Source: http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/8711323.html
Timestamp: 2017-12-16 07:24:32
Document Index: 296250836

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 200410064067', 'Application No. 200410064067', 'Application No. 2004', 'Application No. 03', 'Application No. 2012', 'Application No. 03257072']

Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method - Patent # 8711323 - PatentGenius
8711323 Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
Inventor: Streefkerk, et al.
U.S. Class: 355/30; 355/52; 355/53; 355/55; 355/67; 355/72
Field Of Search: ;355/30; ;355/53; ;355/52; ;355/55; ;355/77; ;355/67; ;355/68; ;355/69; ;355/70; ;355/71; ;355/72; ;355/73; ;355/74; ;355/75; ;250/548; ;250/492.1; ;250/492.2; ;250/492.22; ;430/8; ;430/311; ;430/269; ;430/22; ;430/30; ;430/312; ;430/321
International Class: G03B 27/52; G03B 27/42; G03B 27/54; G03B 27/58; G03B 27/68
Foreign Patent Documents: 206 607; 221 563; 224448; 242880; 0023231; 0418427; 0 605 103; 1039511; 2474708; 58-202448; 62-065326; 62-121417; 63-157419; 04-305915; 04-305917; 6-84757; 06-124873; 07-132262; 07-220990; 10-228661; 10-255319; 10-303114; 10303114; 10-340846; 11-176727; 2000-058436; 2001-091849; 2003-059807; 2003-151898; 2004-193252; 2004-296648; 2005-012201; 2005-051231; 1999-0034784; WO 99/49504; WO 03/077036; WO 03/077037; WO 2004/019128; WO 2004/053596; WO 2004/053950; WO 2004/053951; WO 2004/053952; WO 2004/053953; WO 2004/053954; WO 2004/053955; WO 2004/053956; WO 2004/053957; WO 2004/053958; WO 2004/053959; WO 2004/055803; WO 2004/057589; WO 2004/057590
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1. An exposure apparatus comprising: a projection optical system to project a pattern of a reticle onto a substrate, said projection optical system including anoptical element closest to the substrate; a liquid supply system to supply a liquid to a space between the optical element and the substrate, the liquid supply system comprising a liquid confinement member extending at least partly between the opticalelement and the substrate and spaced apart from and out of direct contact with the optical element, the liquid confinement member having: a surface, extending around the space and facing toward the substrate, defining the space with a cross-sectionalarea smaller than the area of the pattern receiving surface of the substrate, an inlet to supply the liquid, an outlet in the surface to exhaust the liquid, and an open aperture between the optical element and the substrate to allow fluid connectionbetween the optical element and the substrate, the open aperture having a width smaller than a bottom surface of the optical element; a temperature controller to control a temperature of the liquid, wherein (a) said temperature controller controls thetemperature of the liquid based on temperature information at a plurality of locations on or adjacent (i) the substrate, or (ii) the optical element, or (iii) both (i) and (ii), or (b) a projection optical system compensator adjusts an optical propertyof the projection optical system based on temperature information at a plurality of locations on or adjacent (iv) the substrate, or (v) the optical element, or (vi) both (iv) and (v), or (c) both (a) and (b); and a stage to move the substrate relativeto the optical element and the liquid confinement member.
3. An exposure apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a holder to hold the substrate, wherein said temperature controller supplies the liquid that has been temperature-controlled, to the holder to control a temperature of theholder.
5. A device manufacturing method comprising the steps of: exposing a substrate using an exposure apparatus according to claim 1; and developing the substrate that has been exposed.
6. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a temperature sensor arranged to measure the temperature at the plurality of locations of (vi) the optical element, or (vii) the substrate, or (viii) both (vi) and (vii) and theprojection optical system compensator is configured to process calibration data, the calibration data representing adjustments to be applied to the optical property of the projection optical system in response to a measurement of the temperature sensor.
7. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the projection optical system compensator is configured to adjust imaging properties of the projection optical system via one or more adjustable elements arranged in the projection opticalsystem.
8. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a liquid flow rate adjustment device, and wherein the temperature controller is configured to control operation of the liquid flow rate adjustment device to adjust flow rate ofthe liquid.
9. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature controller comprises a PID controller configured to achieve convergence towards a target temperature or the projection system compensator comprises a PID controllerconfigured to achieve convergence towards a target optical property.
