Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100134769 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A difficulty of contamination interfering with a grid plate positional measurement system is addressed. In one embodiment contamination is prevented from coming into contact with the grating or the sensor. In an embodiment, surface acoustic waves are used to detach contamination from a surface of the grating or sensor. | 06-03-2010 |
20100214543 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, A METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE APPARATUS AND A DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A method of operating a lithographic apparatus is disclosed. The method includes moving a substrate table supporting a substrate relative to a projection system and adjusting the scanning speed between the substrate table and the projection system during imaging of a target within a predefined area at or near an edge of the substrate, or adjusting the stepping speed between adjacent target positions in a predefined area at or near the edge of the substrate, or both. The adjusting the scanning and/or stepping speed may comprise lowering the speed. The projection system is configured to project a patterned beam of radiation on to a target portion of the substrate. | 08-26-2010 |
20110090472 | FLUID HANDLING STRUCTURE, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A fluid handling structure is provided for a lithographic apparatus having at a boundary between a space containing immersion fluid and a region external to the fluid handling structure, a plurality of openings arranged in a first line, a first gas knife device having an aperture in a second line, one or more openings in a third line and a second gas knife device having an aperture in a fourth line. | 04-21-2011 |
20110181859 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - In a lithographic apparatus, a localized area of the substrate surface under a projection system is immersed in liquid. The height of a liquid supply system above the surface of the substrate can be varied using actuators. A control system uses feedforward or feedback control with input of the surface height of the substrate to maintain the liquid supply system at a predetermined height above the surface of the substrate. | 07-28-2011 |
20110216301 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND SCANNING METHOD - A lithographic apparatus includes a first support to support a first patterning device; a second support to support a second patterning device, each of the first and the second patterning device capable of imparting a radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam; a substrate table constructed to hold a substrate; a projection system to project the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate; a controller to drive the first support and the second support and arranged to: drive the first support to perform a scanning movement; drive the second support to accelerate during at least part of the scanning movement of the first support; and drive the second support to perform a scanning movement upon completion of the scanning movement of the first support, so as to scan a die adjacent a die previously scanned during the scanning movement of the first support. | 09-08-2011 |
20110228247 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS - An illumination system is disclosed having a polarization member that includes first and second polarization modifiers movable into at least partial intersection with a radiation beam such that the respective polarization modifier applies a modified polarization to at least part of the beam. The illumination system further includes an array of individually controllable reflective elements positioned to receive the radiation beam after it has passed the polarization member, and a controller configured to control movement of the first and second polarization modifiers such that the first and second polarization modifiers intersect with different portions of the radiation beam. | 09-22-2011 |
20110242518 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD, AND SUBSTRATE EXCHANGING METHOD - A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam; a support constructed to support a patterning device, the patterning device being capable of imparting the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam; at least three substrate tables that are each constructed to hold a substrate; and a projection system configured to project the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate, wherein the substrate tables are moveable in a common moving area extending substantially in a plane perpendicular to the patterned radiation beam, the moving area comprising at least three working locations of which at least one working location is arranged for exposure of the substrate to the patterned radiation beam and at least one working location is arranged for non-exposure purposes. | 10-06-2011 |
20110273683 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - In a lithographic apparatus, a localized area of the substrate surface under a projection system is immersed in liquid. The height of a liquid supply system above the surface of the substrate can be varied using actuators. A control system uses feedforward or feedback control with input of the surface height of the substrate to maintain the liquid supply system at a predetermined height above the surface of the substrate. | 11-10-2011 |
20110279795 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - In a lithographic apparatus, a localized area of the substrate surface under a projection system is immersed in liquid. The height of a liquid supply system above the surface of the substrate can be varied using actuators. A control system uses feedforward or feedback control with input of the surface height of the substrate to maintain the liquid supply system at a predetermined height above the surface of the substrate. | 11-17-2011 |
20110292357 | FLUID HANDLING STRUCTURE, A LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND A DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A fluid handling structure to confine immersion liquid in a space between a projection system and a facing surface of a substrate, of a table to support the substrate, or both, is disclosed. The fluid handling structure includes a transponder to dissolve at least some of the gas in a bubble in the immersion liquid or to control a bubble in the immersion liquid so that it avoids entering an optical path of a beam from the projection system. | 12-01-2011 |
20120229786 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING A LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT AND METHOD OF IMPROVING A MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF A LITHOGRAPHIC PROCESS - A method of controlling a lithographic apparatus, the method including setting an illumination system of the lithographic apparatus to effect a selected illumination mode, measuring a value of a first parameter of the lithographic apparatus, calculating a value of a second parameter of a projected image of a feature of a test pattern having a plurality of features using a model of the lithographic apparatus and the measured value of the first parameter, and controlling the lithographic apparatus with reference to the calculated value of the second parameter. | 09-13-2012 |
20120257184 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD, AND METHOD OF CORRECTING A MASK - A lithographic apparatus includes a mask correction system configured to controllably and locally alter a property of a mask, for example transmissivity, transmissivity to a particular polarization state, birefringence and/or geometry. The mask correction system, in an embodiment, directs a beam of radiation onto a spot of the mask, the mask being scanned relative to the mask correction system. The mask correction system may include an arrangement to irradiate multiple spots on the mask substantially simultaneously. | 10-11-2012 |
20120327383 | System and Method to Ensure Source and Image Stability - The present invention discloses various system and process embodiments where wafer-metrology and direct measurements of the lithography apparatus characteristics are combined to achieve temporal drift reduction in a lithography apparatus/process using a simulation model. The simulation model may have sub-components. For example, a sub-model may represent a first set of optical conditions, and another sub-model may represent a second set of optical conditions. The first set of optical conditions may be a standard set of illumination conditions, and the second set may be a custom set of illumination conditions. Using the inter-relationship of the sub-models, stability control under custom illumination condition can be achieved faster without wafer metrology. | 12-27-2012 |
20150241792 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS - An illumination system is disclosed having a polarization member that includes first and second polarization modifiers movable into at least partial intersection with a radiation beam such that the respective polarization modifier applies a modified polarization to at least part of the beam. The illumination system further includes an array of individually controllable reflective elements positioned to receive the radiation beam after it has passed the polarization member, and a controller configured to control movement of the first and second polarization modifiers such that the first and second polarization modifiers intersect with different portions of the radiation beam. | 08-27-2015 |
20150316858 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - In immersion lithography after exposure of a substrate is complete, a detector is used to detect any residual liquid remaining on the substrate and/or substrate table. | 11-05-2015 |
20150356233 | COMPUTATIONAL WAFER INSPECTION - Disclosed herein is a computer-implemented defect prediction method for a device manufacturing process involving processing a portion of a design layout onto a substrate, the method comprising: identifying a hot spot from the portion of the design layout; determining a range of values of a processing parameter of the device manufacturing process for the hot spot, wherein when the processing parameter has a value outside the range, a defect is produced from the hot spot with the device manufacturing process; determining an actual value of the processing parameter; determining or predicting, using the actual value, existence, probability of existence, a characteristic, or a combination thereof, of a defect produced from the hot spot with the device manufacturing process. | 12-10-2015 |