JP5518015B2 - Load lock apparatus, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention generally relates to an exposure apparatus, and more particularly to an exposure apparatus and method for exposing an object to be processed such as a single crystal substrate such as a semiconductor wafer and a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display (LCD). The present invention is suitable for an exposure apparatus that uses extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light as a light source.

  2. Description of the Related Art A projection exposure apparatus has been conventionally used when manufacturing a fine semiconductor element such as a semiconductor memory or a logic circuit by using a photolithography technique. The projection exposure apparatus projects a circuit pattern drawn on a mask (reticle) onto a wafer or the like by a projection optical system and transfers the circuit pattern.

  The minimum dimension (resolution) that can be transferred by the projection exposure apparatus is proportional to the wavelength of light used for exposure and inversely proportional to the numerical aperture (NA) of the projection optical system. Therefore, the shorter the wavelength, the better the resolution. For this reason, the wavelength of exposure light has been shortened in accordance with the recent demand for miniaturization of semiconductor elements. For example, the wavelength of ultraviolet light used such as an ultra-high pressure mercury lamp (i-line (wavelength: about 365 nm)), KrF excimer laser (wavelength: about 248 nm), ArF excimer laser (wavelength: about 193 nm) has become shorter.

  However, semiconductor elements are rapidly miniaturized, and there is a limit in lithography using ultraviolet light. Therefore, in order to efficiently transfer a very fine circuit pattern of 0.1 μm or less, an exposure apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “EUV exposure apparatus”) using EUV light (wavelength of about 10 nm to 15 nm) having a shorter wavelength than ultraviolet light. ") Has been developed.

  In the EUV light wavelength region, energy attenuation by gas is very large, so the EUV exposure apparatus is placed in a vacuum atmosphere. In addition, since a carbon compound (contamination) adheres to the optical element due to a photochemical reaction between oxygen in the air and impurities, it is necessary to reduce the partial pressure of the carbon compound in the EUV exposure apparatus. In particular, the space for housing the projection optical system (hereinafter referred to as “projection optical system space”) needs to make the partial pressure of the carbon compound very small.

  On the other hand, in order to prevent the inflow of the carbon compound into the projection optical system space, an EUV exposure apparatus in which the projection optical system space is separated from the surrounding space (for example, a space for housing the stage) has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1). Such an EUV exposure apparatus maintains the pressure in the projection optical system space higher than the ambient pressure, and suppresses carbon compounds flowing from the stage space.

Special Table 2002-529927

  In order to maintain the pressure in the projection optical system space higher than the ambient pressure, it is necessary to supply gas to the projection optical system space. As a means for supplying the gas to the projection optical system space, it is conceivable to supply the gas from outside the apparatus via a pipe and a nozzle.

  In general, the gas introduced into the vacuum from the atmospheric pressure space is considered to decrease in temperature due to adiabatic expansion, but it is confirmed by simulation that the temperature of the supplied gas rises when the gas is supplied to the projection optical system space. It was done. When a gas is supplied from atmospheric pressure to a projection optical system space of 100 Pa or less, even if an orifice or a diaphragm is used, the gas flows into the projection optical system space at a considerable speed. Thereby, it is thought that the temperature of the gas supplied increases.

  The projection optical system space is evacuated at a constant speed, and on the other hand, a constant amount of gas is supplied via a pipe and a nozzle. Therefore, after a certain amount of time, the gas flow reaches an equilibrium state. Here, when considered in one dimension for the sake of simplicity, the energy conservation formula in the steady adiabatic flow is expressed by the following formula 1. Here, h is entropy, Cp is specific heat, T is absolute temperature, and u is gas velocity.

  Moreover, the relationship between entropy and specific heat is expressed by Equation 2 below.

  Therefore, from Equations 1 and 2, the temperature and velocity of the gas are in the relationship represented by Equation 3 below.

  Formula 3 shows that the gas that was high speed in the pipe is supplied to the projection optical system space, and the temperature increases when the speed decreases. When the gas whose temperature has risen flows into the projection optical system space, the temperature of the optical element rises, the mirror position fluctuates due to the thermal expansion of the holding member (structural member), and the transfer accuracy of the pattern is deteriorated.

  Further, even when a gas is supplied to a load lock chamber for transporting a wafer to an exposure apparatus in a vacuum state, and the pressure in the apparatus is set to atmospheric pressure, the temperature of the supplied gas rises.

  The pressure is P, the temperature is T, the specific heat ratio is γ, the chamber volume is V, the initial state (low pressure state) in the chamber is 1, and the state after the gas is supplied to the chamber is 2, and the motion of the flowing gas Assume that the energy is small compared to the enthalpy of the gas. In this case, the relationship expressed by the following formula 4 can be derived.

  For example, when T0 = T1 = 296K, P2 = 0.1 MPa, P1 = 100 Pa, and γ = 1.4, the temperature of the gas in the apparatus is 414K. Although this result is calculated including various assumptions, it has been found that the temperature rises even in an actual experiment.