12. An exposure apparatus comprising: a projection optical system to project a pattern of a reticle onto a substrate; a holder to hold the substrate; a liquid supply system to supply a liquid to a space between the projection optical systemand the holder, the liquid supply system comprising a liquid confinement member extending at least partly between the projection optical system and the holder and spaced apart from and out of direct contact with the projection optical system, the liquidconfinement member having: a surface, extending around the space and facing toward the substrate, defining the space with a cross-sectional area smaller than the area of the pattern receiving surface of the substrate, an inlet to supply the liquid, anoutlet in the surface to exhaust the liquid, and an open aperture between the projection optical system and the substrate to allow fluid connection between the projection optical system and the substrate, the open aperture having a width smaller than abottom surface of the projection optical system; a temperature controller to supply a liquid that has been temperature-controlled, to the space, wherein (a) said temperature controller controls the temperature of the liquid based on temperatureinformation at a plurality of locations on or adjacent (i) the substrate, or (ii) a part of the projection optical system in contact with the liquid, or (iii) both (i) and (ii), or (b) a projection optical system compensator adjusts an optical propertyof the projection optical system based on temperature information at a plurality of locations on or adjacent (iv) the substrate, or (v) a part of the projection optical system in contact with the liquid, or (vi) both (iv) and (v), or (c) both (a) and(b); a temperature sensor to measure the temperature information at the plurality of locations on (vii) the substrate, or (viii) the part of the projection optical system in contact with the liquid, or (ix) both (vii) and (viii); and a stage to movethe substrate relative to the projection optical system and the liquid confinement member.
14. A device manufacturing method comprising the steps of: exposing a substrate using an exposure apparatus according to claim 12; and developing the substrate that has been exposed.
15. The exposure apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the projection optical system compensator is configured to process calibration data, the calibration data representing adjustments to be applied to the optical property of the projectionoptical system in response to a measurement of the temperature sensor.
16. The exposure apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the projection optical system compensator is configured to adjust imaging properties of the projection optical system via one or more adjustable elements arranged in the projectionoptical system.
17. The exposure apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a liquid flow rate adjustment device, and wherein the temperature controller is configured to control operation of the liquid flow rate adjustment device to adjust flow rateof the liquid.
18. The exposure apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the temperature controller comprises a PID controller configured to achieve convergence towards a target temperature or the projection system compensator comprises a PID controllerconfigured to achieve convergence towards a target optical property.
It has been proposed to immerse the substrate in the lithographic projection apparatus in a liquid having a relatively high refractive index, e.g. water, so as to fill a space between the final element of the projection system and the substrate. The point of this is to enable imaging of smaller features since the exposure radiation will have a shorter wavelength in the liquid. (The effect of the liquid may also be regarded as increasing the effective NA of the system and also increasing thedepth of focus.) Other immersion liquids have been proposed, including water with solid particles (e.g. quartz) suspended therein.
However, submersing the substrate or substrate and substrate table in a bath of liquid (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,852, hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference) means that there is a large body of liquid that must beaccelerated during a scanning exposure. This requires additional or more powerful motors and turbulence in the liquid may lead to undesirable and unpredictable effects.
One of the solutions proposed is for a liquid supply system to provide liquid on only a localized area of the substrate and in between the final element of the projection system and the substrate (the substrate generally has a larger surfacearea than the final element of the projection system). One way which has been proposed to arrange for this is disclosed in PCT patent application WO 99/49504, hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, liquid issupplied by at least one inlet IN onto the substrate, preferably along the direction of movement of the substrate relative to the final element, and is removed by at least one outlet OUT after having passed under the projection system. That is, as thesubstrate is scanned beneath the element in a -X direction, liquid is supplied at the +X side of the element and taken up at the -X side. FIG. 2 shows the arrangement schematically in which liquid is supplied via inlet IN and is taken up on the otherside of the element by outlet OUT which is connected to a low pressure source. In the illustration of FIG. 2 the liquid is supplied along the direction of movement of the substrate relative to the final element, though this does not need to be the case. Various orientations and numbers of in- and out-lets positioned around the final element are possible, one example is illustrated in FIG. 3 in which four sets of an inlet with an outlet on either side are provided in a regular pattern around the finalelement.
