat panel displays or solar panels

Abstract

An exposure apparatus of one aspect of the present invention is provided with a moving mechanism that moves a first portion of a belt-shaped substrate that has photosensitivity in a first heading along a first direction and moves a second portion of the substrate in a second heading along the first direction, a stage mechanism that holds a mask and moves it in a third heading along a second direction in synchronization with the movement of the substrate, and a projection optical system. The projection optical system forms a first projection image of the pattern on the first portion so that the third heading on the mask and the first heading on the first portion optically correspond, and forms a second projection image of the pattern on the second portion so that the third heading on the mask and the second heading on the second portion optically correspond.

Claims

1. An exposure apparatus comprising:

a moving mechanism that moves a first substrate that has photosensitivity in a first heading along a first direction and that moves a second substrate that has photosensitivity in a second heading that is opposite to the first heading along the first direction;

a stage mechanism that holds a mask that has a pattern, and moves in a third heading along a second direction in synchronization with the movement in the first direction of the first substrate and the second substrate; and

a projection optical system that receives light via the pattern, forms a first projection image of the pattern on the first substrate so that the third heading on the mask and the first heading on the first substrate optically correspond, and forms a second projection image of the pattern on the second substrate so that the third heading on the mask and the second heading on the second substrate optically correspond.

3. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first direction and the second direction are orthogonal.

4. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first projection image and the second projection image are formed in a row in a direction that is orthogonal to the first direction.

5. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the projection optical system has an intermediate imaging optical system that forms a first intermediate image and a second intermediate image of the pattern, a first imaging optical system that makes the first intermediate image and the first projection image optically conjugate, and a second imaging optical system that makes the second intermediate image and the second projection image optically conjugate.

6. The exposure apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the intermediate optical system has a lens group in which light of the pattern enters, and a splitting and reflecting portion that splits light from the lens group into a first light and a second light that advance in mutually separate directions that sandwich the optical axis of the lens group and reflects the first light and the second light to the lens group.

7. The exposure apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the splitting and reflecting portion has a plurality of first reflecting portions that reflect the light that has entered from the lens group in a fourth heading to generate the first light and a plurality of second reflecting portions that reflect the light that has entered from the lens group in a fifth heading to generate the second light and that are disposed at the rear focal position of the lens group or in the vicinity thereof and a plurality of second reflecting portions.

8. The exposure apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the first reflecting portions and the second reflecting portions are alternately provided along the second direction.

9. The exposure apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of first reflecting portions and the plurality of second reflecting portions have a plurality of mirror elements that are two-dimensionally arranged and whose attitude can be individually changed.

10. The exposure apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising an illumination optical system that radiates light on the pattern of the mask that is held in the stage mechanism,

wherein the illumination optical system forms a plurality of light sources corresponding to the arrangement of the plurality of first reflecting portions and the plurality of second reflecting portions at a position that is optically conjugate with the position of the splitting and reflecting portion.

11. The exposure apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the splitting and reflecting portion have a splitting portion that splits the light from the lens group into a first light and a second light, and a reflecting portion that is arranged at the rear focal position of the lens group or the vicinity thereof, and by reflecting the light from the splitting portion causes it to reenter the lens group via the splitting portion.

12. The exposure apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the splitting portion has a polarization beam splitter, and

the reflecting portion has a first reflecting member that reflects the first light that is generated by being transmitted through the polarization beam splitter toward the polarization beam splitter and a second reflecting member that reflects the second light that is generated by being reflected through the polarization beam splitter toward the polarization beam splitter.

13. The exposure apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the splitting and reflecting portion have a diffraction optical surface that is disposed at the rear focal position of the lens group or in the vicinity thereof and that generates a +1st order diffracted light as the first light and a −

1st order diffracted light as the second light based on light that is incident from the lens group.

14. The exposure apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the projection optical system has a first group of deflecting members that deflect the first light in the first direction, the second direction and a direction parallel to the optical axis of the intermediate imaging optical system in turn, and a second group of deflecting members that deflect the second light in the first direction, the second direction and a direction parallel to the optical axis of the intermediate imaging optical system in turn.

15. The exposure apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the projection optical system has a first group of deflecting members that are arranged in the optical path between the intermediate imaging optical system and the first imaging optical system, and a second group of deflecting members that are arranged in the optical path between the intermediate imaging optical system and the second imaging optical system.

16. The exposure apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the first group of deflecting members have a first deflecting member that deflects the first light in the second direction, a second deflecting member that deflects the first light from the first deflecting member in the first direction, and a third deflecting member that deflects the first light from the second deflecting member in the direction parallel to the optical axis of the intermediate imaging optical system.

