Exposure method, exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method

• US 8,253,924 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2006
• Issued: 08/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nikon Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nikon Corporation
• Inventors: Uehara, Yusaku, Suzuki, Kousuke, Nakano, Katsushi, Omura, Yasuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hung Henry
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kreutzer, Colin
• Application Number:
  US11/919,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20080218714A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,289 Days
• Field of Search: 250/492.2, 355/30, 355/53, 355/55, 355/67, 355/72, 355/77, 430/30
• US Class Current: 355/67
• 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 7/70341 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 7/705 Modelling or simulating from physical phenomena up to complete wafer processes or whole workflow in wafer productions
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70558 Dose control, i.e. achievement of a desired dose

Abstract

An exposure apparatus is provided with an optical system including a liquid, a sensor system for acquiring energy information of an energy beam which is incident on the liquid, and a controller which predicts variation of optical properties of the optical system including the liquid due to energy absorption of the liquid based on the energy information acquired using the sensor system and controls exposure operation with respect to an object based on the prediction results. According to the exposure apparatus, exposure operation without being influenced by the variation of the optical properties of the optical system including the liquid due to the energy absorption of the liquid becomes possible.

Claims

1. An exposure method in which an energy beam is irradiated on an object via an optical system including a liquid and the object is exposed, the method comprising:

a process in which a variation of optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of the liquid and a variation of a transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam is predicted, based on energy information of the energy beam which is incident on the liquid and information on the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam, the energy information of the energy beam being detected via a sensor that detects the energy beam before the energy beam is incident on the liquid; and

a process in which an exposure operation of the object is performed, based on a result of the prediction of the variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to the energy absorption of the liquid and the variation of the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam.

2. The exposure method according to claim 1 wherein

in the process to predict the variation of the optical properties of the optical system, the variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to the energy absorption of the liquid and the variation of the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam is predicted using a first formula of computation which includes the energy information as a parameter.

3. The exposure method according to claim 2 wherein

the first formula of computation includes a parameter related to a temperature of the liquid.

4. The exposure method according to claim 2 wherein

the first formula of computation includes a parameter related to the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam.

5. The exposure method according to claim 4 wherein

the parameter related to the transmittance of the liquid includes a parameter related to a variation of the transmittance of the liquid due to a change of dissolved oxygen concentration in the liquid.

6. The exposure method according to claim 4 wherein

an integrated exposure amount with respect to the object is controlled, based on the transmittance of the liquid.

7. The exposure method according to claim 2 wherein

a measurement of an energy intensity of the energy beam which has passed through the optical system is performed at a predetermined timing, and

the first formula of computation is updated based on a result of the measurement.

8. The exposure method according to claim 2 wherein

the optical system includes an optical element through which the energy beam passes, and

in the process to predict the variation of the optical properties of the optical system, a variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of the optical element is also predicted using a second formula of computation, which includes the energy information as a parameter, different from the first formula of computation.

9. The exposure method according to claim 1 wherein

in the process to predict the variation of the optical properties of the optical system, the variation of the optical properties of the optical system is predicted, based on at least one of the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam and a temperature of the liquid.

10. The exposure method according to claim 1 wherein

the optical system includes an optical element through which the energy beam passes, and

the variation prediction of the optical properties of the optical system is performed taking into consideration an energy absorption of the optical element.

11. The exposure method according to claim 1 wherein

the object is placed on a beam emitting side of an optical element that constitutes at least a part of the optical system, and

a beam path on the beam entering side of the optical element is filled with the liquid.

12. The exposure method according to claim 11 wherein

a space between the optical element and the object is filled with a second liquid that is a dissimilar kind of liquid or a same kind of but different liquid from the liquid filling the beam path on the beam entering side of the optical element.

13. The exposure method according to claim 12 wherein

in the process to predict the variation of the optical properties of the optical system, a variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of the second liquid filling the space between the optical element and the object is also predicted, using a third formula of computation, which includes the energy information as a parameter, different from a first formula of computation used to predict the variation based on the energy information of the energy beam which is incident on the liquid and the information on the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam.