It is typically important to reduce or minimize temperature variations in components that influence the path of imaging radiation. Thermal expansion and contraction of optical components such as lenses and mirrors may lead to distortions of theimage reaching the substrate as may temperature induced variations in the refractive index of an immersion liquid in an immersion lithographic apparatus. Control of component temperatures is normally possible by limiting the extent and proximity ofdissipative processes, both electrical and mechanical, or of any other heat flux sources (i.e. sources that provide or absorb heat), and ensuring good thermal connection between components and high heat capacity elements. However, despite employingmeasures such as these with regard to optical elements, image distortions traceable to variations in temperature and/or in local beam intensity continue to be detected.
a liquid supply system configured to at least partly fill a space between the projection system and the substrate with a liquid, the liquid supply system comprising a temperature controller configured to adjust the temperature of the substrate,the liquid and at least a part of the projection system towards a substantially common target temperature.
a projection system compensator configured to adjust an optical property of the projection system in response to a distortion in a pattern exposed on the substrate caused by a difference in temperature of the projection system, the substrate,the liquid, or any combination thereof, from a target temperature.
adjusting an optical property of the projection system in response to a distortion in a pattern exposed on the substrate caused by a difference in temperature of the projection system, the substrate, the liquid, or any combination thereof, froma target temperature.
Although specific reference may be made in this text to the use of the apparatus according to the invention in the manufacture of ICs, it should be explicitly understood that such an apparatus has many other possible applications. For example,it may be employed in the manufacture of integrated optical systems, guidance and detection patterns for magnetic domain memories, liquid-crystal display panels, thin-film magnetic heads, etc. The skilled artisan will appreciate that, in the context ofsuch alternative applications, any use of the terms "reticle", "wafer" or "die" in this text should be considered as being replaced by the more general terms "mask", "substrate" and "target portion", respectively.
The radiation beam PB is incident on the patterning device (e.g., mask MA), which is held on the support structure (e.g., mask table MT), and is patterned by the patterning device. Having traversed the mask MA, the radiation beam PB passesthrough the projection system PL, which focuses the beam onto a target portion C of the substrate W. With the aid of the second positioner PW and position sensor IF (e.g. an interferometric device, linear encoder or capacitive sensor), the substratetable WT can be moved accurately, e.g. so as to position different target portions C in the path of the radiation beam PB. Similarly, the first positioner PM and another position sensor (which is not explicitly depicted in FIG. 1) can be used toaccurately position the mask MA with respect to the path of the radiation beam PB, e.g. after mechanical retrieval from a mask library, or during a scan. In general, movement of the mask table MT may be realized with the aid of a long-stroke module(coarse positioning) and a short-stroke module (fine positioning), which form part of the first positioner PM. Similarly, movement of the substrate table WT may be realized using a long-stroke module and a short-stroke module, which form part of thesecond positioner PW. In the case of a stepper (as opposed to a scanner) the mask table MT may be connected to a short-stroke actuator only, or may be fixed. Mask MA and substrate W may be aligned using mask alignment marks M1, M2 and substratealignment marks P1, P2. Although the substrate alignment marks as illustrated occupy dedicated target portions, they may be located in spaces between target portions (these are known as scribe-lane alignment marks). Similarly, in situations in whichmore than one die is provided on the mask MA, the mask alignment marks may be located between the dies.
2. In scan mode, the mask table MT and the substrate table WT are scanned synchronously while a pattern imparted to the radiation beam is projected onto a target portion C (i.e. a single dynamic exposure). The velocity and direction of thesubstrate table WT relative to the mask table MT may be determined by the (de-)magnification and image reversal characteristics of the projection system PL. In scan mode, the maximum size of the exposure field limits the width (in the non-scanningdirection) of the target portion in a single dynamic exposure, whereas the length of the scanning motion determines the height (in the scanning direction) of the target portion.
