Large-area, high-throughput, high-resolution projection imaging system

Claim 1

A large-area, high-throughput, high-resolution, scan-and-repeat projection imaging system for replicating patterns present on a mask onto a substrate, characterized by (a) a stage subsystem (11/12) comprising mask locking means and substrate locking means providing fixed juxtaposition of the mask (14) relative to the substrate (10); said stage subsystem being capable of scanning in one dimension, and when not scanning in that dimension, capable of moving laterally in a direction perpendicular to the scan direction so as to position itself for another scan; said stage subsystem thus being capable of exposing the full substrate by breaking up the substrate area into a certain number of parallel strips, and exposing each of said strips by scanning the length of the strip across a fixed illumination region; (b) an illumination subsystem (18) having the wavelength and intensity distribution characteristics suited for exposure of said substrate (10), having an effective source plane of a predetermined shape, and capable of illuminating on said mask (14) a region of said predetermined shape; (c) a projection subsystem (26,27/30) for imaging said illuminated region of said predetermined shape on the mask onto the substrate, having an object-to-image magnification ratio of unity, having the desired imaging resolution, having means (27/33) to render the image in the same orientation as the object, and having an image field of said predetermined shape and of an area smaller than the substrate area; and (d) control means to operatively interrelate said stage subsystem (11/12), said illumination subsystem (18) and said projection subsystem (26,27/30) to provide additive illumination in certain overlap regions of areas exposed by adjacent scans such that the effect of the exposure dose delivered in said overlap regions is seamless and the effect of the exposure dose delivered across the entire substrate is uniform.

Claim 25

The method of providing a large-area, high-throughput, high-resolution, scan-and-repeat projection imaging system, characterized by the following steps: (a) Providing a stage for holding in fixed juxtaposition a substrate and a mask, and capable of scanning longitudinally in one direction, and also capable of moving laterally in a direction perpendicular to the scan direction; (b) Providing an illumination system having the wavelength and intensity distribution characteristics suited for exposure of said substrate, having an effective source plane of a predetermined shape, and capable of uniformly illuminating on said mask a region of said predetermined shape; (c) Providing a projection assembly having an image field of said predetermined shape on said mask which may be smaller than the size of said substrate, and capable of producing a 1:1-magnification image of said illuminated region of said predetermined shape on the mask onto the substrate with the desired resolution; (d) Providing optical means for undoing the change in the image orientation produced by the projection assembly of step (c) such that the orientation of the final image on said substrate is the same as the orientation of the pattern on said mask; (e) Scanning the stage of step (a) so that the length of said mask traverses across the illumination region of said predetermined shape described in step (b); (f) Stopping said stage momentarily after completion of a scan across the length of said mask, moving the stage by a certain distance in a direction perpendicular to the scan direction, and resuming the scanning of the stage in a direction opposite to the scan direction of step (e); (g) Providing additive illumination in certain overlap regions of areas exposed by adjacent scans such that the effect of the exposure dose delivered in said overlap regions is seamless and the effect of the exposure dose delivered across the entire substrate is uniform; and (h) Repeating steps (e)-(g) until exposure of the entire substrate is completed.

Claim 26

The method of providing a large-area, high-throughput, high-resolution, scan-and-repeat projection imaging system, characterized by the following steps: (a) Providing a stage for holding in fixed juxtaposition a substrate and a mask, and capable of scanning longitudinally in one direction, and also capable of moving laterally in a direction perpendicular to the scan direction; (b) Providing an illumination system having the wavelength and intensity distribution characteristics suited for exposure of said substrate, having an effective source plane of a predetermined shape, and capable of uniformly illuminating on said mask a region of said predetermined shape; (c) Providing a projection assembly having an image field of said predetermined shape on said mask which may be smaller than the size of said substrate, and capable of producing a 1:1-magnification image of said illuminated region of said predetermined shape on the mask onto the substrate with the desired resolution; (d) Providing optical means for undoing the change in the image orientation produced by the projection assembly of step (c) such that the orientation of the final image on said substrate is the same as the orientation of the pattern on said mask; (e) Scanning the stage of step (a) so that the length of said mask traverses across the illumination region of said predetermined shape described in step (b); (f) Stopping said stage momentarily after completion of a scan across the length of said mask, moving the stage by a certain distance in a direction perpendicular to the scan direction, and resuming the scanning of the stage in a direction opposite to the scan direction of step (e); (g) Providing additive illumination in certain overlap regions of areas exposed by adjacent scans such that the effect of the exposure dose delivered in said overlap regions is seamless and the effect of the exposure dose delivered across the entire substrate is uniform; and (h) Repeating steps (e)-(g) until exposure of the entire substrate is completed.

