Photocopying inventions 04/08

20080094597 - Projection exposure apparatus, optical member, and device manufacturing method: A projection exposure apparatus 100 projects the pattern of an original 6 onto a substrate 7 via a projection optical system PL. The projection exposure apparatus 100 includes an original stage 5 which holds the original 6, a substrate stage 8 which holds the substrate 7, and a measurement unit.... Agent: Morgan & Finnegan, L.L.P.

20080094603 - Magnetic levitation wafer stage, and method of using the stage in an exposure apparatus: A magnetic levitation wafer stage is used to align a wafer in an exposure apparatus of photolithographic equipment. The wafer stage includes a base, a table supported on the base and whose entire top surface exhibits magnetism of a single polarity, and motors for moving the table in the X... Agent: Volentine & Whitt PLLC

20080094591 - Mounting a pellicle to a frame: A pellicle membrane is mounted between an outer frame and an inner frame. At least one of the frames is attached to the reticle without using conventional adhesives. The pellicle and reticle may be used in a lithography system. The pellicle allows radiation to pass through the pellicle to the... Agent: Fish & Richardson, PC

20080094590 - Offset partial ring seal in immersion lithographic system: A substrate processing apparatus includes a device for partially sealing a gap between a final optical element (22) of a projection lens (14) and an immersion nozzle (20). In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a table configured to support a substrate (16); a patterning element defining a pattern (12); a... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080094595 - Methods and systems to compensate for a stitching disturbance of a printed pattern: A method and system are provided of using a patterning device. An exemplary method includes performing a first exposure of a surface corresponding to image data, determining an image deficiency within a region of the first image, adjusting the image data to compensate for the image deficiency, and performing a... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20080094596 - Methods and systems to compensate for a stitching disturbance of a printed pattern: A method and system are provided of using a patterning device. An exemplary method includes defining a first region on a surface, the first region being associated with a first element of the patterning device, defining a second region on the surface, the second region being associated with a second... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20080094592 - Movable body drive method and movable body drive system, pattern formation method and apparatus, exposure method and apparatus, and device manufacturing method: During the drive of a stage, positional information in a movement plane of a stage is measured by three encoders that include at least one each of an X encoder and a Y encoder of an encoder system, and a controller switches an encoder used for a measurement of positional... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080094593 - Movable body drive method and movable body drive system, pattern formation method and apparatus, exposure method and apparatus, device manufacturing method, and calibration method: A controller measures positional information of a stage within an XY plane using three encoders which at least include one each of an X encoder and a Y encoder of an encoder system, and the stage is driven in the XY plane, based on measurement results of the positional information... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080094594 - Movable body system, pattern formation apparatus, exposure apparatus and exposure method, and device manufacturing method: A laser beam emitted by an encoder main body enters a wafer table via a PBS from the outside, and reaches a grating at a point that is located right under exposure area, and is diffracted by the grating. Then, by receiving interference light of a first polarized component that... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080094598 - Printing a mask with maximum possible process window through adjustment of the source distribution: A lithographic mask is illuminated with light from different directions such that intensities of a plurality of incident beams of light provide a largest possible integrated process window defined in terms of an allowed range for defining shapes. Constrained sets of intensity parameters are imposed. A first set of intensity... Agent: Harrington & Smith, PC

20080094600 - Illumination device and mask for microlithography projection exposure system, and related methods: Illumination devices and masks for microlithography projection exposure systems, as well as related systems and methods, are disclosed.... Agent: Fish & Richardson PC

20080094602 - Illumination optical system, exposure apparatus, and exposure method: An illumination optical system for, when installed in an exposure system, realizing a suitable illumination condition by varying the polarized state of the illumination light according to the pattern characteristics of the mask while suppressing the loss of the intensity of the light. The illumination optical system has a light... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080094599 - Projection system with compensation of intensity variations and compensation element therefor: In a projection objective for imaging a pattern arranged in the object plane of the projection objective into the image plane of the projection objective, at least one optical component is provided which has a substrate in which at least one substrate surface is covered with an interference layer system... Agent: Sughrue Mion, PLLC

