Microlithography projection exposure apparatus having at least two operating states

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9529276-B2
Application number	US-201113040956-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2011
Priority date	Sep 29, 2008
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

A microlithography projection exposure apparatus for producing microelectronic components has at least two operating states. The microlithography projection exposure apparatus includes a reflective mask in an object plane. In the first operating state, a first partial region of the mask is illuminated by a first radiation, which has an assigned first centroid direction having a first centroid direction vector at each point of the first partial region. In the second operating state, a second partial region of the mask is illuminated by a second radiation, which has an assigned second centroid direction having a second centroid direction vector at each point of the second partial region. The first and the second partial region have a common overlap region. Furthermore, the microlithography projection exposure apparatus can be configured in such a way that at each point of at least one partial region of the overlap region the scalar triple product of the normalized first centroid direction vector, the normalized second centroid direction vector and a normalized vector that is perpendicular to the mask is less than 0.05.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An exposure apparatus having first and second operating states, the exposure apparatus comprising:
a reflective mask in an object plane of the exposure apparatus,
wherein during use of the exposure apparatus:
when the exposure apparatus is in the first operating state, a first partial region of the reflective mask is illuminated by a first radiation, the first radiation having a first centroid direction having a first centroid direction vector at each point of the first partial region of the reflective mask;
when the exposure apparatus is in the second operating state, a second partial region of the reflective mask is illuminated by a second radiation, the second radiation having a second centroid direction having a second centroid direction vector at each point of the second partial region of the reflective mask;
the first and the second partial regions have a common overlap region;
at each point of a portion of the common overlap region, a scalar triple product of a normalized first centroid direction vector, a normalized second centroid direction vector and a normalized vector that is perpendicular to the reflective mask is less than 0.05; and
the exposure apparatus is a microlithography projection exposure apparatus.

2. The exposure apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, at each point of the portion of the common overlap region, the scalar triple product of the normalized first centroid direction vector, the normalized second centroid direction vector and the normalized vector that is perpendicular to the reflective mask is less than 0.03.

3. The exposure apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, at each point of the portion of the common overlap region, the scalar triple product of the normalized first centroid direction vector, the normalized second centroid direction vector and the normalized vector that is perpendicular to the reflective mask is less than 0.01.

4. The exposure apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, at each point of the portion of the common overlap region, an angle between the first centroid direction and the normalized vector that is perpendicular to the mask is 3° or larger.

5. The exposure apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the common overlap region is smaller than the first partial region, and the common overlap region is smaller than the second partial region.

6. The exposure apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an orientation of the reflective mask in the first operating state differs from an orientation of the mask in the second operating state by a rotation through 180° about an axis perpendicular to the object plane of the exposure apparatus.

7. The exposure apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a projection optical unit configured to image the object field of the exposure apparatus onto an image field, wherein the image field has a maximum extent of 13 mm.

8. The exposure apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the exposure apparatus is configured to operate with radiation having a wavelength of between 5 nm and 15 nm.

9. A method of producing microelectronic components using the microlithography projection exposure apparatus of claim 1 , the method comprising:
in a first exposure, exposing the first partial region of the reflective mask with the first radiation; and
in a second exposure, exposing the second partial region of the reflective structure-bearing mask with the second radiation,
wherein:
the reflective mask is a reflective structure-bearing mask;
the first exposure images the first partial region of the reflective structure-bearing mask onto a substrate in an image plane; and
the second exposure images the second partial region of the reflective structure-bearing mask onto the substrate in the image plane.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein, at each point of the common overlap region, the scalar triple product of the normalized first centroid direction vector, the normalized second centroid direction vector and the normalized vector that is perpendicular to the mask is less than 0.03.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein, at each point of the common overlap region, the scalar triple product of the normalized first centroid direction vector, the normalized second centroid direction vector and the normalized vector that is perpendicular to the mask is less than 0.01.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein, at each point of the portion of the common overlap region, an angle between the first centroid direction and the normalized vector that is perpendicular to the mask at each point is 3° or larger.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first and second scanning directions are parallel or antiparallel.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the radiation has a wavelength of between 5 nm and 15 nm.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first and second exposures are performed using a scanning process in which the reflective mask is moved through an illumination field along a first scanning direction during the first exposure, and the reflective mask is moved through the illumination field along a second scanning direction during the second exposure.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein a maximum angle between two arbitrary first centroid direction vectors is less than 1°.

17. The method of claim 9 , wherein a maximum angle between two arbitrary second centroid directions is less than 1°.

18. The method of claim 9 , wherein, at each point of the common overlap region, an angle between the first and second centroid directions vector is less than 1°.

19. The method of claim 9 , wherein, at each point of the common overlap region, an angle between a plane formed by the first and second centroid direction vectors and the normalized vector that is perpendicular to the mask is less than 1°.

20. The method of claim 9 , further comprising, between the first and the second exposures, rotating the structure-bearing reflective mask through 180°.

21. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an actuating device configured to i) rotate the reflective mask about an axis perpendicular to the object plane, or ii) rotate an illumination optical unit and a projection optical unit of the exposure apparatus about the axis perpendicular to the object plane.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a projection optical unit that is telecentric on an object side.

23. An exposure apparatus having first and second operating states, the exposure apparatus comprising:
a reflective mask in an object plane of the exposure apparatus,
wherein:
an orientation of the reflective mask in the first operating state differs from the orientation of the mask in the second operating state by a rotation of each point on the entire reflective mask through 180° about an axis perpendicular to the object plane of the exposure apparatus, the axis being perpendicular to a reflective surface of the reflective mask; and
the exposure apparatus is a microlithography projection exposure apparatus.

24. The exposure apparatus of claim 23 , further comprising a projection optical unit configured to image the object field of the exposure apparatus onto an image field, wherein the image field has a maximum extent of 13 mm.

25. The exposure apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the exposure apparatus is configured to operate with radiation having a wavelength of between 5 nm and 15 nm.

Assignees

• Mann Hans-Juergen
• Kaiser Winfried
• Zeiss Carl Smt Gmbh

Inventors

• Mann Hans-Juergen
• Kaiser Winfried

Classifications

• G03F7/70283

  Mask effects on the imaging process · CPC title

• G03F7/70191

  Optical correction elements, filters or phase plates for controlling intensity, wavelength, polarisation, phase or the like · CPC title

• G03F7/70475 Primary

  Stitching, i.e. connecting image fields to produce a device field, the field occupied by a device such as a memory chip, processor chip, CCD, flat panel display · CPC title

• G03F7/20 Primary

  Exposure; Apparatus therefor (photographic printing apparatus for making copies G03B27/00) · CPC title

• H10P76/00

  Manufacture or treatment of masks on semiconductor bodies, e.g. by lithography or photolithography · CPC title