Claim 29

The method of providing a large-area, high-throughput, high-resolution, scan-and-repeat projection imaging system, characterized by the following steps: (a) Providing a stage for holding in fixed juxtaposition a substrate and a mask, and capable of scanning simultaneously in certain two dimensions x and y; (b) Providing an illumination system having the wavelength and intensity distribution characteristics suited for exposure of said substrate, having an effective source plane of a predetermined shape, and capable of uniformly illuminating on said mask a region of said predetermined shape; (c) Providing a projection assembly having an image field of said predetermined shape which may be smaller than the size of said substrate, and capable of producing a 1:1-magnification image of said illuminated region of said predetermined shape on the mask onto the substrate with the desired resolution; (d) Providing optical means for undoing the change in the image orientation produced by the projection assembly of step (c) such that the orientation of the final image on said substrate in the same as the orientation of the pattern on said mask; (e) Scanning the stage of step (a) in the x-dimension so that the length of said mask traverses across the illumination region of said predetermined shape described in step (b), and simultaneously scanning said stage in the y-dimension for a certain distance so as to position itself for another scan in the x-dimension; (f) Stopping said stage momentarily after completion of an x-dimension scan across the length of said mask, and resuming the x-dimension scanning of the stage in a direction opposite to the x-dimension scan direction in step (e); (g) Providing additive illumination in certain overlap regions of areas exposed by adjacent x-dimension scans such that the effect of the exposure dose delivered in said overlap regions is seamless and the effect of the exposure dose delivered across the entire substrate is uniform; and (h) Repeating steps (e)-(g) until exposure of the entire substrate is completed.

Claim 30

The method of providing a large-area, high-throughput, high-resolution, scan-and-repeat projection imaging system, characterized by the following steps: (a) Providing a stage for holding in fixed juxtaposition a substrate and a mask, and capable of scanning simultaneously in certain two dimensions x and y; (b) Providing an illumination system having the wavelength and intensity distribution characteristics suited for exposure of said substrate, having an effective source plane of a predetermined shape, and capable of uniformly illuminating on said mask a region of said predetermined shape; (c) Providing a projection assembly having an image field of said predetermined shape which may be smaller than the size of said substrate, and capable of producing a 1:1-magnification image of said illuminated region of said predetermined shape on the mask onto the substrate with the desired resolution; (d) Providing optical means for undoing the change in the image orientation produced by the projection assembly of step (c) such that the orientation of the final image on said substrate in the same as the orientation of the pattern on said mask; (e) Scanning the stage of step (a) in the x-dimension so that the length of said mask traverses across the illumination region of said predetermined shape described in step (b), and simultaneously scanning said stage in the y-dimension for a certain distance so as to position itself for another scan in the x-dimension; (f) Stopping said stage momentarily after completion of an x-dimension scan across the length of said mask, and resuming the x-dimension scanning of the stage in a direction opposite to the x-dimension scan direction in step (e); (g) Providing additive illumination in certain overlap regions of areas exposed by adjacent x-dimension scans such that the effect of the exposure dose delivered in said overlap regions is seamless and the effect of the exposure dose delivered across the entire substrate is uniform; and (h) Repeating steps (e)-(g) until exposure of the entire substrate is completed.