Patent ID: 6549269
Filing Date: 2003-04-15
Classification: G03F

Abstract:
A projection exposure apparatus in which sensitive substrates are exposed by projecting a pattern formed on a mask onto the sensitive substrates respectively, the apparatus comprising:a projection system, disposed in a path of an exposure beam, which projects a pattern image onto a sensitive substrate; a stage system, disposed on an image plane side of the projection system, which has a first substrate stage and a second substrate stage, each of which is movable independently in a plane while holding a sensitive substrate; a first interferometer system, functionally associated with the stage system, which has five measuring axes and monitors the first substrate stage during a detecting operation of the first substrate stage; a second interferometer system, functionally associated with the stage system, which has five measuring axes and monitors the second substrate stage during an exposure operation of the second substrate stage; a first detection system, functionally associated with the stage system, which detects a plurality of marks on the sensitive substrate held by the first substrate stage and a first reference on the first substrate stage during the detecting operation in order to determine a first positional relationship between a plurality of shot areas on the sensitive substrate held by the first substrate stage and the first reference on the first substrate stage; a second detection system, functionally associated with the stage system, which detects a second positional relationship between a second reference on the first substrate stage and a mask mark formed on the mask via the projection system in order to align the plurality of shot areas on the sensitive substrate held by the first substrate stage with the mask, after finishing the exposure operation and the detecting operation, the first and second references on the first substrate stage being arranged with a predetermined positional relationship; and a control system, functionally associated with the stage system, the first interferometer system and the second interferometer system, which controls the stage system to perform the detecting operation by moving the first substrate stage, while executing the exposure operation for the sensitive substrate held on the second substrate stage by moving the second substrate stage, based on the measuring result of the first and second interferometer systems.