Nonlinearity-compensated large-area patterning system
US5291240A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 27, 1992 |
| Grant date | Mar 1, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 27, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG03F7/70358
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
This patterning system has the ability to uniformly image a mask onto a substrate having nonlinear exposure characteristics, has large-area exposure capability, and comprises: (a) a stage system capable of synchronously scanning a mask and a substrate in one dimension, and when not scanning in that dimension, capable of moving them laterally in a direction perpendicular to the scan direction so as to position the mask and substrate for another scan partially overlapping the preceding scan, thus exposing the full substrate in an overlapping scan-and-repeat fashion; (b) an illumination system capable of illuminating on the mask a region of a predetermined multisided shape which has at least one of its sides curved, the curvatures of said curved sides being so determined that adjacent scanning exposures are compensated in their overlap regions for the nonlinear response characteristics of the substrate so as to provide uniform cumulative response; (c) a projection assembly capable of imaging the illuminated region on the mask onto the substrate, having the desired imaging resolution, and having an image field size smaller than the substrate; and (d) provision for adjusting the widths …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.