Photocopying inventions

20080106707 - Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and method for producing device: An exposure apparatus (EX) exposes a substrate (P) by irradiating exposure light (EL) on the substrate (P) through liquid (LQ). The exposure apparatus (EX) has a substrate holder (PH) for holding the substrate (P), a substrate stage (PST) capable of moving the substrate (P) held by the substrate holder (PH),... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080106710 - Immersion lithography system using a sealed wafer bath: Immersion lithography system and method using a sealed wafer bottom are described. One embodiment is an immersion lithography apparatus including a lens assembly comprising an imaging lens and a wafer stage for retaining a wafer beneath the lens assembly and comprising a seal ring for sealing a gap between a... Agent: Haynes And Boone, LLP

20080106712 - Liquid recovery member, substrate holding member, exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method: A substrate holding member includes: a first holding portion that detachably holds a substrate to be immersion exposed; and a second holding portion that detachably holds a liquid recovery member, the liquid recovery member including an opening portion in which a liquid having flowed out from an upper surface of... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080106709 - Method and apparatus for removing particles in immersion lithography: A method and system involve supplying an immersion fluid to a space between an imaging lens and a substrate to be patterned, generating an electric field in the immersion fluid within the space so that the electric field urges particles away from a surface of the substrate, removing the immersion... Agent: Haynes And Boone, LLP

20080106708 - Method and apparatus to prevent contamination of optical element by resist processing: A method and apparatus to eliminate contaminants in a lithography process for fabrication of integrated circuit devices. The method includes depositing a photoresist material on surface of a semiconductor substrate. A purge gas flow is provided proximate to an optical element to prevent a vapor from the exposed photoresist material... Agent: Townsend And Townsend And Crew, LLP

20080106711 - Projection lens system of a microlithographic projection exposure installation: A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises a projection objective which images an object onto an image plane and has a lens with a curved surface. In the projection objective there is a liquid or solid medium which directly adjoins the curved surface over a region which is usable for imaging... Agent: Fish & Richardson PC

20080106714 - Alignment information display method and its program, alignment method, exposure method, device production process, display system, display device, and program and measurement/inspection system: [MEANS FOR SOLUTION] The alignment information display method of the present invention receives as input the data of the results of processing relating to alignment measurement, receives as input information relating to the parameters of the alignment measurement, finds the information for display from the data of the results of... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080106715 - Immersion lithography system using a sealed wafer bath: Immersion lithography system and method using a sealed wafer bottom are described. One embodiment is an immersion lithography apparatus comprising a lens assembly comprising an imaging lens and a wafer stage for retaining a wafer beneath the lens assembly, the wafer stage comprising a seal ring disposed on a seal... Agent: Haynes And Boone, LLP

20080106719 - Compensating masks, multi-optical systems using the masks, and methods of compensating for 3-d mask effect using the same: Provided are a compensating mask, a multi-optical system using the compensating mask, and a method of compensating for a 3-dimensional (3-D) mask effect using the compensating mask. Methods of compensating for a 3-D mask effect using a compensating mask may include generating a first kernel corresponding to a normal mask... Agent: Myers Bigel Sibley & Sajovec

20080106720 - 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: Morgan & Finnegan, L.L.P.

20080106721 - Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method: An exposure apparatus which illuminates a reticle with illumination light from a light source and projects light from the reticle onto a substrate to expose the substrate to light is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a shutter located on a path of the illumination light, a detector configured to detect a... Agent: Morgan & Finnegan, L.L.P.

20080106713 - Immersion lithography apparatus and exposure method: An immersion lithography apparatus includes: a projection optical system which projects a pattern of a mask onto a substrate; a substrate cleaning unit which cleans the substrate prior to projection of the pattern; a liquid supply mechanism which supplies the same liquid to an immersion region between the projection optical... Agent: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

20080106716 - Photomask, exposure method and apparatus that use the same, and semiconductor device: A photomask used in step-and-scan reduced projection exposure is provided with a substrate and a pattern formation area formed on the substrate. The pattern formation area has an unequal aspect dimensions and is a long rectangular shape in a scan direction. A first pattern width in the scan direction of... Agent: Mcginn Intellectual Property Law Group, PLLC

20080106717 - Using an interferometer as a high speed variable attenuator: A system and method provides high speed variable attenuators. The attenuators can be used within a lithographic apparatus to control intensity of radiation in one or more correction pulses used to correct a dose of the radiation following an initial pulse of radiation.... Agent: Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.l.l.c.

