Exposure apparatus and exposure method, and flat panel display manufacturing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11086236-B2
Application number	US-202016911748-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2020
Priority date	Sep 30, 2015
Publication date	Aug 10, 2021
Grant date	Aug 10, 2021

Abstract

In an exposure apparatus, on a substrate holder (34), a plurality of grating areas (RG) is arranged mutually apart in the X-axis direction, and a plurality of heads (66a to 66d) that irradiates a measurement beam with respect to the grating area and can move in the Y-axis direction is arranged outside of the substrate holder. A control system controls movement of the substrate holder in at least directions of three degrees of freedom within an XY plane, based on measurement information of at least three heads of the plurality of heads facing the grating area and measurement information of a measurement device that measures position information of the plurality of heads. The measurement beam of each of the plurality of heads, during the movement of substrate holder in the X-axis direction, moves off of one of the plurality of grating areas and switches to another adjacent grating area.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An exposure method irradiating an object with an illumination light via an optical system, comprising:
measuring position information of a movable body in at least directions of three degrees of freedom within a predetermined plane orthogonal to an optical axis of the optical system by a measurement system in which one of a grating member with a plurality of grating areas arranged apart from the plurality of first grating areas in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction within the predetermined plane and apart from one another in the first direction, and a plurality of heads each irradiating the grating member with a measurement beam that can move in the second direction orthogonal to the first direction within the predetermined plane is provided at the movable body, and the other of the grating member and the plurality of heads is provided facing the movable body, and by the measurement system having a measurement device that measures position information of the plurality of heads in the second direction, position information of the movable body is measured based on measurement information of at least three heads of the plurality of heads irradiating at least one of the plurality of grating areas with the measurement beams and measurement information of the measurement device; and
moving the movable body based on position information measured by the measurement system; wherein
with each of the plurality of heads, the measurement beam moves off one of the plurality of grating areas, and moves to irradiate another grating area adjacent to the one grating area while the movable body is moving in the first direction.

2. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
each of the plurality of heads has a measurement direction in one of two directions intersecting each other in the predetermined plane, and
the at least three heads used for measurement in the measurement system include at least one head whose measurement direction is one of the two directions and at least two heads whose measurement direction is the other of the two directions.

3. The exposure method according to claim 2 , wherein
the plurality of heads includes at least two heads whose measurement direction is in the first direction and at least two heads whose measurement direction is in the second direction.

4. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of heads includes a head whose measurement direction is in a direction different from the first direction in the predetermined plane, and
measurement information of the measurement device is used to measure position information of the movable body using the head whose measurement direction is different from the first direction.

5. The exposure method according to claim 4 , wherein
the plurality of heads includes at least two heads whose measurement direction is in the first direction and at least two heads whose measurement direction is in the second direction.

6. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of heads can be relatively moved with the movable body in the second direction.

7. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of heads includes two heads irradiating the measurement beams at a spacing wider than a pair of adjacent grating areas of the plurality of grating areas in the first direction, and at least one head whose position of the measurement beam is different from at least one of the two heads in the second direction.

8. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
each of the plurality of grating areas has one of a reflective two-dimensional grating and two reflective one-dimensional gratings whose arrangement direction is different from each other.

9. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
each of the plurality of grating areas is formed on a plurality of scales different from one another.

10. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
the at least three heads used for measurement in the measurement system are moved so that each of the measurement beams of the at least three heads does not move off of the plurality of grating areas in the second direction while the movable body is moving.

11. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
one or a plurality of heads of the plurality of heads each is held by each of a plurality of movable sections, and position information of the head is measured by the measurement device at each of the plurality of movable sections.

12. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
in each of the plurality of heads, measurement direction is in two directions that are one of two directions intersecting each other within the predetermined plane, and a third direction orthogonal to the predetermined plane, and
position information of the movable body is measured in directions of three degrees of freedom including the third direction, which is different from the directions of three degrees of freedom, using the at least three heads.

13. The exposure method according to claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of heads has at least four heads, and
while the measurement beam of one head of the at least four heads moves off of the plurality of grating areas, the measurement beams of at least three heads remaining are to irradiate at least one of the plurality of grating areas, and by the movable body moving in the first direction, the one head whose measurement beam moves off of the plurality of grating areas is switched among the at least four heads.

14. The exposure method according to claim 13 , wherein
the at least four heads include two heads whose position of the measurement beam is different from each other in the first direction, and two heads whose position of the measurement beam is different from at least one of the two heads in the second direction and position of the measurement beam is different from each other in the first direction, and the two heads whose position of the measurement beam is different from each other in the first direction irradiate the measurement beams at a spacing wider than a spacing between a pair of adjacent grating areas of the plurality of grating areas in the first direction.

15. The exposure method according to claim 13 , wherein
the grating member has at least two of the plurality of grating areas arranged apart from each other in the second direction, and on each of the at least two of the plurality of grating areas, the measurement beam is irradiated via the at least two heads whose position of the measurement beam is different from each other in the first direction, and
the at least two heads irradiate the measurement beams at a spacing wider than a spacing between a pair of adjacent grating areas of the plurality of grating areas in the first direction.

16. The exposure method according to claim 15 , wherein
the grating member is provided at the movable body, and
the at least two of the plurality of grating areas includes a pair of the plurality of grating areas arranged on both sides of an object mounting area of the movable body in the second direction.

17. The exposure method according to claim 13 , wherein
non-measurement section in which the measurement beams of the at least four heads move off the plurality of grating areas in the at least four heads does not overlap while the movable body is moving in the first direction.

18. The exposure method according to claim 17 , wherein
the plurality of heads includes at least one head whose non-measurement section at least partly

Assignees

• Nikon Corp

Inventors

• Shirato Akinori
• Shibuya Takashi

Classifications

• G03F7/70791

  Large workpieces, e.g. glass substrates for flat panel displays or solar panels · CPC title

• G03F7/7085

  Detection arrangement, e.g. detectors of apparatus alignment possibly mounted on wafers, exposure dose, photo-cleaning flux, stray light, thermal load · CPC title

• G03F7/70775 Primary

  Position control, e.g. interferometers or encoders for determining the stage position · CPC title

• G03F7/70683

  Mark designs · CPC title

• G03F7/706835

  Metrology information management or control · CPC title