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Photocopying December patent applications/inventions, industry category 12/09

20090323035 - Exposure apparatus and method, maintenance method for exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method: An exposure apparatus (EX) includes a setting apparatus (45) that sets an irradiation region (AR) of exposure light (EL) in a first state in which the irradiation light (EL) is irradiated onto a substrate (P) and irradiates, in a second state in which the exposure light (EL) is not irradiated... Agent: Miles & Stockbridge PC

20090323036 - Surface position detecting apparatus, exposure apparatus, surface position detecting method, and device manufacturing method: An apparatus is provided with a light-sending optical system which makes first light from a first pattern and second light from a second pattern incident to a predetermined surface to project intermediate images of the first and second patterns onto the predetermined surface respectively; a light-receiving optical system which guides... Agent: Staas & Halsey LLP

20090323039 - Correction method for non-uniform reticle heating in a lithographic apparatus: A method that includes conditioning a radiation beam, imparting the radiation beam with a pattern to form a patterned radiation beam by a reticle having a pattern image area and a reticle mark, and projecting the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of a substrate by a projection system.... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20090323037 - Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method: A detection method for detecting a property of an extended pattern formed by at least one line generally extending in a first direction. The extended pattern is formed on a substrate or on a substrate table and preferably extends over a length of at least 50× the width of the... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20090323038 - Object support positioning device and lithographic apparatus: An object support positioning device configured to position an object support includes first and second side-beams having respective first and second sliders mounted thereon, first and second motors configured to move the first and second sliders along each respective side beam, a cross beam mounted proximate first and second ends... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20090323040 - Telecentricity corrector for microlithographic projection system: A telecentricity corrector is incorporated into a microlithographic projection system to achieve telecentricity targets at the output of the microlithographic projection system. The telecentricity corrector is located between an illuminator and a projection lens of the projection system, preferably just in advance of a reticle for controlling angular distributions of... Agent: Corning Incorporated

20090323041 - Beam transforming element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method with two optical elements having different thicknesses: A beam transforming element for forming a predetermined light intensity distribution on a predetermined surface on the basis of an incident beam includes a first basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a first region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20090323044 - Catoptric illumination system for microlithography tool: In general, in one aspect, the invention features a system that includes an illumination system of a microlithography tool, the illumination system including a first component having a plurality of elements. During operation of the system, the elements direct radiation from a source along an optical path to an arc-shaped... Agent: Fish & Richardson PC

20090323043 - Illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus: An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus can include at least one transmission filter which has a different transmittance at least at two positions and which is arranged between a pupil plane and a field plane). The transmittance distribution can be determined such that it has field dependent... Agent: Fish & Richardson PC

20090323042 - Optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus: An optical system, such as an illumination device or a projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, is disclosed. The optical system can include a polarization compensator which has at least one polarization-modifying partial element. The optical system can also include a manipulator by which the position of the... Agent: Fish & Richardson PC

20090323045 - Lithographic apparatus and a method of operating the lithographic apparatus: A Lithographic Apparatus and a Method of Operating the Lithographic Apparatus A lithographic projection apparatus is disclosed that includes a substrate table, a positioner, a projection system and a fluid handling system. The substrate table is constructed and arranged to hold a substrate, the substrate having an edge feature. The... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20090316119 - Apparatus and method for conditioning an immersion fluid: The present invention includes apparatus and methods for producing a conditioned immersion fluid for use in an immersion lithography process. The conditioned immersion fluid protects the immersion system lens and reduces or eliminates deposition of contaminants onto the lens that can adversely affect the lens transmission and durability of an... Agent: Hamilton, Brook, Smith & Reynolds, P.C.

20090316120 - Exposure apparatus, cleaning method, and device fabricating method: An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate with exposure light that passes through an exposure liquid. The exposure apparatus comprises: an optical member, which has an emergent surface wherefrom the exposure light emerges; a first supply port, which supplies the exposure liquid; a liquid immersion member, which is capable of forming... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20090316122 - Lithographic apparatus: A substrate stage for an immersion type lithographic apparatus is arranged to project a patterned radiation beam from a patterning device onto a substrate, the substrate stage being constructed to hold the substrate and including at least a sensor for sensing the patterned radiation beam, the sensor including an at... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20090316121 - Lithographic apparatus and method: A lithographic apparatus of the immersion type is disclosed. In the apparatus, a plurality of heating and/or cooling devices are provided in the vicinity of the final element of the projection system, e.g. in a barrier member of a liquid handling system. The heating and/or cooling devices can be used,... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20090316123 - Injection-locked laser, interferometer, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method: An injection-locked laser is disclosed. The injection-locked laser comprises a seed laser, an oscillator into which a certain component of light output from the seed laser is injected as seed laser light, a frequency converter which shifts a frequency of the remaining component of the light output from the seed... Agent: Rossi, Kimms & Mcdowell LLP.