20080106718 - Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method: An exposure apparatus emits exposure light onto a substrate (P) via a projection optical system (PL) to expose the substrate (P). The projection optical system (PL) includes a first optical element (LS1) closest to an image plane of the projection optical system (PL) and a second optical element (LS2) closest... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080106722 - Movable body drive system and movable body drive method, pattern formation apparatus and method, exposure apparatus and method, device manufacturing method, and decision-making method: A drive unit drives a wafer table in a Y-axis direction based on a measurement value of an encoder that measures position information of the wafer table in the Y-axis direction and based on known correction information in accordance with position information of the wafer table in a non-measurement direction... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080106723 - Substrate placement in immersion lithography: A method for determining an offset between a center of a substrate and a center of a depression in a chuck includes providing a test substrate to the depression, the test substrate having a dimension smaller than a dimension of the depression, measuring a position of an alignment mark of... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20080100811 - Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method: To provide an exposure apparatus that allows an understanding of the condition of the apparatus and that can prevent a leakage or scattering of a liquid. The exposure apparatus (EX) includes a display apparatus (D) that indicates at least one of a status of filling of an optical path space... Agent: Miles & Stockbridge PC

20080100810 - Exposure apparatus, supply method and recovery method, exposure method, and device producing method: The present invention provides an exposure apparatus that can prevent the degradation of exposure and measurement accuracies. An exposure apparatus (EX) exposes a substrate (P) by irradiating the substrate (P) with exposure light (EL) through a projection optical system (PL) and a liquid (LQ), and comprises: a liquid supply mechanism... Agent: Staas & Halsey

20080100812 - Immersion lithography system and method having a wafer chuck made of a porous material: An immersion lithography apparatus having a substrate chuck made of a porous material. The porous substrate chuck is provided to contact and support the back surface of the substrate and hold the substrate in place. The porous substrate chuck facilitates in the removal of any immersion liquid under the substrate.... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080100814 - Reticle management systems and methods: Reticle management systems and methods. The system comprises at least one reticle and at least one cabinet with an inert gas environment. The cabinet comprises a plurality of storage spaces. When the reticle is put in a storage space, the cabinet identifies the reticle and the storage space occupied thereby.... Agent: Thomas, Kayden, Horstemeyer & Risley LLP

20080100816 - Lithographic apparatus and method: An illuminator for a lithographic apparatus is disclosed, the illuminator including an array of individually controllable reflective elements capable of changing the angular intensity distribution of an incident illumination beam of radiation, wherein the array of individually controllable reflective elements is provided on a curved support structure, or the array... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20080100818 - Lithographic apparatus and method: In a lithographic apparatus, a slip of a patterning device relative to a support, the support constructed to support the patterning device, may be provided by measuring a position of the support relative to a first structure of the lithographic apparatus; measuring a position of the patterning device relative to... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20080100819 - Lithographic apparatus and method: In a lithographic apparatus, a slip of a patterning device relative to a support, the support being constructed to support the patterning device, may be provided by: measuring a position of the support relative to a structure of the lithographic apparatus; measuring a position of the patterning device relative to... Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP

20080100809 - Wet processing system, wet processing method and storage medium: A wet processing system detects a globule of a process solution in a drippy or dripping state from the tip of any one of process solution pouring nozzles being moved to a pouring position for pouring the process solution onto a substrate by obtaining image data on the process solution... Agent: Oblon, Spivak, Mcclelland Maier & Neustadt, P.C.

20080100813 - Cleanup method for optics in immersion lithography: A liquid immersion exposure apparatus includes an optical system via which a substrate is exposed with an exposure beam, and a cleaning device which performs a cleaning operation by filling a space adjacent the optical system with a liquid including bubbles.... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080100815 - Arrangement of two connected bodies: Arrangements of a first body and a second body connected to the first body, as well as related systems and methods, are disclosed. The arrangements, systems and methods can be used, for example, with optical devices, such as in the field of microlithography systems used to manufacture of microelectronic devices.... Agent: Fish & Richardson PC

20080100817 - Printing a mask with maximum possible process window through adjustment of the source distribution: Disclosed is a method for illuminating a lithographic mask with light from different directions, in such a way that the intensities of the various incident beams provide the largest possible integrated process window. The process window is defined in terms of allowable ranges for printed shapes. For example, boundaries of... Agent: Harrington & Smith, PC

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