Exposure head, exposure apparatus, and application thereof
First Claim
1. An exposure head which is relatively moved in a direction that is orthogonal to a predetermined direction with respect to an exposure surface, comprising:
- a laser device which irradiates a laser beam;
a spatial light modulator in which plural pixel portions, at which a light modulation state is changed according to respective control signals, are two-dimensionally arranged on a substrate and which modulates the laser beam irradiated from the laser device;
control means which controls each of a number of the plural pixel portions that is fewer than a total number of the pixel portions arranged on the substrate, using the control signals generated according to exposure information; and
an optical system which focuses the laser beam modulated at each pixel portion, onto the exposure surface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an exposure apparatus of the invention, for a spatial light modulator, each of a plurality of pixel portions fewer than the total number of the pixel portions is controlled with a control signal generated according to exposure information. Namely, a part of the pixel portions is controlled without controlling a whole of the pixel portions on the substrate. Thus, the number of pixels in the pixel portions is decreased, and transfer time of the control signal becomes short. This enables modulation speed of the laser beam to be increased and the high-speed exposure to be performed. An incorporated laser light source, in which the laser beams are incorporated and struck on the optical fiber, is preferable to the laser device. By adopting the incorporated laser light source, high brightness and high output can be obtained, and it is preferable to the exposure of the spatial light modulator. Since the fiber array is obtained with few optical fibers, it is low cost. Since the number of optical fibers is few, the light-emitting region is further decreased when the optical fibers are arrayed.
18 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An exposure head which is relatively moved in a direction that is orthogonal to a predetermined direction with respect to an exposure surface, comprising:
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a laser device which irradiates a laser beam;
a spatial light modulator in which plural pixel portions, at which a light modulation state is changed according to respective control signals, are two-dimensionally arranged on a substrate and which modulates the laser beam irradiated from the laser device;
control means which controls each of a number of the plural pixel portions that is fewer than a total number of the pixel portions arranged on the substrate, using the control signals generated according to exposure information; and
an optical system which focuses the laser beam modulated at each pixel portion, onto the exposure surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An exposure apparatus comprising:
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an exposure head including a laser device which irradiates a laser beam, a spatial light modulator in which plural pixel portions, at which a light modulation state is changed according to respective control signals, are two-dimensionally arranged on a substrate and which modulates the laser beam irradiated from the laser device, control means which controls each of a number of the plural pixel portions that is fewer than a total number of the pixel portions arranged on the substrate, using the control signals generated according to exposure information, and an optical system which focuses the laser beam modulated at each pixel portion on the exposure surface; and
moving means which relatively moves the exposure head in a direction that is orthogonal to a predetermined direction with respect to the exposure surface.
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13. An exposure head which is relatively moved in a direction that is orthogonal to a predetermined direction with respect to an exposure surface, comprising:
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a light source including a plurality of light-emitting points;
a micro-mirror device in which plural micro-mirrors, angles of reflection planes of which are changeable according to respective control signals, are two-dimensionally arranged on a substrate;
control means which controls an angle of a reflection plane in each of a plurality of micro-mirrors, which are fewer in number than a total number of the micro-mirrors arranged on the substrate and are included in a region in which a length of the region in a direction corresponding to the predetermined direction is longer than a length in the direction that is orthogonal to the predetermined direction, using the control signals generated according to exposure information; and
an optical system which focuses light reflected by the micro-mirror, onto the exposure surface. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. An exposure head which is relatively moved in a direction that is orthogonal to a predetermined direction with respect to an exposure surface, comprising:
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a light source including a plurality of light-emitting points;
a micro-mirror device in which plural micro-mirrors, angles of reflection planes of which are changeable according to respective control signals, are two-dimensionally arranged on a substrate in which a length in a direction corresponding to the predetermined direction is longer than a length in the direction that is orthogonal to the predetermined direction;
control means which controls an angle of a reflection plane of each of the plural micro-mirrors using the control signals generated according to exposure information; and
an optical system which focuses light reflected by the micro-mirror, onto the exposure surface.
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Specification