JPH10116779A - Stage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To position a sample mounted on a stage at a high speed with high precision. SOLUTION: Control means 30 controls first and second motors 22, 26 on the basis of measurement values and target values of first and second position measuring means 34, 36. In this case, a command value having an acceleration component which is smooth and extremely small in comparison with an acceleration component of a command value outputted to the motor 26 is outputted to the motor 22. A stage 18 has an extremely small mass in comparison with a stage 16. Therefore, even when the stage 18 moves at a high acceleration, its reactive force has little influence on an oscillation preventing stage 14. Also, since the stage 16 of the greater mass moves at a low acceleration, its reactive force is small. Since the stage 18 has a high mechanical responsivity, it may have a high servo rigidity. By setting the servo rigidity of the stage 16 to a low level, the stage 16 may be prevented from exciting mechanical resonance of a device body including the oscillation preventing stage 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stage device, and more particularly to a stage device suitable for precision equipment such as a reduction projection type exposure apparatus which needs to position a sample (for example, a wafer) with high speed and high accuracy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the advancement of precision equipment such as a step-and-repeat type reduction projection type exposure apparatus, that is, a so-called stepper, a micro-vibration acting on a surface plate (anti-vibration table) from an installation floor is micro-G. There is a need for isolation at the level. Various types of vibration-damping pads for supporting the vibration-isolation table in this type of conventional device, such as a mechanical damper containing a compression coil spring in a damping liquid and a pneumatic damper, are used. Has functions.

A conventional stage device used for precision equipment such as a stepper has a structure as shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, the surface plate 8 (or vibration isolation table) 84 horizontally supported by the vibration isolating pad 82
4 is mounted on a stage 86 which can be moved in a predetermined direction (the horizontal direction in the drawing). A substrate-like sample 90 is placed on the stage 86 via a holding member 88, and the stage 86 is connected to the motor 9 via a feed screw 92.
4. The position of the stage 86 is measured by a laser interferometer 98 via a moving mirror 96, and the control device 100 controls the rotation of a motor 94 while monitoring the measurement value of the laser interferometer 98 to control the stage. 86 position was controlled.

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional stage device, the vibration acting on the surface plate 84 from the installation floor can be prevented by the function of the vibration isolating pad 82, but the stage 86 is moved to the left side of the drawing, for example. When the rightward reaction force acts on the surface plate 84, the vibration isolating pad 82 is compressed,
In response to the extension, the platen 84 and the laser interferometer 98 attached to one end of the platen 84 are swung. This swing acts as a disturbance that changes the distance between the stage 86 and the laser interferometer 98, and deteriorates the positioning performance of the stage 86. In particular, when the stage 86 moves at a high acceleration, the reaction force is further increased, so that the swing is further increased, the disturbance is increased, and the positioning performance is further deteriorated.

[0005] In order to provide a high servo stiffness to a stage having a large mass, in other words, if the servo gain of the control device for controlling the stage is set high, the response is improved, but the body (the surface plate 84 and Since the mechanical resonance of the apparatus main body including the stage 86) is easily excited, it is generally difficult for a stage having a large mass to have high rigidity.

The present invention has been made in view of the disadvantages of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to position a sample mounted on a stage at high speed and with high accuracy. It is to provide a stage device which can perform the above.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to reduce the vibration of a vibration isolation table (stable) on which a stage is mounted when positioning the stage, the reaction force acting on the vibration isolation table by moving the stage is reduced. Obviously, it is effective to reduce the mass of the stage and reduce the acceleration of the stage. The present invention has been made mainly with this point in mind, and employs the following configuration.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a stage device which is movable in a predetermined moving direction on a vibration isolation table (14) horizontally held via a vibration isolation pad (12). 16); mounted on the first stage (16);
A second stage (18) that is relatively movable in the moving direction with respect to the first stage (16), has mechanically high response characteristics, and has an extremely small mass compared to the first stage (16); A first position measuring means (34) for measuring a position of the first stage (16) or the second stage (18); and a relative position between the first stage (16) and the second stage (18). Second position measuring means (36) for measuring a position; first driving means (22) for driving the first stage (16); second driving means for driving the second stage (18) (26, 52 or 62); controlling the first and second driving means based on the measured value and the target value of the first and second position measuring means (34, 36); 2 driving means (26, 52 or 6
Control means (30) for outputting to said first drive means (22) a command value having a smooth and extremely small acceleration component as compared with the acceleration component of the command value output for 2);
And

According to this, the control means (30) controls the first and second driving means based on the measured values of the first and second position measuring means (34, 36) and the target values. At the same time, a command value having a smooth and extremely small acceleration component as compared with the acceleration component of the command value output to the second driving means (26, 52 or 62) is output to the first driving means (22). Therefore, the second stage (18) reaches the target position first, and the first stage (16) follows the second stage (18) to reach the target position. In this case, the second stage (18)
Since the mass is extremely small as compared with the stage (16), even if the stage moves at a high acceleration, the reaction force exerts little influence on the vibration isolation table (14), and the first stage (16) having a large mass has a low mass. Since it moves with acceleration, its reaction force is also small.
In this case, since the second stage (18) has a high response mechanically, high servo rigidity can be provided.
It is possible to prevent the stage (16) from exciting the mechanical resonance of the apparatus main body including the vibration isolation table (14). Therefore, disturbance to the second stage (18) can be reduced, and high-speed, high-precision positioning of the second stage (or a sample mounted thereon) can be performed.

The stage apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention is capable of moving in a predetermined moving direction on an anti-vibration table (14) horizontally held through an anti-vibration pad (12), and has an extremely small servo. A first stage (16) having rigidity; mounted on the first stage (16), and relatively movable in the moving direction with respect to the first stage (16), compared with the first stage (16). A second stage (18) having a mechanically high response characteristic, a large servo rigidity and a very small mass; and a first stage (16) for measuring the position of the first stage (16) or the second stage (18). Position measuring means (34); the first stage (16) and the second stage
A second position measuring unit (36) for measuring a relative position with respect to the stage (18); a first driving unit (22) for driving the first stage (16);
8) Second driving means (26, 52 or 62) for driving
And control means (30) for controlling the first and second driving means based on the measured values of the first and second position measuring means (34, 36) and the target values.

According to this, the control means (30) controls the first and second driving means based on the measured values of the first and second position measuring means (34, 36) and the target value. . Here, the first driving means (22) driven by the first driving means (22).
The stage (16) has a very small servo stiffness, while the second stage (18) driven by the second driving means (26, 52 or 62) is mounted on the first stage (16), Relative to the first stage (16) in the direction of movement of the first stage (16),
Compared to the first stage (16), it has a mechanically high response characteristic, has a large servo rigidity, and has an extremely small mass. For this reason, the control means (30) outputs a command value having a smooth and extremely small acceleration component as compared with the acceleration component of the command value output to the second driving means (26, 52 or 62). Output can be made to the driving means (22). For this reason, the second position
Stage (18) arrives first and the first stage (16)
Follows the second stage (18) and reaches the target position. In this case, the second stage (1
8) has a much smaller mass than the first stage (16), so even if it moves at high acceleration, its reaction force is reduced by the vibration isolation table (1).
The effect on 4) is small, and the first
Since the stage (16) moves at low acceleration, its reaction force is also small. In this case, the first stage (16) having a large mass
Since the servo rigidity of the first stage (16) is extremely small, it is possible to prevent the first stage (16) from exciting the mechanical resonance of the apparatus main body including the vibration isolation table (14). Therefore, disturbance to the second stage (18) can be reduced,
High-speed, high-precision positioning of the stage (or the sample mounted on it) becomes possible.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a stage device which is movable in a predetermined moving direction on a vibration isolation table (14) horizontally held via a vibration isolation pad (12). 16); mounted on the first stage (16);
A second stage (18), which is relatively movable in the moving direction with respect to the first stage (16), has mechanically high response characteristics compared to the first stage (16), and has an extremely small mass; First position measuring means (3) for measuring the position of the first stage (16) or the second stage (18).
4); second position measuring means (36) for measuring a relative position between the first stage (16) and the second stage (18); and a first driving the first stage (16).
(22); second driving means (26, 52 or 62) for driving the second stage (18); and measurement values of the first and second position measuring means (34, 36). The first and second driving means (22, 2
6) a control means (30) for outputting to the first and second drive means respective command values such that the first stage (16) follows the second stage (18) while controlling the first stage (16). Having.

According to this, the control means (30) controls the first and second drive means based on the measurement values of the first and second position measurement means (34, 36) and the target value. However, at this time, the control means (30) uses the first stage (1
6) outputs respective command values to follow the second stage (18) to the first and second driving means. That is, the second stage (18) is driven based on a command value having a large acceleration component, and the first stage (16) is driven based on a command value having a smooth and small acceleration component.

Also in this case, the second stage (18)
Since the mass is extremely small as compared with the stage (16), even if the stage moves at a high acceleration, the reaction force exerts little influence on the vibration isolation table (14), and the first stage (16) having a large mass has a low mass. Since it moves with acceleration, its reaction force is also small.
In this case, since the second stage (18) has a high response mechanically, high servo rigidity can be provided.
It is possible to prevent the stage (16) from exciting the mechanical resonance of the apparatus main body including the vibration isolation table (14). Therefore, disturbance to the second stage (18) can be reduced, and high-speed, high-precision positioning of the second stage (or a sample mounted thereon) can be performed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the stage device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the second driving means is a voice coil motor (62).

According to this, since the second driving means is a voice coil motor which is a non-contact driving means, there is no mechanical coupling in the driving direction between the first stage and the second stage. The second stage is not directly affected by the movement of the first stage. That is, the first stage is not directly related to the positioning of the second stage, and the second stage (or the sample mounted thereon) has higher accuracy.
Can be positioned.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

<< First Embodiment >> Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of a stage apparatus 10 according to one embodiment. The stage device 10 moves in a predetermined moving direction (left and right direction in FIG. 1) on a surface plate 14 as a vibration isolation table which is horizontally held via a plurality (here, four) of vibration isolation pads 12. A coarse movement stage 16 as a possible first stage, a fine movement stage 18 as a second stage mounted on the coarse movement stage 16 and relatively movable in the moving direction with respect to the coarse movement stage 16; 14 is fixed to the upper surface of one end (the right end in FIG. 1), and the coarse movement stage 16 is
Motor 2 as first driving means driven through the motor
2, a second motor 26 as second driving means fixed to the upper surface of one end of the coarse movement stage 16 and driving the fine movement stage 18 through the feed screw 24, and the first and second motors 2
And a control device 30 as control means for controlling the control units 2 and 26. Here, in the present embodiment, a rotary motor, for example, a pulse motor is used as the first and second motors.

As the vibration damping pad 12, a mechanical damper is used here. The fine movement stage 18 is a very lightweight and highly rigid stage having a rib structure such as a honeycomb structure. This fine movement stage 18 has mechanically high response characteristics and high servo rigidity. In addition, the stroke when the fine movement stage 18 moves is set to be sufficiently long.

A sample (for example, a substrate such as a wafer) 28 is suction-held on the fine movement stage 18 via a holding member (for example, a wafer holder) not shown. On the upper surface of the other end of the fine movement stage 18, a moving mirror 32 is extended in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction (a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1). A first laser interferometer 34 as first position measuring means is fixed to the upper surface of the extension 14a on the upper surface of the end. The laser interferometer 34 irradiates the movable mirror 32 with a laser beam, receives the reflected light, and measures the position of the fine movement stage 18 with a resolution of, for example, 0.01 μm.

The coarse moving stage 16 has a mass about 10 times that of the fine moving stage 18 and has an extremely stable structure. The coarse movement stage 16 has an extremely low servo rigidity as compared with the fine movement stage 18. A second laser interferometer 36 as a second position measuring means is fixed to the upper surface of the other end of the coarse movement stage 16. The laser interferometer 36 irradiates the movable mirror 32 with a laser beam, receives the reflected light, and moves the fine movement with the coarse movement stage 16 at a resolution of, for example, 0.01 μm, similarly to the first laser interferometer 34 described above. The relative distance from the stage 18 is measured. The surface plate 14 is preferably heavier than the coarse movement stage 16, but is about 10 times here.

The measured values of the first and second laser interferometers 34 and 36 are supplied to a control device 30.
Then, the sample 28 on the fine movement stage 18 is positioned at a target position by controlling the rotation of the first and second motors 22 and 26 based on the measured values of these interferometers 34 and 36.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a configuration of a position control system of the stage device 10 configured as described above. 2, the control device 30 includes a first subtractor 38, a second subtractor 40, and a first PI controller 42.
And the second PI controller 44 and a portion surrounded by a virtual line. In addition, the second laser interferometer 36
An imaginary third laser interferometer 46 that measures the position of the coarse movement stage 16, and a third subtractor 48 that calculates the difference between the measurement value of the first laser interferometer 34 and the measurement value of the third laser interferometer 46.
And a portion surrounded by a virtual line consisting of The reason for this is that the second laser interferometer 36 is actually
The distance between the fine movement stage 18 and the fine movement stage 18 is measured. However, since the fine movement stage 18 is mounted on the coarse movement stage 16, even if the thrust of the fine movement stage 18 is zero, the movement of the coarse movement stage 16 The fine movement stage 18 moves by the same distance as the coarse movement stage 16 with respect to the surface plate 14, and the measurement value of the imaginary third laser interferometer 46 and the measurement value of the first laser interferometer 34 for measuring the position of the coarse movement stage 16. This is because there is no other difference than the distance between the coarse movement stage 16 and the fine movement stage 18, which is the measurement value of the second laser interferometer 36.

In FIG. 2, the first laser interferometer 34
The current position of the fine movement stage 18, which is the measured value of the fine movement stage 18, is fed back to the first subtractor 38, where the first target value (for example, the target position of the fine movement stage 18)
And the current position of the fine movement stage 18 is calculated. This position deviation is given to the first PI controller 42, and the first PI controller 42 performs a so-called PI control operation using the position deviation as an operation signal, and calculates a command value of a control amount for the second motor 26. Second
The motor 26 converts this control amount into a thrust and drives the fine movement stage 18. The position of this fine movement stage 18 is the first
The measurement is performed by the laser interferometer 34, and the measured value is fed back to the first subtractor 38. In this way, fine movement stage 18 is positioned at the target position where the positional deviation becomes zero, and after this positioning, servo control is continued at that position.

On the other hand, the relative distance between the two stages 16 and 18, which is the measured value of the second laser interferometer 36, is fed back to the second subtractor 40, where the second target value (the second target value) is obtained. The target value is a fixed value, for example, a target value of the mutual distance between the two stages 16 and 18 at the positioning position) and the relative deviation between the two stages 16 and 18 is calculated. The distance deviation is given to the second PI controller 44, and the second PI controller 44 performs a so-called PI control operation using the position deviation as an operation signal, and calculates a command value of a control amount for the first motor 22. The first motor 22 converts the control amount into a thrust and drives the coarse movement stage 16. The difference between the position of the coarse movement stage 16 and the measurement value of the first laser interferometer 34 is fed back to the second subtracter 40 as the output of the second laser interferometer 36. In this way, the coarse movement stage 16 is controlled until the distance deviation becomes zero.

In this embodiment, as described above, the fine movement stage 18 has a mechanically high response characteristic and a high servo stiffness, and the coarse movement stage 16 is compared with the fine movement stage 18. The first PI controller 4 shown in FIG.
2, the servo gain of the second PI controller 44 is set extremely low. A command value of a control amount having a high acceleration component is output from the first PI controller 42 to the second motor 26, and the control value is smoother from the second PI controller 44 to the first motor 22 and compared to the command value for the second motor 26. A command value of the control amount having a small acceleration component is output.

It should be noted that a P controller may be used instead of the PI controllers 42 and 44.

As described above, in the stage device 10 of the present embodiment, the command value having a high acceleration component is output from the control device 30 of FIG. Since the first motor 22 outputs a command value that is smooth and has an acceleration component smaller than that of the fine movement stage 18, the fine movement stage 18 reaches the target position first, and the coarse movement stage 16 moves to the fine movement stage 18. To reach the target position. In other words,
The controller 30 outputs a command value to each of the stages 16 and 18 such that the coarse movement stage 16 follows the fine movement stage 18 and reaches the target position.

In this case, since the fine moving stage 18 has an extremely small mass as compared with the coarse moving stage 16, even when the fine moving stage 18 moves at a high acceleration, the reaction force exerts a small influence on the surface plate 14 and the mass is large. Since the coarse movement stage 16 moves at low acceleration, its reaction force is also small. Therefore, surface plate 1
4 also becomes smaller, and the disturbance to the fine movement stage 18 becomes smaller. Further, since the servo rigidity of the coarse movement stage 16 having a large mass is low, the surface plate 14 and the stage 1
There is no excitation of the mechanical resonance of the device main body including the devices 6 and 18. Therefore, according to the stage apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, high-speed, high-precision positioning of the sample 28 on the fine movement stage 18 is possible.

At this time, since the coarse movement stage 16 only needs to be controlled so that the relative distance from the fine movement stage 18 falls within the stroke of the fine movement stage 18, the coarse movement stage 16 can be controlled with rough accuracy. Is enough.

<< Second Embodiment >> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the same reference numerals are used for the same or equivalent components as those of the device 10 of the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be simplified or omitted.

The stage device 50 of this embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the second motor 26 is replaced with the second motor 26 of the first embodiment.
It is characterized in that a high-response, high-output motor having a large stroke, for example, an ultrasonic motor 52 is used as the second driving means for driving the fine movement stage 18. Therefore, fine movement stage 18 can have extremely high servo rigidity. On the other hand, the first
Is composed of a feed screw 20 and a first motor 22. The servo stiffness of the coarse movement stage 16 is sufficiently lower than that of the fine movement stage 18.

The configuration of the other parts is the same as that of the device 10 of the first embodiment.

According to the stage device 50, the first laser interferometer 34 measures the position of the fine movement stage 18 and the second
Laser interferometer 36 is used for fine movement stage 18 and coarse movement stage 1
6 is measured. The control device 30 outputs a command value for positioning, and servo-controls the ultrasonic motor 52 that drives the fine movement stage 18 while monitoring the output of the first laser interferometer 34. At this time, the acceleration component of the command value can be made extremely large. On the other hand, the control device 3
In the case of 0, the relative distance between the two stages 16 and 18 is obtained from the second laser interferometer 36, and a command value is output to the first motor 22 for driving the coarse movement stage 16 so that the value is always constant, thereby performing servo control. . Since the acceleration component of the command value at this time is smooth and small, the reaction force exerted on the base 14 by the movement of the coarse movement stage 16 is small.

Naturally, since the positioning performance of the coarse movement stage 16 is lower than that of the fine movement stage 18, both stages 16, 1
The relative position error of No. 8 increases during the acceleration period. However, since fine movement stage 18 has a sufficiently large stroke, there is no problem in positioning fine movement stage 18.

In this case, the coarse moving stage 16 has a larger mass than the fine moving stage 18, but is driven at a low acceleration and its driving reaction force is small.
Is extremely smaller than when the stage having the same mass as the coarse movement stage 16 moves at the same acceleration as the fine movement stage 18. Further, the vibration caused by the resonance of the apparatus main body (body) including the surface plate 14 and the stages 16 and 18 is extremely smaller than when a stage having the same mass as the coarse movement stage 16 is controlled with the same servo rigidity as the fine movement stage 18. Therefore, disturbance to the fine movement stage 18 is reduced, and high-speed, high-precision positioning of the sample 28 on the fine movement stage 18 becomes possible.

<< Third Embodiment >> Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the same reference numerals are used for the same or equivalent components as those of the device 10 of the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be simplified or omitted.

The stage device 60 of this embodiment is different from the first motor of the first embodiment in that
As a second driving means for driving the fine movement stage 18, a high response non-contact type driving means, for example, a voice coil motor 62 is provided. Therefore, fine movement stage 18 can have extremely high servo rigidity.

The voice coil motor 62 is composed of a coil 62a projecting outward from the one end of the fine movement stage 18 in the moving direction, and a pair of permanent magnets 62b arranged above and below the coil 62a so as to face each other. It is configured.
The pair of permanent magnets 62b is provided with a holding member 16a protruding upward from one end (the right end in the drawing) of the coarse movement stage 16.
Attached to. Note that a cylindrical magnet surrounding the coil 62a may be used as the permanent magnet 62b. In any case, one end of the permanent magnet 62b in the moving direction of the fine movement stage 18 (the longitudinal direction of the coil 62a) needs to be an N pole and the other end has an S pole (or the opposite). In order to secure a sufficient moving stroke,
Must be long enough. In the present embodiment, the current flowing through the coil constituting the voice coil motor 62 is controlled by the control device 30 via a current control amplifier (not shown). This is because the coarse movement stage 16 is driven by the first motor 26 when the fine movement stage 18 is moved by servo-controlling the voice coil motor 62 and the back electromotive force is generated in the coil 62a. That's why.

On the other hand, the first driving means for driving the coarse movement stage 16 includes a feed screw 20 and a first motor 22. The point that the servo rigidity of the coarse movement stage 16 is sufficiently lower than that of the fine movement stage 18 is as follows.
This is the same as the case of the device of the first embodiment. The configuration of other parts is the same as that of the device 10 of the first embodiment.

According to the stage device 60, the first laser interferometer 34 measures the position of the fine movement stage 18 and the second
Laser interferometer 36 is used for fine movement stage 18 and coarse movement stage 1
6 is measured. The control device 30 outputs a command value for positioning, and monitors the output of the first laser interferometer 34, and servo-controls the voice coil motor 62 that drives the fine movement stage 18. At this time, the acceleration component of the command value can be made extremely large. On the other hand, the control device 30 controls the two stages 1 from the second laser interferometer 36.
The first motor 2 drives the coarse movement stage 16 so as to obtain the relative distances 6 and 18 so that the value is always constant.
Output to 2 for servo control. Since the acceleration component of the command value at this time is smooth and small, the reaction force exerted on the base 14 by the movement of the coarse movement stage 16 is small.

Of course, since the positioning performance of the coarse movement stage 16 is lower than that of the fine movement stage 18, both stages 16, 1
The relative position error of No. 8 increases during the acceleration period. However, since fine movement stage 18 has a sufficiently large stroke, there is no problem in positioning fine movement stage 18.

In the first and second embodiments, since the fine movement stage 18 is mechanically connected to the coarse movement stage 16 in the driving direction, the fine movement stage 18 is directly affected by the movement of the coarse movement stage 16. In this embodiment, since the voice coil motor 62 which is a non-contact driving means is used, there is an advantage that the movement of the coarse movement stage 16 is hardly affected. That is, the coarse movement stage 16 supports the fine movement stage 18 and has a role of transporting the magnetic circuit (a pair of permanent magnets 62 b) of the voice coil motor 62, and is not directly related to the positioning of the sample 28. .

The coarse movement stage 16 has a larger mass than the fine movement stage 18 but is driven at a low acceleration and its driving reaction force is small.
6 is extremely smaller than when the stage having the same mass as that of the fine movement stage 18 moves with the same acceleration. In addition, surface plate 1
The vibration caused by the resonance of the apparatus main body (body) including the stage 4 and the stages 16 and 18 is extremely smaller than when the stage having the same mass as the coarse moving stage 16 is controlled with the same servo rigidity as the fine moving stage 18. Therefore, disturbance to the fine movement stage 18 is reduced, and high-speed, high-precision positioning of the sample 28 becomes possible.

In the first to third embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to the stage device for positioning the sample 28 (substrate such as a wafer) has been described. However, it is not limited to this. The present invention can be suitably applied, for example, as a mask stage for positioning a mask of a projection exposure apparatus. Further, the present invention is not limited to the projection exposure apparatus,
The present invention can be applied to other devices as long as the stage on which the sample is mounted moves.

In the first to third embodiments, the positioning of the stage has been described. However, the control means constituting the stage device according to the present invention can be applied to the constant speed control of the stage. Since the vibration of the vibration isolation table can be reduced, the stage speed can be adjusted to the target speed with high speed and high accuracy.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the first stage does not excite the mechanical resonance of the apparatus main body and does not increase the swing of the anti-vibration table, the disturbance to the second stage can be reduced, thereby achieving high speed and high accuracy. There is an unprecedented excellent effect that the sample mounted on the stage can be positioned.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating a schematic configuration of a stage device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration example of a position control system of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a stage device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a stage device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Stage device 12 Vibration removal pad 14 Surface plate 16 Coarse movement stage 18 Fine movement stage 22 First motor 26 Second motor 30 Control device 34 First laser interferometer 36 Second laser interferometer 50 Stage device 52 Ultrasonic motor 60 Stage device 62 voice coil motor

Claims (4)

[Claims] A first stage movable in a predetermined moving direction on a vibration isolation table held horizontally via a vibration isolation pad;
A second stage which is mounted on the first stage, is relatively movable in the moving direction with respect to the first stage, has a mechanically high response characteristic and is extremely small in mass as compared with the first stage; A first position measuring means for measuring a position of the first stage or the second stage; and a second position measuring means for measuring a relative position between the first stage and the second stage.
Position measuring means; first driving means for driving the first stage; second driving means for driving the second stage; measured values and target values of the first and second position measuring means And controlling the first and second driving means on the basis of a command value having a smooth and extremely small acceleration component as compared with the acceleration component of the command value output to the second driving means. A stage device having control means for outputting to the first drive means. 2. A first stage which is movable in a predetermined moving direction on an anti-vibration table held horizontally via an anti-vibration pad and has extremely small servo rigidity; and a first stage mounted on the first stage, A second stage, which is relatively movable in the moving direction with respect to the first stage, has a mechanically high response characteristic compared to the first stage, has a large servo rigidity, and has an extremely small mass; First position measuring means for measuring the position of a stage or a second stage;
Second position measuring means for measuring a relative position between a stage and the second stage; a first position driving means for driving the first stage
A second driving means for driving the second stage; and controlling the first and second driving means based on the measured values and the target values of the first and second position measuring means. A stage device having control means for performing the operation. 3. A first stage movable in a predetermined moving direction on a vibration isolation table held horizontally via a vibration isolation pad;
A second stage mounted on the first stage, relatively movable in the moving direction with respect to the first stage, and having mechanically high response characteristics and extremely small mass as compared with the first stage; First position measuring means for measuring a position of a first stage or a second stage; second position measuring means for measuring a relative position between the first stage and the second stage; driving the first stage A first driving unit that drives the second stage; a first driving unit that drives the second stage; and the first and second driving units based on a measurement value and a target value of the first and second position measurement units. Control means for controlling means and outputting respective command values to the first and second driving means so that the first stage follows the second stage. 4. The stage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second driving means is a voice coil motor.