Patents by Inventor Akira OKUTOMI

Akira OKUTOMI has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Movable body drive method, movable body apparatus, exposure method, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method
    Patent number: 8488106
    Abstract: A stage is driven (position control) using a hybrid signal which is obtained by synthesizing an output signal of an interferometer (an interferometer system) and an output signal of an encoder (an encoder system) that are made to pass through a high pass filter and a low pass filter, respectively. A cutoff frequency is set to a frequency corresponding to a speed slightly smaller than the speed of the stage at the time of scanning exposure. This allows the stage to be driven using an interferometer whose linear measurement is high at the time of scanning exposure, and using an encoder whose measurement reproducibility is high at the time of stepping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichi Shibazaki, Akira Okutomi, Kazuhiro Hirano
  • MOVABLE BODY DRIVE METHOD, MOVABLE BODY APPARATUS, EXPOSURE METHOD, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD
    Publication number: 20110177461
    Abstract: A stage is driven (position control) using a hybrid signal which is obtained by synthesizing an output signal of an interferometer (an interferometer system) and an output signal of an encoder (an encoder system) that are made to pass through a high pass filter and a low pass filter, respectively. A cutoff frequency is set to a frequency corresponding to a speed slightly smaller than the speed of the stage at the time of scanning exposure. This allows the stage to be driven using an interferometer whose linear measurement is high at the time of scanning exposure, and using an encoder whose measurement reproducibility is high at the time of stepping.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Publication date: July 21, 2011
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yuichi SHIBAZAKI, Akira OKUTOMI, Kazuhiro HIRANO