Photocopying inventions 04/07

20070091287 - Immersion lithography apparatus and methods: A lithography apparatus includes an imaging lens module; a substrate table positioned underlying the imaging lens module and configured to hold a substrate; and a cleaning module adapted to clean the lithography apparatus. The cleaning module is selected from the group consisting of an ultrasonic unit, a scrubber, a fluid... Agent: Haynes And Boone, LLP

20070091288 - Protective layer on objective lens for liquid immersion lithography applications: Disclosed is an objective lens adapted for use in liquid immersion photolithography and a method for making such a lens. In one example, the objective lens has multiple lens elements, one of which includes a transparent substrate and a layer of protective coating (PC). The PC is formed proximate to... Agent: Haynes And Boone, LLP

20070091289 - Apparatus and method for recovering liquid droplets in immersion lithography: Immersion fluid remaining on a portion of a substrate after that portion has passed an immersion nozzle is removed by moving the substrate relative to an immersion nozzle so that the portion of the substrate on which the immersion fluid remains is passed by the immersion nozzle again. A path... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20070091290 - Lithographic projection apparatus, device manufacturing methods and mask for use in a device manufacturing method: During an alignment calibration process in a lithographic apparatus using a sensor to detect a property of a projected image at substrate level, a diffuser is inserted into the illumination beam to increase the range of angles of radiation incident on the substrate. Thereby it can be ensured that sufficient... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20070091291 - Devices and methods for sensing secure attachment of an object onto a chuck: Stage devices are disclosed for holding an object such as a reticle for use in microlithography. An exemplary stage device includes a movable object-holder that holds the object. At least one actuator moves the object-holder. A position-detector determines a position of the object-holder, wherein the position-detector produces a first position... Agent: Klarquist Sparkman, LLP

20070091292 - System, medium, and method controlling operation according to instructional movement: A system, medium, and method for controlling an operation according to movement. A movement model can be generated based on at least one movement and stored corresponding to a predetermined operation. Movement input by a user may then be compared with the stored movement model, and the predetermined operation can... Agent: Staas & Halsey LLP

20070085983 - Digital ink jet printing process: A digital ink jet printing process suitable for printing pictures and graphics is provided. The digital ink printing process comprises providing a substrate; performing a pre-process on the substrate to form a printing film; performing a printing process using a UV printer to print pictures and/or graphics on a surface... Agent: Photo Man Image Corporation

20070085986 - Exposure apparatus and aberration correction method: An exposure apparatus for exposing a wafer to light through a pattern of a mask. The apparatus includes a projection optical system configured to project the pattern onto the wafer, a first barometer configured to measure pressure of an atmosphere in the apparatus, a second barometer configured to measure the... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20070085985 - Image projection system and light source device thereof: An image projection system includes a light source device for providing unified light, a light modulator for receiving and modulating the unified light, and a projection device for receiving and projecting the modulated light onto a screen. The light source device includes a light-emitting unit capable of generating source light,... Agent: Kirschstein, Ottinger, Israel & Schiffmiller, P.C.

20070085984 - Lithographic projection apparatus, device manufacturing method and device manufactured thereby: A lithographic projection apparatus includes a radiation system configured to supply a beam of radiation; a mask table provided with a mask holder for holding a mask; a substrate table provided with a substrate holder for holding a substrate; a projection system configured to image an irradiated portion of the... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20070085990 - Exposure apparatus: An exposure apparatus comprises a projection optical system configured to project light from a reticle onto a substrate, wherein the apparatus is configured to expose the substrate to the light with a gap between the projection optical system and the substrate filled with liquid; a first supply nozzle arranged around... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20070085989 - Exposure apparatus and exposure method, maintenance method, and device manufacturing method: An exposure apparatus includes; a supply outlet that supplies a liquid to an optical path space of exposure light, and a liquid supply system that supplies an ionized ionic liquid to the supply outlet.... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20070085987 - Lithographic apparatus: The invention provides a height detecting apparatus for a lithographic apparatus. The height mapping apparatus includes a height mapping unit for providing at least one height map of a top surface of an object to be placed in a radiation beam of the lithographic apparatus, the object to be clamped... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20070085988 - Wafer edge exposure method in semiconductor photolithographic processes, and orientation flatness detecting system provided with a wee apparatus: The present invention relates to a method for exposing an edge of a semiconductor wafer in photolithographic processes, and an OF (Orientation Flatness) detecting system provided with a WEE (Wafer Edge Exposure) apparatus. According to the present invention, a notch-aligned wafer can be treated by a WEE process on a... Agent: The Law Offices Of Andrew D. Fortney, Ph.d., P.C.

20070085991 - Density-aware dynamic leveling in scanning exposure systems: A method and apparatus are provided for improving the leveling and, consequently, the focusing of a substrate such as a wafer during the photolithography imaging procedure of a semiconductor manufacturing process. The invention performs a pre-scan of the wafer's topography and assigns importance values to different regions of the wafer... Agent: Law Office Of Delio & Peterson, LLC.

