Patent ID: 7268856
Filing Date: 2007-09-11
Classification: G02B,G03F

Abstract:
1. A pattern writing apparatus for writing a pattern by applying light on a photosensitive material, comprising: a light source part; a spatial light modulator for spatially modulating light emitted from said light source part and directing modulated light beams to a plurality of irradiation regions, respectively, which are arranged in a row direction and a column direction being perpendicular to each other on a photosensitive material, said plurality of irradiation regions forming a plurality of irradiation blocks arranged in said column direction, in each of which irradiation regions are arranged in at least one row, writing signal being sequentially inputted to at least one modulation block on said spatial light modulator out of a plurality of modulation blocks which correspond to said plurality of irradiation blocks, respectively, ON/OFF control of light irradiation of irradiation regions included in at least one irradiation block corresponding to said at least one modulation block being simultaneously carried out; a scanning mechanism for scanning said plurality of irradiation blocks over a photosensitive material in a predetermined scanning direction, writing regions being fixedly arranged two-dimensionally on said photosensitive material at a predetermined writing pitch in said scanning direction, over each of said writing regions relatively passing at least any one irradiation region included in each irradiation block; a writing controller for inputting said writing signal to said spatial light modulator in synchronization with scanning of said plurality of irradiation blocks; and a block number determining part for determining the number of modulation blocks used for pattern writing as operating block number where a scan speed can be maximized.