Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method utilizing movement of clean air to reduce contamination

• US 7,522,258 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2005
• Issued: 04/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV)
• Original Assignee: ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV)
• Inventors: Harink, Thijs, Stavenga, Marco Koert, Luttikhuis, Bernardus Antonius Johannes, Box, Wilhelmus Josephus, Bartray, Petrus Rutgerus
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HUNG
• Application Number:
  US11/169,305
• Publication Number:
  US 20070002297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,392 Days
• Field of Search: 355/30, 355/53, 355 72- 76, 250/548, 356/237.2
• US Class Current: 355/30
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/7075 Handling workpieces outside exposure position, e.g. SMIF box
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70791 Large workpieces, e.g. glass substrates for flat panel displays or solar panels
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70916 Pollution mitigation, i.e. mitigating effect of contamination or debris, e.g. foil traps

Abstract

A lithographic apparatus comprises a substrate table that supports a substrate and a substrate handler that moves the substrate relative to the substrate table. The substrate handler is adapted to load substrates on to and unload substrates from the substrate table before and after exposure. Also, a clean gas supply system supplies a clean gas to at least one location at which the substrate is located. The clean gas supply system is moveably mounted. A device manufacturing method utilizing the lithographic apparatus can be used to manufacture at least one of a flat panel display and an integrated circuit device.

Claims

1. A lithographic apparatus comprising:

a substrate table that supports a substrate;

a substrate handler that moves the substrate relative to the substrate table, the substrate handler being adapted to load substrates to be exposed on to and unload substrates that have been exposed from the substrate table before and after an exposure, respectively, and

a clean gas supply system that supplies a clean gas by filtering a fluctuating air volume caused due to a movement of the substrate handler carrying the substrates to at least one location at which a substrate is located during the exposure, wherein the clean gas supply system is moveably mounted.

2. The lithographic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clean gas supply system is mounted on the substrate handler.

3. The lithographic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clean gas supply system moves together with the substrate handler.

4. The lithographic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate handler comprises at least one of a loader and an unloader table.

5. The lithographic apparatus of claim 4, wherein the clean gas supply system is mounted on an upper side of the substrate handler and directs clean gas towards a location on the at least one of the loader and unloader table where the substrate is located.

6. The lithographic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clean gas supply system is mounted on an underside of the substrate handler and directs clean gas towards a location on the substrate table where the substrate is located.

7. The lithographic apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a support that supportably mounts the clean gas supply system on the substrate handler.

8. The lithographic apparatus of claim 7, wherein the support supportably mounts the clean gas supply system on the at least one of the loader and the unloader table.

9. The lithographic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clean gas supply system comprises:

a filter unit comprising a gas inlet and a clean gas outlet, wherein the filter unit is moveably mounted on the substrate handler.

10. The lithographic apparatus of claim 9, wherein the filter unit is at least one of a particle filter unit and a chemical filter unit.

11. The lithographic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate handler is moveable in a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane in which the substrate is disposed at the location.

12. The lithographic apparatus of claim 4, wherein the substrate handler comprises:

a robot arm for at least one of disposing and removing the substrate on or from, respectively, at least one of the loader and the unloader table.

13. The lithographic apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

a valve provided between the at least one of the loader and unloader table and the robot arm, the valve selectively allowing the robot arm access to the at least one of the loader and unloader table.

14. The lithographic apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a seal disposed between the at least one of the loader and unloader table and the valve, the seal performing sealing within an environment in which the substrate is disposed from an outside environment.

15. The lithographic apparatus of claim 14, wherein the clean gas supply system supplies gas to the environment within which the substrate is disposed.

16. The lithographic apparatus of claim 15, wherein the seal allows clean gas to leak from the environment within which the substrate is disposed and to prevent gas from the outside environment from entering the environment within which the substrate is disposed.

17. The lithographic apparatus of claim 16, wherein the seal is formed by creating an overpressure in the environment with respect to an outside environment.

18. The lithographic apparatus of claim 16, wherein the seal comprises a gap dimensioned so that the gas in the environment within which the substrate is disposed has a laminar flow at the gap.

19. The lithographic apparatus of claim 14, wherein the location of the seal with respect to the substrate table moves.

20. The lithographic apparatus of claim 19, wherein during a scanning movement of the substrate table, the moving seal is formed by a front edge of the substrate disposed on the substrate table and the clean gas supply system.

21. The lithographic apparatus of claim 14, wherein the seal comprises a gap formed in the support which supports the clean gas supply system on the substrate handler.

22. The lithographic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clean gas supply system comprises at least one of a filter unit for filtering a gas, a heat-exchanger for thermally conditioning the gas, a fan unit for determining a flow of the gas, and a chemical filter for chemically filtering the gas.

23. The lithographic apparatus of claim 22, wherein at least one of the heat exchanger, the fan unit, and the chemical filter are remotely located with respect to the filter unit.

24. The lithographic apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one of the heat exchanger, the fan unit, and the chemical filter are located within the lithographic apparatus.

25. The lithographic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

an illumination system that conditions a radiation beam;

a patterning device that modulates the radiation beam; and

a projection system that projects the modulated radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate.

35. The lithographic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clean gas is obtained by filtering air displaced by a movement of the substrate.

26. A device manufacturing method, comprising:

conditioning a radiation beam;

modulating the radiation beam;

supporting a first substrate on a substrate table;

projecting the modulating radiation beam onto a target portion of the first substrate,

moving the first substrate relative to the substrate table, including loading the first substrate on to and unloading the first substrate from the substrate table before and after an exposure, respectively; and

supplying a clean gas by filtering a fluctuating air volume caused due to the loading and the unloading to at least one location at which the first substrate is located during the exposure, wherein the clean gas is supplied by a moveably mounted clean gas system.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the supplying occurs while a second exposed substrate is being unloaded out of the device.

28. The method of claim 26, the supplying comprises filtering.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

disposing and removing the substrate after the exposure by the projected beam on or from, respectively, at least one of a loader and an unloader table using a robot arm.

30. The method of claim 29, comprising selectively allowing the robot arm access to the at least one of the loader and the unloader table by opening or closing a valve provided between the at least one of the loader and the unloader table and the robot arm.

31. The method of claim 30, comprising disposing a seal between the at least one of the loader and the unloader table and the valve for sealing an environment in which the first substrate is exposed from an outside environment.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the supplying comprises supplying the clean gas for creating an over-pressure in an environment in which the first substrate is exposed relative to an outside environment.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the supplying is performed above and/or below the first substrate.

34. The method of claim 26, wherein the supplying occurs while the first substrate is being exposed and a second substrate to be exposed is being loaded for a subsequent exposure.