20080094601 - Providing a pattern of polarization: A polarization pattern assembly produces a polarization pattern. In an embodiment, a polarization pattern assembly includes a frame that supports a polarization pane in a central region of the frame. The polarization pane changes the polarization direction of light incident upon the polarization pane. Different polarization patterns in a pupil... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20080094604 - Movable body drive method and movable body drive system, pattern formation method and apparatus, exposure method and apparatus, and device manufacturing method: A controller inclines a movable body with respect to an XY plane at an angle α in a periodic direction of a grating, based on a measurement value of an interferometer which measures an angle of inclination of the movable body to the XY plane, and based on a measurement... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080088809 - Edge exposure apparatus, coating and developing apparatus, edge exposure method and coating and developing method, and storage medium: An edge exposure apparatus performing an exposure process on an edge portion of a wafer having a coating film (resist film) formed thereon includes position detection means for detecting positional data of an outer edge of a wafer held by a spin chuck, an exposure portion for performing an exposure... Agent: Smith, Gambrell & Russell

20080088808 - Process for forming resist pattern, and resist coating and developing apparatus: A process for forming a resist pattern according to the invention is a process for forming a resist pattern in which a photoresist is coated on a first substrate, the coated photoresist is exposed to light of a predetermined pattern, and afterwards developing is performed, wherein in at least one... Agent: Young & Thompson

20080088810 - Euv exposure apparatus for in-situ exposing of substrate and cleaning of optical element included apparatus and method of cleaning optical element included in apparatus: Provided are an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure apparatus and a method of cleaning optical elements included in the exposure apparatus. The EUV exposure apparatus includes: a light source system generating an exposure beam that comprises an EUV beam during exposure of a substrate and generating a cleaning beam having a... Agent: Mills & Onello LLP

20080088812 - Method for performing a focus test and a device manufacturing method: The invention relates to a method for a focus test. The method includes performing a first projection by using a radiation beam to project a first reference mark onto a substrate to generate a first reference mark image, and performing a second projection by using a radiation beam to project... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20080088814 - Exposure apparatus: An exposure apparatus includes a first optical unit configured to condense light from a light source, a catoptric integrator configured to form plural secondary light sources using light from the first optical unit, the catoptric integrator including plural cylindrical reflection surfaces having the same generatrix direction, an aperture stop arranged... Agent: Morgan & Finnegan, L.L.P.

20080088811 - Imaging or exposure device, in particular for making an electronic microcircuit: The imaging or exposure device comprises a radiation source (1), a reticle (3) mounted between the radiation source and an optical projection system (4) for shaping the radiation downstream from the reticle (3), the optical projection system (4) comprising a series of mirrors (7, 8, 10, 11) including at least... Agent: Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch

20080088813 - Pattern forming material, pattern forming apparatus and pattern forming process: To this end, the present invention provides a pattern forming material having a support, a photosensitive layer, and a protective film, the photosensitive layer and the protective film being formed in this order on the support, wherein the number of fish-eyes each having an area of 2,000 μm2 or more... Agent: Sughrue Mion, PLLC

20080088816 - Microlithograph system: An optical system of a microlithographic exposure apparatus comprises at least one optical element (L1 to L16, 15, 16, 24) having a locally varying birefringence direction distribution that is caused by stress-induced birefringence and is at least substantially rotationally symmetrical. At least one birefringent correcting element (K1, K2; K′) is... Agent: Fish & Richardson PC

20080088815 - Polarization optical system: The polarization optical system includes a polarization beam splitter that divides incident light into two divided light beams having polarization directions orthogonal to each other. A combination optical system changes the optical axis of one of the two divided light beams back to the same optical axis as the other... Agent: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

20080084547 - Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method: An exposure apparatus is disclosed. The exposure apparatus has a projection optical system, aligns a reticle and a substrate and projects a pattern of the reticle to the substrate via the projection optical system to expose the substrate to light. The apparatus comprises a measuring device configured to perform measurement... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20080084548 - Maskless exposure apparatus and method of manufacturing substrate for display using the same: The present invention relates to a maskless exposure apparatus and a method of manufacturing a substrate for a display using the same. In the present invention, a substrate 22 is disposed on a scan stage 20 that can be moved in horizontal and vertical directions. Meanwhile, an optical unit 30... Agent: Fish & Richardson P.c.

