Method for evaluating and improving pupil luminance distribution, illumination optical system and adjustment method thereof, exposure device, exposure method, and device manufacturing method

Abstract

The present invention improves pupil luminance distribution quickly and reliably by means of, for example, discrete small modulation over almost the entire pupil luminance distribution. The method includes a fifth step that uses an evaluation method comprising a first step to the fourth step to derive an index value obtained from the pupil luminance distribution formed on an illumination pupil, a sixth step that derives the unit variation of the index value for the discrete data derived in the previous step for each unit pupil area, a seventh step that derives the discrete data modulated by a modification method using the unit variation so that the index value approaches the target index value, and an eight step that uses the evaluation method comprising the first step to the fourth step to derive the index value corresponding to the modulated discrete data derived in the seventh step. The sixth step to the eight step are repeated until the error of the index value obtained corresponding to the modulated discrete data falls in an allowed range, thereby improving the pupil luminance distribution to form on the illumination pupil.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to an evaluation method and improvement method of pupil luminance distribution, an illumination optical system and its adjustment method, an exposure device, an exposure method and a device manufacturing method. Background technique [0002] In an exposure apparatus for manufacturing devices such as semiconductor elements, light emitted from a light source passes through a fly eye (fly eye) lens as an optical integrator to form a secondary light source (generally a surface light source) consisting of many light sources as a substantial surface light source. Say, the predetermined light intensity distribution on the illumination pupil). Hereinafter, the light intensity distribution on the illumination pupil is referred to as "pupil luminance distribution". The illumination pupil is defined as the position where the illuminated surface becomes the Fourier transform of the illumination pupil by the action of the optical syst...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0005] However, the pupil luminance distribution actually formed on the illumination pupil is slightly different from the designed pupil luminance distribution for various reasons, or the optical characteristics other than the pupil luminance distribution are different from the conditions under which the pupil luminance distribution was designed, Therefore, it is difficult to achieve the desired imaging performance corresponding to the designed pupil luminance distribution