14. The exposure method according to claim 1 wherein

when an irradiated liquid on which the energy beam has been irradiated is replaced with a non-irradiated liquid on which the energy beam has not been irradiated,

it is regarded that there is no variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of any liquid in a path of the energy beam.

15. A device manufacturing method including a lithography process in which an object is exposed using the exposure method according to claim 1 to form a device pattern on the object.

16. The exposure method according to claim 1, wherein

the process to predict the variation of the optical properties of the optical system includes

predicting a first variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to the energy absorption of the liquid, based on the energy information, and

predicting a second variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of components of the optical system excluding the liquid, based on the energy information, and

in the process to perform the exposure operation, the exposure operation of the object is performed based on results of the predictions of the first variation and the second variation of the optical properties of the optical system.

17. The exposure method according to claim 16, wherein

the liquid includes a liquid disposed in a space above an end of the optical system.

18. An exposure apparatus that irradiates an energy beam on an object via a liquid and exposes the object, the apparatus comprising:

an optical system that includes the liquid;

a sensor system that acquires energy information of the energy beam incident on the liquid, the sensor system detecting the energy beam before the energy beam is incident on the liquid; and

a control unit that performs a prediction of a variation of optical properties of the optical system including the liquid due to an energy absorption of the liquid and a variation of a transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam, based on the energy information acquired using the sensor system and information on the transmittance of the liquid to the enemy beam, and controls an exposure operation to the object, based on a result of the prediction of the variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to the energy absorption of the liquid and the variation of the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam.

19. The exposure apparatus according to claim 18 wherein

the control unit performs the prediction of the variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to the energy absorption of the liquid and the variation of the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam using a first formula of computation which includes the energy information as a parameter.

20. The exposure apparatus according to claim 19 wherein

the first formula of computation includes a parameter related to a temperature of the liquid.

21. The exposure apparatus according to claim 19 wherein

the first formula of computation includes a parameter related to the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam.

22. The exposure apparatus according to claim 21 wherein

the parameter related to the transmittance of the liquid includes a parameter related to a variation of the transmittance of the liquid due to a change of a dissolved oxygen concentration in the liquid.

23. The exposure apparatus according to claim 22, the apparatus further comprising:

an oximeter that measures the dissolved oxygen concentration in the liquid.

24. The exposure apparatus according to claim 21 wherein

the control unit controls an integrated exposure amount to the object based on the transmittance of the liquid.

25. The exposure apparatus according to claim 19, the apparatus further comprising:

an illumination system that illuminates a predetermined pattern using the energy beam so as to project an image of the predetermined pattern on the object via the optical system, wherein

the control unit sets the first formula of computation for every illumination condition with respect to the predetermined pattern.

26. The exposure apparatus according to claim 19 wherein

the optical system includes an optical element through which the energy beam passes, and

the control unit also predicts a variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of the optical element using a second formula of computation, which includes the energy information as a parameter, different from the first formula of computation.

27. The exposure apparatus according to claim 18 wherein

the control unit predicts the variation of the optical properties of the optical system, based on at least one of the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam and a temperature of the liquid.

28. The exposure apparatus according to claim 18 wherein

the optical system includes an optical element through which the energy beam passes, and

the control unit performs a prediction of a variation of the optical properties of the optical system also taking into consideration an energy absorption of the optical element.

29. The exposure apparatus according to claim 18 wherein

the object is placed on a beam emitting side of an optical element that constitutes at least a part of the optical system, and

a beam path on the beam entering side of the optical element is filled with the liquid.

30. The exposure apparatus according to claim 29 wherein

a space between the optical element and the object is filled with a second liquid that is a dissimilar kind of liquid or a same kind of but different liquid from the liquid filling the beam path on the beam entering side of the optical element.