20090316126 - High resolution printing technique: A pattern having exceptionally small features is printed on a partially fabricated integrated circuit during integrated circuit fabrication. The pattern is printed using an array of probes, each probe having: 1) a photocatalytic nanodot at its tip; and 2) an individually controlled light source. The surface of the partially fabricated... Agent: Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP

20090316125 - Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method: A lithographic apparatus includes a phase adjuster to adjust a phase of an optical wave traversing an optical element of the phase adjuster during exposure of a pattern on a substrate. In an embodiment, the optical element is a heat controllable optical element in a projection system of the lithographic... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20090316124 - Lithographic apparatus, device manufacturing method and device manufactured thereby: The X, Y and Rz positions of a mask stage are measured using two optical encoder-reading heads measuring displacements of respective grid gratings mounted on the mask stage. The grid gratings are preferably provided on cut-away portions of the mask table so as to be coplanar with the pattern on... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20090316127 - Substrate, and method and apparatus for producing the same: A method, for producing a substrate, includes: forming an alignment mark on a first surface of the substrate; detecting a position of the alignment mark; forming a mark by scanning and focusing a laser beam on a position, on a second surface of the substrate, corresponding to the position of... Agent: Westerman, Hattori, Daniels & Adrian, LLP

20090316128 - Illumination system particularly for microlithography: There is provided a projection objective for a projection exposure apparatus that has a primary light source for emitting electromagnetic radiation having a chief ray with a wavelength≦193 nm. The projection objective includes an object plane, a first mirror, a second mirror, a third mirror, a fourth mirror; and an... Agent: Fish & Richardson PC

20090316130 - Euv illumination system: An illumination system is used to illuminate a specified illumination field of an object surface with EUV radiation. The illumination system has an EUV source and a collector to concentrate the EUV radiation in the direction of an optical axis. A first optical element is provided to generate secondary light... Agent: Fish & Richardson PC

20090316129 - Lithographic apparatus having a feed forward pressure pulse compensation for the metrology frame: A lithographic apparatus including a projection system configured to project a patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of a substrate; a metrology frame supported by a vibration isolation support device; an object movable with respect to the metrology frame; and a displacement determining unit to determine positions, speeds and/or... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20090316131 - Exposure apparatus that utilizes multiple masks: An exposure apparatus (10) for transferring a first mask pattern (29A) from a first mask (26A) and a second mask pattern (29B) from a second mask (26B) to a substrate (28) includes a first mask stage assembly (18A), a second mask stage assembly (18B), an illumination system (14A), a substrate... Agent: Roeder & Broder LLP

20090316132 - Polarization-modulating element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method: There is disclosed a polarization-modulating element for modulating a polarization state of incident light into a predetermined polarization state, the polarization-modulating element being made of an optical material with optical activity and having a circumferentially varying thickness profile.... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20090316133 - Moving body apparatus and exposure apparatus: When a wafer stage WST accelerates and decelerates on a base, a torque that acts on a wafer drive system including the base and the like is cancelled out by a torque that acts on the wafer drive system by driving a counter of a coutermass device along a linear... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20090310105 - Optical member, interferometer system, stage apparatus, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method: An optical member is irradiated with light in order to measure position information in a first direction. The optical member has a first reflecting surface, onto which light propagating in a second direction intersecting the first direction is incident, and a second reflecting surface, onto which light propagating in the... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20090310106 - Exposure apparatus and method of manufacturing device: An exposure apparatus which transfers a pattern of a reticle onto a substrate via a projection optical system comprises a controller configured to correct an image of the pattern, formed on the substrate, in accordance with a shape of the reticle in a standby state until an exposure operation starts.... Agent: Canon U.s.a. Inc. Intellectual Property Division

