Patents by Inventor Kenichi Shiraishi

Kenichi Shiraishi 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).

  • Publication number: 20130335717
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus is capable of accurately performing an exposure process and a measurement process based on a liquid immersion method. The exposure apparatus, which forms a liquid immersion area of a liquid on an image surface side of a projection optical system, and exposes a substrate via the projection optical system and the liquid of the immersion area, includes a measuring device which measures at least one of a property and composition of the liquid for forming the liquid immersion area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2013
    Publication date: December 19, 2013
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kenichi SHIRAISHI
  • Publication number: 20130235359
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus is provided with a nozzle member that has at least one of a supply outlet which supplies the liquid and a collection inlet which recovers the liquid. By immersing the nozzle member in cleaning liquid LK stored in container, the nozzle member is cleaned.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2013
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoharu FUJIWARA, Yasufumi NISHII, Kenichi SHIRAISHI
  • Patent number: 8525971
    Abstract: There is provided an exposure apparatus capable of accurately performing an exposure process and a measurement process based on a liquid immersion method. The exposure apparatus (EX), which forms a liquid immersion area (AR2) of a liquid (LQ) on an image surface side of a projection optical system (PL), and exposes a substrate (P) via the projection optical system (PL) and the liquid (LQ) of the immersion area (AR2), is provided with a measuring device (60) which measures at least one of a property and composition of the liquid (LQ) for forming the liquid immersion area (AR2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Kenichi Shiraishi
  • Patent number: 8520184
    Abstract: There is provided an exposure apparatus capable of accurately performing an exposure process and a measurement process based on a liquid immersion method. The exposure apparatus (EX), which forms a liquid immersion area (AR2) of a liquid (LQ) on an image surface side of a projection optical system (PL), and exposes a substrate (P) via the projection optical system (PL) and the liquid (LQ) of the immersion area (AR2), is provided with a measuring device (60) which measures at least one of a property and composition of the liquid (LQ) for forming the liquid immersion area (AR2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Kenichi Shiraishi
  • Patent number: 8456608
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus is provided with a nozzle member that has at least one of a supply outlet which supplies the liquid and a collection inlet which recovers the liquid. By immersing the nozzle member in cleaning liquid LK stored in container, the nozzle member is cleaned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoharu Fujiwara, Yasufumi Nishii, Kenichi Shiraishi
  • Publication number: 20130057837
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus capable of suppressing the occurrence of exposure defects is provided. The exposure apparatus exposes a substrate with exposure light via a liquid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2012
    Publication date: March 7, 2013
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Go ICHINOSE, Junichi CHONAN, Yuichi SHIBAZAKI, Kenichi SHIRAISHI, Makoto Tokoro
  • Patent number: 8384877
    Abstract: There is provided an exposure apparatus capable of forming a desirable device pattern by removing unnecessary liquid when performing exposure by projecting a pattern onto the substrate via a projection optical system and the liquid. The exposure device projects an image of the pattern onto the substrate P via the projection optical system and the liquid so as to expose the substrate P. The exposure device includes a liquid removing mechanism 40 which removes the liquid remaining on a part 7 arranged in the vicinity of the image plane of the projection optical system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Naoyuki Kobayashi, Akikazu Tanimoto, Yasushi Mizuno, Kenichi Shiraishi, Katsushi Nakano, Soichi Owa
  • Patent number: 8384880
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate by projecting a pattern image onto the substrate through a liquid. The exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system by which the pattern image is projected onto the substrate, and a movable member which is movable relative to the projection optical system. A liquid-repellent member, at least a part of a surface of which is liquid-repellent, is provided detachably on the movable member, the liquid-repellent member being different from the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Soichi Owa, Nobutaka Magome, Shigeru Hirukawa, Yoshihiko Kudo, Jiro Inoue, Hirotaka Kohno, Masahiro Nei, Motokatsu Imai, Hiroyuki Nagasaka, Kenichi Shiraishi, Yasufumi Nishii, Hiroaki Takaiwa
  • Publication number: 20120314193
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate using exposure light via a liquid. The exposure apparatus comprises a substrate holding part, which releasably holds and is capable of moving a substrate, a management apparatus, which manages a status of usage of a dummy substrate that the substrate holding part is capable of holding.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2010
    Publication date: December 13, 2012
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Natsuko Sagawa, Katsushi Nakano, Kenichi Shiraishi
  • Publication number: 20120274915
    Abstract: An exposure method comprises: forming an immersion region on a substrate; exposing the substrate by irradiating the substrate with an exposure light via a liquid of the immersion region; and preventing an integration value of a contact time during which the liquid of the immersion region and a first region on the substrate are in contact, from exceeding a predetermined tolerance value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2012
    Publication date: November 1, 2012
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenichi SHIRAISHI, Tomoharu FUJIWARA
  • Patent number: 8236467
    Abstract: An exposure method comprises: forming an immersion region on a substrate; exposing the substrate by irradiating the substrate with an exposure light via a liquid of the immersion region; and preventing an integration value of a contact time during which the liquid of the immersion region and a first region on the substrate are in contact, from exceeding a predetermined tolerance value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Kenichi Shiraishi, Tomoharu Fujiwara
  • Patent number: 8208117