31. The exposure apparatus according to claim 30 wherein

the control unit also predicts a variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of the second liquid filling the space between the optical element and the object using a third formula of computation, which includes the energy information as a parameter, different from a first formula of computation used to predict the variation based on the energy information of the energy beam which is incident on the liquid and the information on the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam.

32. The exposure apparatus according to claim 18, the apparatus further comprising:

a liquid immersion mechanism that can supply the liquid.

33. The exposure apparatus according to claim 32 wherein

the control unit replaces an irradiated liquid on which the energy beam has been irradiated with a non-irradiated liquid on which the energy beam has not been irradiated by controlling the liquid immersion mechanism, and when the liquid immersion mechanism replaces the irradiated liquid with the non-irradiated liquid, it is regarded that there is no variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of any liquid in a path of the energy beam.

34. The exposure apparatus according to claim 18, the apparatus further comprising:

a beam source that emits the energy beam, whereby

the sensor system has a branching unit which branches off a part of the energy beam between the beam source and the optical system and a sensor element on which an energy beam branched by the branching unit is incident.

35. A device manufacturing method including a lithography process in which an object is exposed using the exposure apparatus according to claim 18 to form a device pattern on the object.

36. The exposure apparatus according to claim 18, wherein

when performing the prediction of the variation of the optical properties of the optical system, the control unit individually performs a prediction of a first variation of the optical properties of the optical system including the liquid due to the energy absorption of the liquid and performs a prediction of a second variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to energy absorption of components of the optical system excluding the liquid, based on the energy information, and controls the exposure operation to the object based on results of the predictions of the first variation and the second variation of the optical properties of the optical system.

37. The exposure apparatus according to claim 36, wherein

the liquid includes a liquid disposed in a space above an end of the optical system.

38. A device manufacturing method including a lithography process in which an object is exposed by irradiating an energy beam on the object via an optical system including a liquid to form a device pattern on the object, the method comprising:

a process in which a variation of optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of the liquid and a variation of a transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam is predicted, based on energy information of the energy beam which is incident on the liquid and information on the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam, the energy information of the energy beam being detected via a sensor that detects the energy beam before the energy beam is incident on the liquid; and

a process in which an exposure operation of the object is performed, based on a result of the prediction of the variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to the energy absorption of the liquid and the variation of the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam.

39. The device manufacturing method according to claim 38, wherein

the process to predict the variation of the optical properties of the optical system includes

predicting a first variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to the energy absorption of the liquid, based on the energy information;

and

predicting a second variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of components of the optical system excluding the liquid, based on the energy information, and

in the process to perform the exposure operation, the exposure operation of the object is performed based on results of the predictions of the first variation and the second variation of the optical properties of the optical system.

40. The device manufacturing method according to claim 39, wherein

the liquid includes a liquid disposed in a space above an end of the optical system.

41. A device manufacturing method including a lithography process in which an object is exposed by irradiating an energy beam on the object via an optical system including a liquid to form a device pattern on the object, the method comprising:

a process in which energy information of the energy beam which is incident on the liquid is acquired, using a sensor system;

a process in which a variation of optical properties of the optical system including the liquid due to an energy absorption of the liquid and a variation of a transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam is predicted based on the energy information acquired using the sensor system and information on the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam, the sensor system detecting the energy beam before the energy beam is incident on the liquid; and

a process in which an exposure operation of the object is performed, based on a result of the prediction of the variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to the energy absorption of the liquid and the variation of the transmittance of the liquid to the energy beam.

42. The device manufacturing method according to claim 41, wherein

the process to predict the variation of the optical properties of the optical system includes

predicting a first variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to the energy absorption of the liquid, based on the energy information;

and

predicting a second variation of the optical properties of the optical system due to an energy absorption of components of the optical system excluding the liquid, based on the energy information, and

in the process to perform the exposure operation, the exposure operation of the object is performed based on results of the predictions of the first variation and the second variation of the optical properties of the optical system.

43. The device manufacturing method according to claim 42, wherein

the liquid includes a liquid disposed in a space above an end of the optical system.