Holding apparatus, holding method, exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method

Abstract

A reticle holder has a first suction section facing a precision warrantable area having a predetermined surface precision, of a lower face of a reticle, a second suction section facing a precision unwarrantable area outside of the precision warrantable area, a pore connected to a suction apparatus that draws out gas in a space between the lower face of the reticle and the first suction section, and a pore connected to the suction apparatus and that draws out gas in the space between the lower face of the reticle and the second suction section. As a result, the reticle can be held stably, without deteriorating the surface precision of the precision warrantable area.

Description

[0001] This is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 639,651 filed Aug. 13, 2003, which in turn is a Continuation of International Application No. PCT / JP02 / 01200 filed Feb. 13, 2002. Furthermore, priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-036130 filed Feb. 13, 2001. The disclosures of all of these prior applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a holding apparatus and a holding method, and an exposure apparatus which uses a mask and a substrate held by the holding apparatus to expose a mask pattern onto the substrate. More specifically, the present invention relates to a holding apparatus and a holding method, an exposure apparatus and a device manufacturing method, suitable for use in a lithography process, particularly when devices such as liquid crystal display elements and semiconductor elements are...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015] According to the apparatus and the method described above, the first area having predetermined surface precision of the surface to be attracted and the second area other than the first area of the surface to be attracted are attracted and held by the first holding section and the second holding section, respectively and independently. Accordingly, the first holding section can stably hold the sample, without deteriorating the overall surface precision of the sample, and the second holding section can increase the size of the whole surface of the sample to be attracted. As a result, stable retention can be realized.

[0017] The first holding section and the second holding section may be arranged adjacent to each other, and a boundary portion between the first holding section and the second holding section may be arranged at least in the first area of the sample. In this case, even if the sample deforms to bend, peeling of the sample from the first holding section can be suppressed. As a result, the holding apparatus can stably hold the sample.

[0019] The suction amount of the gas per unit time by the first suction device and the suction amount of the gas per unit time by the second suction device may be controlled. In this case, the attraction of the second holding section with respect to the second area can be made smaller than that of the first holding section with respect to the first area, thereby suppressing the deformation of the sample resulting from the second holding section attracting the second area with a strong attraction.

[0022] According to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, the exposure processing can be performed, while stably holding the mask or substrate, with the mask or substrate maintained at predetermined surface precision. As a result, highly accurate exposure processing can be realized.

[0024] According to the device manufacturing method of the present invention, since this uses the exposure apparatus which can perform stable exposure processing with high accuracy, with the mask or substrate maintained at predetermined surface precision, high quality devices can be manufactured.

[0027] According to the method and apparatus described above, the first attraction holding sections can hold the mask stably, without deteriorating the overall surface precision of the mask, and increase the size of the whole surface of the mask to be attracted. As a result, stable mask retention can be realized.

Problems solved by technology

In this case, the contact surface of the reticle R with respect to the suction pads 106 is distorted, and this distortion affects even the area having predetermined surface precision (hereinafter referred to as a “precision warrantable area”) to decrease the surface precision, thereby causing a problem in that high precision exposure processing cannot be performed.

When the surface of the reticle R to be attracted is small, it can be considered to increase the attractive force by the compressor, to increase the holding power with respect to the reticle R. However, in this case, since a local force acts on the reticle R, the reticle R may be distorted.

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