METHOD FOR CLEANING OPTICAL SYSTEM IN IMMERSION LITHOGRAPHY

• Main Authors: WATSON DOUGLAS C, NOVAK W THOMAS, KAWAI HIDEMI, HAZELTON ANDREW J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: 15.02.2018
• Subjects: APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; CINEMATOGRAPHY; CLEANING; CLEANING IN GENERAL; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES,e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTORDEVICES; PHYSICS; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL; TRANSPORTING

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and a method for facilitating the maintenance of an optical element in an immersion lithography apparatus and thereby improving a service life of the optical element.SOLUTION: An immersion lithography apparatus has an assembly of: a working stage arranged to hold a workpiece; a projection system for projecting a pattern image; a fluid supply unit for supplying an immersion liquid to a gap defined between an optical element of the projection system and the workpiece during an immersion lithography process; and a cleaning device for cleaning the optical element during a cleaning process.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5 【課題】液浸リソグラフィ装置の光学素子の保守をより容易なものとし、それにより光学素子の耐用年限を向上させるためのシステム及び方法を提供する。【解決手段】液浸リソグラフィ装置は、ワークピースを保持するように配置されたワーキングステージと、パターン像を投影させる投影システムと、液浸リソグラフィプロセスの間、投影システムの光学素子とワークピースとの間に画成された隙間に液浸液体を供給する流体供給ユニットと、洗浄プロセスの間に光学素子の洗浄を行うクリーニングデバイスと、が組み込まれている。【選択図】図５