FIGS. 5 and 6 show a liquid supply system 10 and features 21, 22 and 23 of the temperature controller according to an embodiment of the invention. The projection system PL, substrate W and immersion liquid may have temperature dependentproperties that may influence the quality of the image projected to the substrate W. Heat flux from various sources may lead to temperature offsets in one or more of these elements and even to temperature gradients if no counter-measures are employed. This possibility may be exacerbated by the relatively low thermal conductance and heat capacity of the substrate (due both to the material used and the thin geometry). Temperature gradients may lead to thermal expansion/contraction gradients that,depending on the element in question may distort the projected image. This may be a particularly difficult problem when the temperature profile changes as the imaging beam moves relative to the substrate W, as may occur in the substrate itself, forexample. In the case of the immersion liquid, localized hotspots or cold spots on the substrate W may also lead to temperature gradients in the liquid, with liquid located close to the hotspots/cold spots being higher/lower in temperature than liquidlocated further away. Since the refractive index is generally temperature dependent, this may influence the path the imaging radiation takes through the liquid and will distort the image. By using a temperature controller that ensures not only theconstancy of the projection system temperature but also that of the substrate W and immersion liquid, distortion of the image due to these factors may be reduced.
In the embodiment shown, the liquid supply system 10 supplies liquid to an imaging-field reservoir 12 between the projection system PL and the substrate W. The liquid is, in an embodiment, chosen to have a refractive index substantially greaterthan 1 meaning that the wavelength of the projection beam is shorter in the liquid than in air or a vacuum, allowing smaller features to be resolved. It is well known that the resolution of a projection system is determined, inter alia, by thewavelength of the projection beam and the numerical aperture of the system. The presence of the liquid may also be regarded as increasing the effective numerical aperture.
The reservoir 12 is bounded at least in part by a seal member 13 positioned below and surrounding the final element of the projection system PL. The seal member 13 extends a little above the final element of the projection system PL and theliquid level rises above the bottom end of the final element of the projection system PL. The seal member 13 has an inner periphery that at the upper end closely conforms to the step of the projection system or the final element thereof and may, e.g.,be round. At the bottom, the inner periphery closely conforms to the shape of the image field, e.g. rectangular but may be any shape.
As has been discussed above, lithographic apparatuses may be extremely sensitive to thermally induced changes to the physical properties of optical elements. These changes may include thermal expansion/contraction or changes in intrinsicproperties such as refractive index. In an apparatus as complex as a typical lithography apparatus, there will inevitably be a number of important heat flux sources that may contribute to temperature variations in critical areas. These sources mayderive from dissipation arising in electrically driven devices, with or without moving parts, from variations in the external environment temperature, and/or from evaporation/condensation of fluids. An important source of heat stems from the absorptionof imaging radiation by the substrate W (leading to overlay errors). This source may also heat the substrate table holding the substrate W and the immersion liquid via convection from the substrate. Bulk temperature increases may arise via thismechanism particularly for shorter wavelength radiation, such as 157 nm. Care may be taken to minimize heating caused within the apparatus and to prevent excessive variations in the external environment temperature but it is difficult to completelyeradicate their effects particularly where dissipative heating occurs within the optical system itself.
These temperature variations may be relatively homogeneous leading to uniform changes in the image reaching the substrate W (such as uniform translation or magnification/shrinkage) or they may include contributions with a stronger spatialdependence. These latter variations may be considered more damaging because they may distort the image in a non-uniform way. The substrate W, for example, may be particularly vulnerable to such temperature variations since it is heated locally by theimaging radiation. In immersion lithography systems, the immersion liquid may also lead to temperature dependent optical properties because the refractive index of the liquid may vary with temperature.
Thermal management of these components is not amenable to the same methods used for standard optical elements. In the case of the substrate W, several factors are important. To begin with, the plate-like geometry of the substrate W suffers intwo respects: firstly, each portion of the substrate W is in relatively poor thermal contact with the rest of the substrate W, so that heat disperses slowly, and secondly, the heat capacity of the substrate W per unit area will be reduced relative to athicker slab. Both of these factors mean that a smaller amount of energy from the imaging radiation or other heat flux source may be necessary to locally heat or cool the substrate W to a given temperature. Furthermore, these problems may be compoundedby the fact that strict alignment tolerances and the required mobility of the substrate W greatly restrict the deployment of mechanical thermal connections to the substrate W. In the case of the immersion liquid, heat exchanged between the substrate Wand the liquid tends to heat or cool the liquid in a non-uniform way by convective currents and the like stimulated by temperature induced density variations rather than by conduction. Within a stationary liquid, this process may happen slowly leadingto substantial temperature (and thus refractive index) gradients within the liquid. The contact area between the liquid and the substrate is relatively large so that heat may be exchanged efficiently between the two.
In the embodiments depicted in FIGS. 5 and 6, the immersion liquid exchanges heat with the final element of the projection system PL and the substrate W. In order to carry the heated or cooled liquid away, the liquid is made to flow (see arrows11) through the imaging-field reservoir 12. Convection typically tends to take place within a thin layer (approximately 300 .mu.m) near the heated or cooled element in contact with the liquid, due to the effects of laminar flow. More effective heatexchange may be obtained by directing the flow towards the heated or cooled element in question (i.e. towards the substrate W in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5). Particularly in the case where the temperature of the substrate W is of concern, it may beadvantageous to position the immersion liquid outlet underneath the seal member 13 (as shown) and directed towards the substrate W. This arrangement may help to ensure relatively fresh immersion liquid near to the substrate W and minimize or reduce theinflux of excessively heated or cooled liquid that may be dragged into the imaging-field reservoir 12 at its lower boundaries (where the seal member 13 meets the substrate W).
Increasing the flow rate may also improve the heat exchange between the liquid and elements with which it is in contact. In order to exploit this fact, the temperature controller may comprise a liquid flow rate adjustment device 21, the liquidflow rate being adjusted so as to optimize a difference between a common target temperature and the temperatures of the final element of the projection system PL, the substrate W and the liquid. Heat exchange with the liquid causes the temperatures ofthe final element of the projection system and the substrate to tend towards the temperature of the liquid. Increasing the flow rate of liquid over these elements increases the efficiency of this process. However, there may be a limit to how high theflow rate can reach without itself degrading imaging performance via turbulence or frictional heating. The flow rate controlling process may be carried out by varying the power of a pumping device, used to circulate the immersion liquid, or by changingthe flow impedance of the liquid supply system 10 (by changing the cross-section of circulation channels forming part thereof, for example).
The temperature controller may also comprise a liquid temperature adjustment device 22, the temperature of the liquid flowing in the liquid supply system 10 being adjusted so as to optimize a difference between a common target temperature andthe temperatures of the final element of the projection system PL, the substrate W and the liquid. Adjusting the temperature of the immersion liquid may be carried out inside a temperature adjustment reservoir 24, within which the temperature adjustmentdevice 22 may be immersed along with thermometry 25. The temperature adjustment device 22 may act to cool the liquid, via a refrigeration device, towards the common target temperature or below to compensate for heating of the liquid elsewhere in theliquid supply system 10. Alternatively, the temperature adjustment device 22 may act to heat the liquid, for example by means of an electrical heater, towards the common target temperature or above. The action of the temperature adjustment device 22may be realized by a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger with a first input being to the immersion liquid and a second input to a supply of temperature controlled water. An advantage of this arrangement is that a supply of temperature controlled water mayalready be available from arrangements to service other parts of the lithographic apparatus. The projection system PL, for example, may already be cooled by a continuous flow of such water. Additionally, the temperature controlled water does not needto be chemically purified because it is re-circulated.
The temperature controller may comprise a PID (Proportional-Integral-Differential) controller 23, a type of feedback controller, for achieving efficient convergence towards the common target temperature. The PID controller 23 may, for example,be arranged to ensure efficient convergence of one of more of the temperatures of the final element of the projection system, the substrate W and the liquid with the common target temperature (i.e. as quickly as possible and without overshoot).
The PID controller 23 controls the operation of the flow rate adjustment device 21 and/or the liquid temperature adjustment device 22, taking as input the temperature profile of the final element of the projection system T1 (in an embodiment,measured at a plurality of locations), the temperature profile of the substrate and substrate table T2 (in an embodiment, measured at a plurality of locations), the temperature profile of the liquid T3 (in an embodiment, measured at a plurality oflocations), and the common target temperature T4. The operation of the PID controller 23 is not limited to the above context and may be used to regulate cooling processes throughout the lithographic apparatus.
It has been described above how temperature variations in optically critical components, such as the final element of the projection system PL, the substrate W and the immersion liquid, can damage the imaging properties of the lithographicapparatus. FIG. 7 depicts an embodiment in which radiation beam distortions arising in this way are compensated using a projection system compensator 28, which is configured to adjust the optical properties of the projection system PL in response to adistortion in the pattern generated on the substrate W caused by a difference in temperature of at least one of the final element of the projection system PL, the substrate W and the liquid from a target temperature (such as a temperature at which thesystem has been calibrated). The distortion in the pattern generated on the substrate W may be caused either by a distortion in the patterned radiation beam, caused for example by variations in the temperature of the immersion liquid and/or finalelement of the projection system PL from the target temperature, or by temperature induced distortions of the substrate during exposure by the patterned radiation beam (which may or may not be distorted) or distortions in the pattern generated on thesubstrate W occurring in this case when the distorted substrate regains its normal form.
The projection system compensator 28 can adjust the imaging properties of the projection system PL via one or more adjustable elements arranged therein (such as actuatable lenses or moveable mirrors). The effect that these adjustments will haveon the form of the patterned radiation beam will be calibrated beforehand. This may be achieved by actuating each adjustable element over its operating range and analyzing the form of the patterned radiation beam that emerges. Generally speaking, aradiation beam distortion can be expressed as an expansion in fundamental distortion modes (such as those expressed by a Zernike series, for example). A calibration table may comprise matrices consisting of coefficients in such an expansion and settingsfor each adjustable element. If the adjustable elements are chosen to cover adequately the main types of distortion, their use in concert should enable compensation of most types of distortion that are likely to occur from temperature variations in theimmersion liquid and the elements surrounding it. The projection system compensator 28 may receive input from a patterned radiation beam distortion detector 30, which in the example embodiment illustrated is linked to an optical detector 36 within theprojection system PL but alternative devices may also be provided for this purpose. The optical detector 36 here is arranged to capture stray light 38 from the main patterned radiation beam that reflects from the substrate. This stray light may beanalyzed to determine the patterned beam distortion by the patterned beam distortion detector 30. This may be achieved, for example, by means of a comparator, which compares the detected radiation with a standard pattern that was obtained under controlconditions. The extent of deviation from the standard pattern can be analyzed to characterize distortion of the patterned beam. This approach has the advantage of being a direct measure of temperature induced distortions. It is also applicable in-situduring normal operation of the lithographic apparatus and as such enables the projection system compensator to work dynamically in real time.
An alternative or additional approach is to measure the temperature profile of the elements likely to cause distortion of the patterned radiation beam and determine from calibration measurements or calculation what the resulting distortion islikely to be. The projection system compensator 28 may then compensate the projection system PL as described above without directly measuring the distortion itself. FIG. 7 shows schematic arrangements of components 32a, 32b and 32c of a temperaturesensor. These components 32a, 32b and 32c are depicted as layers and may, for example, each comprise one or a plurality of thermometers, which may be arranged to determine the temperature of at least a part of the final element of the projection systemPL, the substrate W (and/or substrate table WT), the liquid, or any combination thereof. Each of the components 32a, 32b and 32c are capable of communicating with the projection system compensator 28 via data transmission lines 34a, 34b and 34c. Theamount of adjustment to apply to each of the adjustable elements of the projection system PL requires reference in this case to a second calibration table, which is stored in a storage device 40. In this case, the calibration data stores informationderived from previous measurements recording the relationship between a given element temperature or temperature profile and the resulting distortion. Once the predicted distortion is established, the projection system compensator can operate as itwould had the distortion information been forwarded from the patterned radiation beam distortion detector 28.
The process thus described may be carried out in real time to adapt dynamically to unexpected and/or uncontrollable temperature variations in the region around the imaging-field reservoir 12. As depicted, the projection system compensator 28and the patterned radiation beam distortion detection device 30 may form a feedback loop, which may be arranged to keep radiation beam distortion within certain predefined limits. A PID controller similar to that employed to control the immersion liquidtemperature may be incorporated to ensure stability and efficient convergence.
In an embodiment, the above arrangements have an advantage of being able to respond quickly to small variations in the temperature of critical elements. The system may usefully be used in combination with systems that minimize temperaturevariations themselves to achieve a high degree of temperature stability and imaging accuracy.
In European Patent Application No. 03257072.3, the idea of a twin or dual stage immersion lithography apparatus is disclosed. Such an apparatus is provided with two tables for supporting a substrate. Leveling measurements are carried out witha table at a first position, without immersion liquid, and exposure is carried out with a table at a second position, where immersion liquid is present. Alternatively, the apparatus has only one table.
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