20080084550 - High throughput wafer stage design for optical lithography exposure apparatus: An optical lithography exposure apparatus which may be a stepper or a scanner, provides a wafer chuck that retains a wafer and at least one opaque exposure shield that extends over a discrete peripheral edge portion of the wafer thereby preventing illumination from exposing the portion of the wafer beneath... Agent: Duane Morris, LLP Ip Department

20080084546 - Exposure apparatus,exposure method, and for producing device: An exposure apparatus is provided with a projection optical system, and the projection optical system includes a first optical element disposed most closely to an image plane of the projection optical system. The exposure apparatus includes a first liquid immersion mechanism which forms a first liquid immersion area of a... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, Plc

20080084549 - High refractive index media for immersion lithography and method of immersion lithography using same: In accordance with the present invention, a colloidal immersion lithography medium is provided. The medium comprises: a) a continuous liquid phase comprising a liquid having an index of refraction of at least 1.0, generally 1.4; and b) a plurality of particles having an average particle size between 1 nanometer and... Agent: Blynn L. Shideler The Blk Law Group

20080079918 - Automatic dynamic baseline creation and adjustment: In a plasma processing system, a method for dynamically establishing a baseline is provided. The method includes processing a first substrate. The method also includes collecting a first signal data for the first substrate. The method further includes comparing the first signal data against the baseline. The method moreover includes... Agent: Ipsg, P.C.

20080079919 - Immersion lithography method: An immersion lithography method includes forming a resist layer on a substrate to be processed, performing immersion lithography in a state where liquid is locally interposed between the resist layer on the substrate and an optical system of an exposure apparatus, while the substrate and the optical system are relatively... Agent: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

20080079921 - Substrate exposure apparatus and illumination apparatus: An illumination apparatus and an exposure apparatus that achieves higher quality exposure to light and higher operating speed even where the ratio Hx/Hy between the transverse dimension Hx and the longitudinal dimension Hy of the plane of optical modulation of a two-dimensional optical space modulator is 1.5 or above, for... Agent: Crowell & Moring LLP Intellectual Property Group

20080079920 - Wafer exposure device and method: A wafer exposure device includes a wafer stage. An optical exposure system exposes a wafer on the wafer stage. A sensor block measures a distance to a wafer provided on the wafer stage. The sensor block includes a plurality of height level sensors. Each height level sensor measures and outputs... Agent: Slater & Matsil LLP

20080079925 - Processing apparatus: A processing apparatus comprises a processing unit configured to process an object, and a controller configured to send a signal for requesting an external apparatus to perform conveyance of the object into or out of the processing apparatus before the processing apparatus enters a state in which the external apparatus... Agent: Morgan & Finnegan, L.L.P.

20080079926 - Near-field exposure mask, near-field exposure apparatus, and near-field exposure method: A near-field exposure mask includes a light blocking film having an opening smaller than a wavelength of exposure light, and a mask base material for holding the light blocking film. The near-field exposure mask is configured and positioned to effect exposure of an object to be exposed to near-field light... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20080079927 - Holder for carrying a photolithography mask in a flattened condition: A holder is described for carrying a photolithography mask in a flattened condition. The holder may include a mask chuck and may be able to flatten a mask for use in photolithography. In one example, the holder may include a substrate and a plurality of independently controllable actuators coupled to... Agent: Intel/blakely

20080079928 - System and method for designing an optical element: wherein V is the contrast, As is an estimated amplitude of the s-polarization in the at least two rays (356) that exit the optical element, Ap is an estimated amplitude of the p-polarization in the at least two rays (356) that exit the optical element, and θ is the angle... Agent: Roeder & Broder LLP

20080079917 - Developing method and developing unit: In a developing method for performing developing treatment of a substrate by supplying a developing solution onto a resist film formed on a surface of the substrate, the present invention controls a zeta potential of the surface of the substrate at a predetermined potential in the same polarity as that... Agent: Rader Fishman & Grauer PLLC

20080079922 - Pattern generator: The present invention relates to an apparatus for creating a pattern on a workpiece sensitive to radiation, such as a photomask a display panel or a microoptical device. The apparatus may include a source for emitting light flashes, a spatial modulator having modulating elements (pixels), adapted to being illuminated by... Agent: Harness, Dickey & Pierce, P.L.C

20080079923 - Methods, systems, and computer program products for printing patterns on photosensitive surfaces: A method, system, and computer program product are provided for printing a pattern on a photosensitive surface using a maskless lithography system including a spatial light modulator (SLM). The method, system, and computer program product define two or more exposure areas within a predetermined region of the surface, each area... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20080079924 - Projection optical system, exposure apparatus, and exposure method: A projection optical system is a catoptric system in which a field of view region and an imaging region are located spaced from an optical axis, in which a numerical aperture of light reaching each point on an image plane is substantially uniform regardless of an image height and a... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC