Segmented Contact Surface for Lithographic Apparatus Slip Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional lithographic apparatuses face challenges in accelerating and decelerating the support structure and substrate table without increasing the risk of mask and substrate slippage, leading to imaging errors due to insufficient vacuum clamping force.
Innovation Solution
The use of a contact surface with multiple sub-contact surfaces on the support structure and substrate table to enhance adhesion, potentially combined with MEMS technology for manufacturing these sub-contact areas, allowing for increased acceleration and deceleration rates without slippage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the acceleration and deceleration rates of the support structure and substrate table are increased to improve throughput, then the productivity increases, but the risk of micro and macro slip of the mask and substrate increases due to increased inertia forces
Solution Approach 1:
The contact surface is divided into multiple sub-contact surfaces, creating a segmented structure that increases the total contact area between the mask/substrate and the support structure/substrate table. This segmentation allows the clamping force to be distributed across multiple smaller contact regions, enhancing overall adhesion without requiring increased vacuum pressure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines vacuum clamping with increased contact surface area through sub-contact surfaces. By merging these two approaches, the system achieves enhanced adhesion that can withstand higher inertia forces during rapid acceleration and deceleration, thereby preventing slip while maintaining the ability to operate at high speeds.
2Reliability
If the vacuum pressure is increased to prevent mask and substrate slippage during high acceleration, then the adhesion improves, but the device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The contact surface is segmented into multiple sub-contact surfaces, which increases the total contact area without requiring proportionally higher vacuum pressure. This segmentation allows effective adhesion to be achieved through geometric design rather than simply increasing vacuum system capacity, thereby avoiding the need for more complex and energy-intensive vacuum equipment.
3Reliability
If the vacuum clamp area is increased to prevent slippage, then the adhesion force increases, but the mask stage design complexity and friction increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a single large vacuum clamp area, the patent segments the contact surface into multiple smaller sub-contact surfaces. This segmentation achieves equivalent or superior total clamping force while simplifying the mask stage design, reducing friction, and improving the distribution of forces during acceleration and deceleration.
Solution Approach 2:
The sub-contact surfaces are distributed across the contact area, creating local zones of enhanced adhesion. This local quality approach ensures that each sub-contact surface provides sufficient clamping force locally, while the overall system maintains simplicity and reduces friction compared to a single large clamp area.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution effectively increases the mutual adhesion between the support structure and the patterning object or substrate, reducing the risk of micro and macro slip, thereby improving the throughput and accuracy of the lithographic process.
Implementation Method 1
the contact surface comprising a plurality of sub-contact surfaces to increase a mutual adhesion between the support structure and the patterning object, the substrate table and the substrate
Data Source
AI summary
A lithographic apparatus is disclosed that has a support structure constructed to support a patterning object, the patterning object being capable of imparting a radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam, a substrate table constructed to hold a substrate, or both, wherein the support structure, the substrate table, or both, has a contact surface with which the patterning object, the substrate, or both, are configured to be in contact, respectively, the contact surface having a plurality of sub-contact surfaces to increase a mutual adhesion between the support structure and the patterning object, the substrate table and the substrate, or both.