Photocopying – Projection printing and copying cameras – Step and repeat
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-11
2002-07-02
Adams, Russell (Department: 2851)
Photocopying
Projection printing and copying cameras
Step and repeat
C318S135000, C310S012060
Reexamination Certificate
active
06414742
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stage apparatus suitable for accomplishing accurate positioning. More particularly, the invention relates to a stage apparatus used in a semiconductor exposure apparatus for mounting a wafer or the like. The present invention falls under the technical field of an exposure apparatus using such a stage apparatus, and a device manufacturing method for manufacturing a device, such as a semiconductor device, using this exposure apparatus.
2.Description of the Related Art
FIG. 14
schematically illustrates a conventional exposure apparatus.
A main body supporting member
66
is supported via a vibration removing mechanism
62
on a floor
68
. A base
61
is secured to the lower half of the main body supporting member
66
, and a wafer stage
60
movable in two-dimensional directions (e.g., X and Y directions) is supported on the base
61
. A projection optical system
65
, an interferometer reference
67
for measuring the position of the wafer stage
60
, and a reticle
64
, serving as an original, are provided on the upper half of the main body supporting member
66
. Further, an illuminating system
63
, supplying exposing light, is provided above the reticle
64
.
In the aforementioned configuration, the wafer stage
60
receives a wafer supplied by a wafer transport system (not shown), a target position relative to the reticle
64
is converted by an alignment system (not shown) into interferometer data, the wafer stage
60
is moved to a prescribed position by an XY driving mechanism (not shown) with this interferometer data being a target, a reticle image is printed, and the wafer stage
60
is caused to move to the next position. The reticle image is printed onto the entire wafer by repeating these steps.
In order to improve the productivity of the exposure apparatus, it is necessary to reduce the moving time of the stage, and the exposure time. A reduction of the moving time of the stage requires an increase in the acceleration or deceleration upon movement. In order to increase the productivity of post-processing processes, the wafer diameter must be increased, and along with this, the mass of the wafer chuck and that of the wafer stage are only increasing.
Since the driving mechanism of the wafer stage
60
requires a thrust equal to the product (multiplication) of the mass of the wafer stage and the acceleration, a very large thrust produced by the driving mechanism is required under the synergistic effects of the wafer size and the acceleration. As a result, when driving the stage
60
, a large reaction force is produced, causing deformation of the exposure apparatus main body, and bringing about a deterioration in the positional accuracy of the exposure and transfer, as well as deflection of the transfer pattern. As a measure against this, a reaction force receiving apparatus (such as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-163353 and in No. 9-4677) has been proposed.
FIG. 15
schematically illustrates a conventional reaction force receiving apparatus.
In
FIG. 15
, reference numeral
51
represents a reticle stage carrying a reticle;
52
a base supporting a stage;
53
A and
53
B anti-vibration springs for supporting the base to reduce vibration from a floor
68
;
54
a stand fixed to the floor
68
; and
55
a reaction force receiving member. An actuator
56
is formed by a stator
57
fixed to the base and a rotor
58
provided on the reaction force receiving member
55
, and actuator
56
can produce a thrust.
FIG. 16
illustrates forces acting on the apparatus shown in FIG.
15
.
In the configuration shown in
FIG. 16
, when the actuator
56
is not operated, a motion of the stage
51
having a mass m by the action of an acceleration a causes a reaction force ma to act on the base
52
. The reaction force ma causes deformation of the main body and displacement of the anti-vibration springs
53
A and
53
B, resulting in fluctuation of the base
52
. To prevent such deformation or fluctuation, the reaction force receiving member
55
, arranged independently of the base
52
, imparts a force f via the actuator
56
to offset the reaction force ma.
In a conventional reaction force receiving apparatus, however, transfer of a reaction force to the surface of the floor
68
is inevitable. As shown in
FIG. 16
, a plane interval force ma and a moment force M=Lma act on the floor surface, where L is a distance between the position of the center of gravity of the moving stage and the floor surface.
In general, the surface exhibits a large rigidity against the plane interval force. However, because it has a low rigidity against a moment force, floor vibration is caused by the above-mentioned moment force
m
=Lma. There is, therefore, a problem to be solved in that the floor vibration exerts an adverse effect on operations of the apparatus itself or on peripheral devices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to reduce a translational force of a reaction and a moment force produced upon accelerating or decelerating the movement of a stage.
The stage apparatus of the invention for achieving the aforementioned object is provided with a movable stage, a base, having a reference plane, supporting the stage, a driving mechanism driving the stage, and a rotor acting on the stage and producing a moment so as to reduce a reaction force produced along with movement of the stage.
An exposure apparatus of the invention is provided with a stage apparatus comprising (i) a movable stage, (ii) a base, having a reference plane, supporting the stage, (iii) a driving mechanism driving the stage and (iv) a rotor acting on the stage and producing a moment so as to reduce a reaction force produced along with movement of the stage, and a light source producing exposure light for exposing a wafer via a reticle.
A device manufacturing method of the invention comprises the steps of providing an exposure apparatus including a stage apparatus comprising (i) a movable stage, (ii) a base, having a reference plane, supporting the stage, (iii) a driving mechanism driving the stage and (iv) a rotor producing a moment so as to reduce a reaction force produced along with movement of the stage, and transferring a pattern formed on a reticle onto a wafer, by the use of the exposure apparatus.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3736880 (1973-06-01), Ross
patent: 4742286 (1988-05-01), Phillips
patent: 5073912 (1991-12-01), Kobayashi et al.
patent: 5208497 (1993-05-01), Ishii et al.
patent: 5260580 (1993-11-01), Itoh et al.
patent: 5467720 (1995-11-01), Korenaga et al.
patent: 5518550 (1996-05-01), Korenaga et al.
patent: 5684856 (1997-11-01), Itoh et al.
patent: 5841250 (1998-11-01), Korenage et al.
patent: 3-21894 (1991-01-01), None
patent: 6-163353 (1994-06-01), None
patent: 9-4677 (1997-01-01), None
Korenaga Nobushige
Yabu Shuichi
Adams Russell
Brown Khaled
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
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