17. The exposure apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the first group of deflecting members have a first deflecting member that deflects the first light in the first direction, a second deflecting member that deflects the first light from the first deflecting member in the second direction, and a third deflecting member that deflects the first light from the second deflecting member in the direction parallel to the optical axis of the intermediate imaging optical system.

18. The exposure apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the second group of deflecting members have a fourth deflecting member that deflects the second light in the second direction, a fifth deflecting member that deflects the second light from the fourth deflecting member in the first direction, and a sixth deflecting member that deflects the second light from the fifth deflecting member in the direction parallel to the optical axis of the intermediate imaging optical system.

19. The exposure apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the second group of deflecting members have a fourth deflecting member that deflects the second light in the first direction, a fifth deflecting member deflects the second light from the fourth deflecting member in the second direction, and a sixth deflecting member that deflects the second light from the fifth deflecting member in the direction parallel to the optical axis of the intermediate imaging optical system.

20. The exposure apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the second group of deflecting members have a fourth deflecting member that deflects the second light in the opposite heading to the deflection direction of the first light by the first deflecting member, a fifth deflecting member that deflects the second light from the fourth deflecting member in the same heading as the deflection direction of the first light by the second deflecting member, and a sixth deflecting member that deflects the second light from the fifth deflecting member in the same heading as the deflection direction of the first light by the third deflecting member.

21. The exposure apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the first deflecting member is disposed in the optical path between the intermediate imaging optical system and the formation position of the first intermediate image, the second deflecting member is disposed in the optical path between the formation position of the first intermediate image and the first imaging optical system, and the third deflecting member is disposed in the optical path between the second deflecting member and the first imaging optical system.

22. The exposure apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the fourth deflecting member is disposed in the optical path between the intermediate imaging optical system and the formation position of the second intermediate image, the fifth deflecting member is disposed in the optical path between the formation position of the second intermediate image and the second imaging optical system, and the sixth deflecting member is disposed in the optical path between the fifth deflecting member and the second imaging optical system.

29. A method of manufacturing a device comprising:

transferring a pattern onto a substrate by using the exposure apparatus according to claim 1;

developing the substrate to which the pattern has been transferred, and forming on the substrate a transfer pattern layer of a shape corresponding to the pattern; and

processing the substrate via the transfer pattern layer.

2. An exposure apparatus comprising:

a moving mechanism that moves a first portion of a belt-shaped substrate that has photosensitivity in a first heading along a first direction and that moves a second portion of the substrate in a second heading that is opposite to the first heading along the first direction;

a stage mechanism that holds a mask that has a pattern, and moves in a third heading along a second direction in synchronization with the movement in the first direction of the first portion and the second portion; and

a projection optical system that receives light via the pattern, forms a first projection image of the pattern on the first portion so that the third heading on the mask and the first heading on the first portion optically correspond, and forms a second projection image of the pattern on the second portion so that the third heading on the mask and the second heading on the second portion optically correspond.

23. An exposure method comprising:

moving a first substrate that has photosensitivity in a first heading along a first direction and moving a second substrate that has photosensitivity in a second heading that is opposite to the first heading along the first direction;

moving a mask that has a pattern in a third heading along a second direction in synchronization with the movement in the first direction of the first substrate and the second substrate; and

receiving light from the pattern, forming a first projection image of the pattern on the first substrate so that the third heading on the mask and the first heading on the first substrate optically correspond, and forming a second projection image of the pattern on the second substrate so that the third heading on the mask and the second heading on the second substrate optically correspond.

28. The exposure method according to claim 23, wherein the first direction and the second section are orthogonal.

24. An exposure method comprising:

moving a first portion of a belt-shaped substrate that has photosensitivity in a first heading along a first direction and moving a second portion of the substrate in a second heading that is opposite to the first heading along the first direction;

moving a mask that has a pattern in a third heading along a second direction in synchronization with the movement in the first direction of the first portion and the second portion;

receiving light from the pattern and forming a first projection image of the pattern on the first portion so that the third heading on the mask and the first heading on the first portion optically correspond, and

receiving light from the pattern and forming a second projection image of the pattern on the second portion so that the third heading on the mask and the second heading on the second portion optically correspond.

25. The exposure method according to claim 24, wherein the forming of the first projection image and the forming of the second projection image comprising forming the first projection image and the second projection image, respectively, while the mask is being moved in the third heading.

26. The exposure method according to claim 24, wherein the forming of the second projection image comprising forming the second projection image in a region in which the first projection image is not formed of the second portion of the substrate.

27. The exposure method according to claim 24, wherein

the moving of the first portion and the second portion comprising continuously moving the first portion and the second portion along the first direction, and

the moving of the mask reciprocally comprising moving the mask a plurality of times along the second direction.