Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method

• US 7,349,068 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2004
• Issued: 03/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV)
• Original Assignee: ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV)
• Inventors: Van Der Mast, Karel Diederick, Troost, Kars Zeger
• Primary Examiner(s): RUTLEDGE, DELLA J
• Application Number:
  US11/013,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20060132742A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 355/55, 355/53, 355/67, 355 45- 46
• US Class Current: 355/53
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70183 Zoom systems for adjusting beam diameter
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70216 Mask projection systems
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70258 Projection system adjustments, e.g. adjustments during exposure or alignment during assembly of projection system
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70291 Addressable masks, e.g. spatial light modulators [SLMs], digital micro-mirror devices [DMDs] or liquid crystal display [LCD] patterning devices
• 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

Abstract

A system and method are provided including different moveable lenses within a projection system that can be placed in the path of a radiation beam to change a magnification of the projection system. By changing the magnification of the projection system an area of a substrate exposed per pixel can be adjusted, and a throughput of the system optimized.

Claims

1. A lithographic apparatus comprising:

an illumination system that conditions a radiation beam;

an array of individually controllable elements that pattern the beam; and

a projection system that projects the patterned beam onto a target portion of a substrate,

wherein the projection system can project the radiation beam at a plurality of different magnifications less than 50%.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the projection system comprises:

a moveable lens that can be placed in or out of the path of the radiation beam.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the projection system further comprises:

a plurality of the movable lenses that are moved into or out of the path of the patterned beam.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the projection system comprises:

a plurality of groups of lenses that are moved into or out of the path of the radiation beam.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the projection system comprises:

a plurality of alternative light paths for the patterned beam, each of the plurality of alternative light paths having a different magnification.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the projection system comprises:

a plurality of mirrors for changing which of the plurality of alternative light paths the patterned beam is directed through.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the projection system comprises:

moveable lenses, wherein relative positions of the moveable lenses within a path of the patterned beam is variable.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the illumination system operates at a plurality of different magnifications.

9. A system, comprising:

a pattern generator that patterns a beam of radiation produced by an illumination system; and

a transferring device that transfers the patterned beam onto a substrate and projects the patterned beam at a plurality of significantly different magnifications less than 50%.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the illumination system operates at a plurality of different magnifications.

11. A lithographic apparatus, comprising:

an illumination system that conditions a radiation beam;

an array of individually controllable elements that pattern the beam; and

a projection system that projects the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of a substrate at a first magnification, wherein the projection system projects the patterned beam onto another target portion of the substrate at a second magnification, the second magnification being substantially 1/n, wherein n is any positive integer greater than two.

12. A device manufacturing method, comprising:

using an array of individually controllable elements to pattern a radiation beam;

projecting the patterned beam of radiation at a first magnification onto a target portion of a substrate; and

projecting the patterned beam of radiation at the second magnification onto another target portion of the substrate, wherein the second magnification is significantly different from the first magnification and less than 50%.