20090310107 - Deforming mechanism, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method: A deforming mechanism for deforming a transmissive optical element comprises a rotation member configured to hold the optical element and to rotate around an axis parallel to a tangential line of a circumference of the optical element at a portion where the rotation member holds the optical element, so as... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20090310110 - Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method: An exposure apparatus is configured to project a pattern of an original illuminated by an illumination system onto a substrate by a projection optical system to expose the substrate, and comprises a light-shielding member configured to define a position at which light falls on an image plane of the projection... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20090310108 - Exposure apparatus and method of manufacturing device: A reticle stage, a substrate stage and a measurement device are controlled such that first measurement of the position of a surface of a substrate, positioning of the surface at an image plane of the projection optical system based on the first measurement, and an exposure are performed during a... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20090310109 - Exposure apparatus and method of manufacturing device: When a substrate stage is located in a first area, a first measurement device measures the same portion of the substrate at the plural measurement points both before and after the stage is horizontally driven. A controller calculates a first difference of the stage in the vertical direction in the... Agent: Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto

20090310112 - Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method: An exposure apparatus which has an illumination unit SL illuminating a reticle R and is configured to illuminate a part of the reticle R in an illumination area adjusted by the illumination unit SL to expose a wafer W while the reticle R and the wafer W are scanned, the... Agent: Canon U.s.a. Inc. Intellectual Property Division

20090310111 - Pulse to pulse energy equalization of light beam intensity: A system for equalizing pulse to pulse energy of a light beam includes a group of optical devices including an optical device configured to exhibit third order nonlinear properties. Transmission properties of an unequalized light beam passing through the group of optical devices change such that an output intensity of... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20090310113 - Sub-segmented alignment mark arrangement: An alignment mark on a substrate includes a periodic structure of a plurality of first elements and a plurality of second elements. The elements are arranged in an alternating repetitive sequence in a first direction. An overall pitch of the periodic structure is equal to a sum of a width... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20090310114 - Lithographic apparatus, composite material and manufacturing method: A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam and a support constructed to support a patterning device. The patterning device may be capable of imparting the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam. The lithographic apparatus further includes... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20090310115 - Apparatus and method for exposing adjacent sites on a substrate: An exposure apparatus (10) for transferring a mask pattern (452) from a mask (12) to a substrate (14) includes an illumination system (18), a mask stage assembly (22), a substrate stage assembly (24), and a control system (28). The substrate (14) includes a first site (1) and a second site... Agent: Roeder & Broder LLP

20090310116 - Recording medium storing program for determining exposure parameter, exposure method, and method of manufacturing device: An exposure method comprises setting an exposure condition using a value of an exposure parameter when plural types of patterns are transferred onto a substrate. The method of determining a value of an exposure parameter comprises calculating an optical image, formed on an image plane upon illuminating a pattern on... Agent: Canon U.s.a. Inc. Intellectual Property Division

20090303450 - Particle detection on patterning devices with arbitrary patterns: A detection system for detecting particle contamination in a lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system that directs a radiation beam onto a section of a surface of a patterning device to generate at least first and second components of patterned radiation. A first detector is configured to detect the first... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20090303451 - Light source device, optical scanning device, and image forming apparatus: A light source device includes a light source that includes a vertical cavity surface emitting laser; a drive circuit that drives the light source; and a circuit board that includes at least one mounting surface on which the light source and the drive circuit are mounted. The light source is... Agent: Dickstein Shapiro LLP

20090303452 - Image enhancement technique: The present invention relates to a method to improve at least one feature edge steepness in an image to be exposed onto a moving workpiece, comprising the actions of: moving the image in essentially the same direction relative to the direction of movement of the workpiece, synchronizing said moving of... Agent: Haynes Beffel & Wolfeld LLP

20090303453 - Measurement method and apparatus, exposure apparatus: A measurement method for measuring a wavefront aberration of a target optical system using a measurement apparatus that measures the wavefront aberration of the target optical system by detecting an interference pattern includes the steps of measuring as a system parameter a shift from a design value of a value... Agent: Rossi, Kimms & Mcdowell LLP.

20090303454 - Exposure apparatus with a scanning illumination beam: An exposure apparatus (10) for transferring a mask pattern (358) from a mask (12) to a substrate (14) includes a mask retainer (44), a substrate stage assembly (24), and an illumination system (18). The mask retainer (44) retains the mask (12). The substrate stage assembly (24) retains and positions the... Agent: Roeder & Broder LLP

20090303455 - Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method: A porous member is used in a liquid removal system of an immersion lithographic projection apparatus to smooth uneven flows. A pressure differential across the porous member may be maintained at below the bubble point of the porous member so that a single-phase liquid flow is obtained. Alternatively, the porous... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP