Patent ID: 7732121

Claim:
A near-field exposure method, comprising: providing an exposure mask having (i) a blocking film with small openings formed on a supporting material and (ii) a photoresist layer, formed on a substrate, having surface unevenness that ranges from 10 nm to 1 μm in height of the substrate; supplying a liquid onto the photoresist layer; closely contacting the exposure mask to the photoresist layer such that, in a portion of the photoresist layer at its top in height, the liquid is pushed aside and the light blocking film and the photoresist layer directly contact each other; and projecting exposure light of an exposure light source onto the exposure mask so that the photoresist is exposed, based on near-field light escaping from the small openings, wherein the near-field exposure is carried out under a condition that (i) a contact region where the light blocking film and the photoresist layer are in contact with each other and (ii) a liquid region filled with the liquid between the light blocking film and the photoresist layer, coexist, between the light blocking film and the photoresist layer.