Cleanup method for optics in immersion lithography using sonic device

• US 8,085,381 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2007
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nikon Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nikon Corporation
• Inventors: Kawai, Hidemi, Watson, Douglas C, Novak, W Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Peter B
• Assistant Examiner(s): LIU, CHIA HOW MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US11/704,241
• Publication Number:
  US 20070132975A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,782 Days
• Field of Search: 355/30, 355/53, 355/67, 359/665, 356/509
• US Class Current: 355/30
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 3/04 Cleaning involving contact with liquid
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 3/12 by sonic or ultrasonic vibrations washing or rinsing machines for crockery or tableware using sonic or ultrasonic waves A47L15/13; of natural teeth, of prostheses using ultrasonic techniques similar to those used for natural teeth A61C17/20; application of ultrasonic vibrations to chemical, physical or physico-chemical processes in general B01J19/10
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70341 Details of immersion lithography aspects, e.g. exposure media or control of immersion liquid supply chemical composition of immersion liquids G03F7/2041
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70891 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70916 Pollution mitigation, i.e. mitigating effect of contamination or debris, e.g. foil traps
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70925 Cleaning, i.e. actively freeing apparatus from pollutants, e.g. using plasma cleaning

Abstract

A megasonic immersion lithography exposure apparatus includes an optical transfer chamber for containing an exposure liquid, at least one megasonic plate operably engaging said optical transfer chamber for propagating sonic waves through the exposure liquid, and an optical system provided adjacent to said optical transfer chamber for projecting light through a mask and said exposure liquid and onto a wafer.

Claims

1. A method used in a liquid immersion lithography apparatus, the method comprising:

exposing a substrate by projecting an image onto the substrate through an exposure liquid in an exposure operation; and

generating pressure waves in a cleaning liquid between a member of the lithography apparatus and a movable component of the lithography apparatus which is movable below the member, by using a transducer disposed above the movable component, to remove a contaminant from the member in a cleaning operation in which the substrate is not in contact with the cleaning liquid, wherein

the transducer is mounted apart from the movable component and does not move with the movable component, and

the substrate is moved below the member in the exposure operation and the member does not face the substrate in the cleaning operation.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning liquid includes the exposure liquid.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the member includes an optical element of an optical system by which the image is projected onto the substrate in the exposure operation.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is held on a substrate holding portion of the movable component in the exposure operation.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the movable component is for controlling a focus position and a tilting angle of the substrate in the exposure operation.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the movable component includes a stage.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the contaminant includes debris.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the contaminant includes dirt.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising irradiating the member with ultraviolet light in the cleaning operation.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transducer includes a piezoelectric transducer.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the member is in contact with the exposure liquid in the exposure operation.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the exposure liquid covers only a portion of a surface of the substrate in the exposure operation.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the exposure liquid is retained between the member and the substrate in the exposure operation.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the member includes an optical element of an optical system by which the image is projected onto the substrate in the exposure operation.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the transducer is attached to a housing of the optical system.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the exposure liquid is supplied from an inlet onto the substrate in the exposure operation in which the substrate is moved below the inlet and the movable component is movable below the inlet.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning liquid is supplied from an inlet disposed above the movable component.