Abstract: The present invention consists in an etching method and apparatus wherein an optical image which is reflected from a region of a dicing stripe pattern on a substrate to-be-etched, such as a semiconductor wafer, is focused by a projecting optical system during selective etching. The focused pattern is converted into an image signal by an image detector, and a change of contrast in the region of the dicing stripe pattern is determined from the image signal. Based on this, an ending time for the etching can be decided from the change of contrast.

Abstract: A projecting apparatus for forming an image of a mask on a wafer by a projector of a unit magnification reflection system having a concave spherical mirror and a convex spherical mirror. The distance from the projector to the mask or the upper side of a mask holder for holding the mask and the distance from the projector to the wafer are measured. An error of the image-forming position is computed from the distance measurements. At least one of the mask, the wafer and the projector is moved along the direction of projection in a manner to eliminate the error of the image-forming position computed, thus attaining automatic focus adjustment.

Abstract: An apparatus for performing continuous treatment in vacuum including an inlet chamber, a first intermediate chamber, at least one vacuum treating chamber, a second intermediate chamber and a withdrawing chamber arranged in the indicated order in a direction in which base plates are successively transferred. An opening device normally closed and opened when a base plate is transferred therethrough is mounted on a wall at the inlet of the inlet chamber, between the adjacent chambers and on a wall at the outlet side of the withdrawing chamber. A conveyor device for conveying each base plate in a horizontal direction through the opening device is mounted in each of the chambers, and an evacuating device is also mounted in each chamber. A base plate storing device for storing a plurality of base plates in a magazine is mounted in the first and second intermediate chambers. At least one vacuum treating device is mounted in the vacuum treating chamber.

Abstract: A sputtering apparatus of the planar magnetron type is disclosed, in which a low-pressure gas is ionized by glow discharge, ions in the plasma are accelerated by a voltage applied between a cathode and an anode to bombard a target structure, atoms or particles of a target material sputtered from the planar target plate by the bombardment of ions are deposited on a substrate disposed on the anode side, and thus a thin film made of the same material as the target material is formed on the substrate.

Abstract: A light exposure device and method for exposing and printing a predetermined pattern on an exposure surface of a substrate comprises measuring means for measuring curvature of the exposure surface of the substrate, a chuck including suck and hold means for sucking and holding a back surface of the substrate opposite to the exposure surface and deforming means for imparting a force to the back surface of the substrate to deform the substrate, and control means for controlling the deforming means of the chuck in accordance with the curvature of the exposure surface of the substrate measured by the measuring means such that the exposure surface of the substrate conforms to an image surface of the pattern over an entire exposure area within a predetermined allowable error.

Abstract: An alignment apparatus, in which a mask is overlaid on a wafer and a relative displacement between the wafer and a target pattern formed on the mask is detected to effect alignment thereof, comprises a slit frame adapted to reciprocate in a direction substantially parallel to the top surface of the mask and having a slit formed therein, an illumination optical system for illuminating the target pattern, an image formation optical system for forming the image of the target pattern onto the slit of the slit frame, a light sensing element mounted on the slit frame for detecting the target pattern image formed by the image formation optical system through the slit to convert the image into an electric signal, and a displacement detector for detecting the amount of movement of the reciprocation of the slit frame to convert the amount of movement into a position signal which the light sensing element scans, whereby the output signals from the displacement detector and the light sensing element are used to detect th