20070085992 - Photo mask retainer for photo mask delivery box: A photo mask retainer, mounted inside a photo mask delivery box for holding a storage photo mask, have a base, a U-turn extending from the top of the rear side of the base and curving toward the top side of the base, a bearing portion formed on the free end... Agent: Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch

20070081136 - Exposure apparatus and device fabrication method: An exposure apparatus is provided which can supply and collect a liquid in a prescribed state, and that can suppress degradation of a pattern image projected onto a substrate. The exposure apparatus is provided with a nozzle member (70) having a supply outlet (12) that supplies a liquid (LQ) and... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20070081134 - Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method using the same: This invention relates to an exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate to a pattern. The exposure apparatus includes a unit, and a controller configured to determine, based on a state quantity of the unit upon executing one of calibration of the unit and measurement by the unit and a current... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20070081135 - Exposure apparatus and method: An exposure apparatus, comprises a projection optical system configured to project light from a reticle onto a substrate, wherein the apparatus is configured to expose the substrate to light with a space between the projection optical system and the substrate filled with liquid; a stage configured to hold the substrate... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20070081133 - Projection exposure apparatus and stage unit, and exposure method: A projection exposure apparatus (100) has a substrate table (30) on which a substrate (W) is mounted that can be moved holding the substrate, a position measuring system (18 and others) that measures positional information of the substrate table, and a correction unit (19) that corrects positional deviation occurring in... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20070081137 - Exposure method: An exposure method is suitable for an off-axis illumination system. According to the method, a photomask having a first pattern and a second pattern is provided, and an analysis on the photomask is conducted to obtain a first light source intensity distribution corresponding to the first pattern and a second... Agent: J.c. Patents, Inc.

20070081139 - Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and semiconductor device manufacturing method: According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an exposure apparatus including an illumination optical system which forms an effective light source having a first polarization area where a mask pattern is illuminated with polarized light dominated by an electric vector component radial from a center position on... Agent: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

20070081138 - Lithographic projection apparatus, device manufacturing methods and mask for use in a device manufacturing method: During an alignment calibration process in a lithographic apparatus using a sensor to detect a property of a projected image at substrate level, a diffuser is inserted into the illumination beam to increase the range of angles of radiation incident on the substrate. Thereby it can be ensured that sufficient... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20070081141 - Lithographic apparatus: A lithographic apparatus is disclosed in which a circular sensor is mounted to a substrate table with three leaf springs that are evenly spaced around a thermal axis of the sensor. The leaf springs are provided in two parts that are releasably attachable to each other. The leaf springs are... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20070081140 - Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method: A protrusion is provided on a barrier member which at least partly confines a liquid between a projection system and a substrate. The protrusion is closer to the projection system than other parts of the barrier member to promote a meniscus of liquid to adhere between the protrusion and the... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20070081142 - Stage base, stage apparatus, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method: A stage base includes a plate which supports a stage. The plate has a first structure and a second structure, and the first and second structures are coupled. The stage base further includes a component which is arranged on the plate and has a cooling unit, a coolant channel arranged... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20070076178 - Image printing apparatus, image printing method, program for an image printing method and recording medium having program of image printing method recorded thereon: This invention provides an image printing apparatus, an image printing method, a program for an image printing method and a program having a program for an image printing method recorded thereon wherein disagreement in size between a scale and a photograph in scrap booking can be eliminated simply and with... Agent: Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP

20070076179 - Immersion optical lithography system having protective optical coating: An immersion lithography system is provided which includes an optical source operable to produce light having a nominal wavelength and an optical imaging system. The optical imaging system has an optical element in an optical path from the optical source to an article to be patterned thereby. The optical element... Agent: International Business Machines Corporation Dept. 18g

20070076183 - Liquid recovery apparatus, exposure apparatus, exposure method, and device manufacturing method: An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate by projecting an image of a pattern onto the substrate via a projection optical system and a liquid that fills a gap between the projection optical system and the substrate. The exposure apparatus has a liquid recovery mechanism with a drive section powered by... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20070076181 - Projection optical system inspecting method and inspection apparatus, and a projection optical system manufacturing method: In the inspection apparatus of this projection optical system, a folding glass member, comprising a flat surface part and a reflecting spherical surface part opposing to the flat surface part, is disposed on the image plane side of the projection optical system so that the flat surface part opposes to... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20070076180 - System and method for compensating for radiation induced thermal distortions: A system and method are used to compensate for thermal effect on a lithographic apparatus. The system comprises a patterning device, a projection system, a substrate position controller, and a substrate-position-based expansion-compensator. The patterning device modulates a radiation beam. The projection system projects the modulated radiation beam onto a target... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20070076182 - Wafer table for immersion lithography: Methods and apparatus allow a liquid to be substantially contained between a lens and a wafer table assembly of an immersion lithography system. According to one example, an exposure apparatus includes a lens and a wafer table assembly. The wafer table assembly has a top surface, and is arranged to... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20070076185 - Exposure system for controlling vertical/horizontal cd difference and photolithographic method using the same: An exposure system for adjusting the critical dimension difference between vertical patterns and horizontal patterns includes a light source for generating a light beam having a predetermined wavelength, a lens for transforming the shape of the light beam generated from the light source into an elliptical shape extended vertically or... Agent: Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP

20070076184 - Optical assembly for photolithography: The invention relates to an optical assembly (1) having a plurality of optical elements (2), at least one optical element (2, 2″) being connected to a structure (5) dynamically decoupled from the optical assembly (1), as a result of which it is substantially dynamically decoupled from the remaining optical elements... Agent: Gray Robinson, P.A.