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus exposes a substrate by projecting a pattern image onto the substrate through a liquid. The exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system by which the pattern image is projected onto the substrate, and a movable member which is movable relative to the projection optical system. A liquid-repellent member, at least a part of a surface of which is liquid-repellent, is provided detachably on the movable member, the liquid-repellent member being different from the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Soichi Owa, Nobutaka Magome, Shigeru Hirukawa, Yoshihiko Kudo, Jiro Inoue, Hirotaka Kohno, Masahiro Nei, Motokatsu Imai, Hiroyuki Nagasaka, Kenichi Shiraishi, Yasufumi Nishii, Hiroaki Takaiwa
  • Publication number: 20120120381
    Abstract: A liquid immersion exposure apparatus includes a projection system having a last optical element, the projection system projecting a beam onto a substrate through an immersion liquid; a movable stage having a holder by which the substrate is held; a measurement member provided on the movable stage, the measurement member having a measurement portion covered with a light-transmissive material; a first alignment system by which an alignment mark is detected not through the immersion liquid; and a second alignment system which optically obtains, using the measurement member, first positional information of the beam projected by the projection system through the immersion liquid. In order to obtain the first positional information, the movable stage is moved so that the measurement member is under the projection system and a gap between the projection system and the measurement member is filled with the immersion liquid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2012
    Publication date: May 17, 2012
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masahiko YASUDA, Takahiro MASADA, Yuho KANAYA, Tadashi NAGAYAMA, Kenichi SHIRAISHI
  • Patent number: 8174668
    Abstract: A lithographic apparatus includes a substrate table which holds a substrate, a projection system which projects a patterned beam of radiation onto the substrate, the projection system having a final optical element adjacent the substrate, a liquid supply system which provides a liquid to a space between the projection system and the substrate table, and a cleaning system which cleans the substrate table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Naoyuki Kobayashi, Akikazu Tanimoto, Yasushi Mizuno, Kenichi Shiraishi, Katsushi Nakano, Soichi Owa
  • Patent number: 8169592
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus includes an optical element via which a patterned beam is projected onto a substrate through exposure liquid filled in a space between the optical element and the substrate. The apparatus also includes a member having a surface and movable to a position at which the surface of the member faces the optical element. The apparatus also includes a cleaning system which cleans the surface of the member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Naoyuki Kobayashi, Akikazu Tanimoto, Yasushi Mizuno, Kenichi Shiraishi, Katsushi Nakano, Soichi Owa
  • Publication number: 20120062861
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus includes an immersion space forming member (70) which fills an optical path space (K1) for exposure light (EL) with a first liquid (LQ) to form an immersion space, and a temperature regulating mechanism (60) which suppresses a change in the temperature of the immersion space forming member (70) accompanying deactivation of formation of the immersion space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Publication date: March 15, 2012
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki NAGASAKA, Kenichi SHIRAISHI, Tomoharu FUJIWARA, Soichi OWA, Akihiro MIWA
  • Publication number: 20120062858
    Abstract: A cleaning method comprises: cleaning the liquid contact member by supplying a first liquid for cleaning to the liquid contact member; recovering the first liquid supplied to the liquid contact member; supplying a second liquid different from the first liquid to the liquid contact member after the liquid contact member is cleaned with the first liquid; recovering the second liquid supplied to the liquid contact member; and performing a process in which a concentration of the first liquid comprised in the recovered second liquid is set to a predetermined concentration or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2011
    Publication date: March 15, 2012
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryo TANAKA, Suguru KANAI, Kenichi SHIRAISHI, Shunji WATANABE, Takashi SHIBUYA
  • Publication number: 20120057139
    Abstract: A cleaning substrate and a liquid immersion member face each other in order to clean the liquid immersion member. The cleaning substrate has a first liquid-repellent portion which is liquid-repellent to a first cleaning liquid for cleaning and a lyophilic portion which is disposed in at least a part of the periphery of the first liquid-repellent portion and is more lyophilic than the first liquid-repellent portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 2, 2011
    Publication date: March 8, 2012
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akikazu TANIMOTO, Yutaka IKEDA, Kenichi SHIRAISHI, Ryo TANAKA, Shunji WATANABE
  • Patent number: 8130361
    Abstract: An exposure apparatus includes a substrate stage movable while holding a substrate, a substrate alignment system which detects an alignment mark (1) on the substrate held by the substrate stage and detects a reference mark (PFM) provided on the substrate stage, and a mask alignment system which detects, via a projection optical system, a reference mark (MFM) provided on the substrate stage. The reference mark (PFM) on the substrate stage is detected without a liquid by using the substrate alignment system, and the reference mark (MFM) on the substrate stage is detected using the mask alignment system via the projection optical system and the liquid. Then, a positional relationship between a detection reference position of the substrate alignment system and a projection position of an image of a pattern is obtained, thereby accurately performing alignment processing in the liquid immersion exposure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Masahiko Yasuda, Takahiro Masada, Yuho Kanaya, Tadashi Nagayama, Kenichi Shiraishi
  • Patent number: 8130363
    Abstract: A liquid immersion exposure apparatus includes an optical element via which a patterned beam is projected onto a substrate in an exposure operation, a liquid supply system having a supply port from which exposure liquid is supplied, and a member which has a surface and which is different from the substrate. In the exposure operation, the liquid supply system supplies the exposure liquid from the supply port to a space between the optical element and the substrate. In a cleaning operation, the member is moved to a position at which the surface of the member faces the optical element, and the liquid supply system supplies the exposure liquid from the supply port to a space between the optical element and the surface of the member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: Naoyuki Kobayashi, Akikazu Tanimoto, Yasushi Mizuno, Kenichi Shiraishi, Katsushi Nakano, Soichi Owa