  If the temperature rises when the load lock chamber is opened to the atmospheric pressure, the wafer is transferred with the temperature of the load lock chamber raised, and it takes time to stabilize the wafer to the reference temperature.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a load lock device that is advantageous in terms of throughput even when the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber rises.

In order to achieve the above object, a load lock device according to one aspect of the present invention is a load lock device including a load lock chamber, and a pump for bringing the load lock chamber into a vacuum state, and a gas in the load lock chamber Gas cooling means for cooling the gas supplied to the load lock chamber, and the cooling means is configured to supply gas to the load lock chamber in a vacuum state by the gas supply means. It is supplied the temperature of the gas is to cool the gas just before Kimoto temperature below the reference temperature amount that rises above the reference temperature of the load lock chamber, characterized in that.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lithography apparatus including the load lock apparatus described above.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device manufacturing method comprising: transferring a pattern to a target object using the above-described lithography apparatus; and developing the target object transferred with the pattern in the step. It is characterized by having.

  Further objects and other features of the present invention will become apparent from the preferred embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  According to the present invention, for example, even when the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber rises, a load lock device that is advantageous in terms of throughput can be provided.

It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the structure of the exposure apparatus as one side surface of this invention. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an exposure operation (exposure method) of the exposure apparatus shown in FIG. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the structure of the exposure apparatus which is a modification of the exposure apparatus shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating manufacture of devices (semiconductor chips, such as IC and LSI, LCD, CCD, etc.). 5 is a detailed flowchart of the wafer process in Step 4 shown in FIG. 4.

  Hereinafter, an exposure apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in each figure, the same reference number is attached | subjected about the same member and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted. Here, FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing the structure of the exposure apparatus 1 of the present invention.

  The exposure apparatus 1 uses EUV light (for example, wavelength 13.4 nm) EL as exposure light, and processes a circuit pattern formed on the mask 20 by, for example, the step-and-scan method or the step-and-repeat method. A projection exposure apparatus that exposes the body 40. In the present embodiment, the exposure apparatus 1 is a step-and-scan projection exposure apparatus, but other exposure systems can be applied.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the exposure apparatus 1 includes an illumination apparatus 10, a mask stage 25 on which a mask 20 is placed, a projection optical system 30, a wafer stage 45 on which an object to be processed 40 is placed, and a partition wall 50. , Gas supply means 60, gas cooling means 70, and control unit 80.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the exposure apparatus 1 has a vacuum chamber VC in order to maintain at least the optical path through which the EUV light EL passes in a vacuum or a reduced pressure environment. The vacuum chamber VC is provided with a turbo molecular pump TP and exhausts the inside of the vacuum chamber VC. This is because EUV light EL has a low transmittance with respect to the atmosphere, and generates contamination due to a reaction with a residual gas (polymer organic gas or the like) component.

  The illuminating device 10 is an illuminating device that illuminates the mask 20 with an arcuate EUV light EL with respect to an arcuate field of view of the projection optical system 30, and includes an EUV light source (not shown) and an illumination optical system (not shown). As the EUV light source, for example, a laser plasma light source is used. However, the EUV light source may be a discharge plasma light source, and any configuration known in the art can be applied. The illumination optical system is an optical system that illuminates the mask 20, and includes a condenser mirror, an optical integrator, an aperture, and the like.

  The mask 20 is a reflective mask in which a circuit pattern (or image) to be transferred is formed on a mirror, and is supported and driven by a mask stage 25. Diffracted light emitted from the mask 20 is reflected by the projection optical system 30 and projected onto the object 40. The mask 20 and the workpiece 40 are arranged in an optically conjugate relationship. Since the exposure apparatus 1 is a step-and-scan type exposure apparatus, the pattern of the mask 20 is transferred onto the object to be processed 40 by scanning the mask 20 and the object to be processed 40 at a speed ratio of the reduction magnification ratio. To do.

  The mask stage 25 supports the mask 20 and is connected to a moving mechanism (not shown). Any configuration known in the art can be applied to the mask stage 25. A moving mechanism (not shown) is configured by a linear motor or the like, and can move the mask 20 by driving the mask stage 25 at least in the X direction. The exposure apparatus 1 scans the mask 20 and the workpiece 40 in a synchronized state. Here, X is the scanning direction in the surface of the mask 20 or the object to be processed 40, Y is the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction, and Z is the direction perpendicular to the surface of the mask 20 or the object to be processed 40.

  The projection optical system 30 uses a plurality of reflecting mirrors (that is, multilayer mirrors) 32 to reduce and project the pattern of the mask 20 onto the object to be processed 40 that is an image plane. The projection optical system 30 includes about 4 to 6 reflection mirrors 32. In order to realize a wide exposure area with a small number of reflecting mirrors, the mask 20 and the object to be processed 40 are simultaneously scanned using only a thin arc-shaped area (ring field) separated from the optical axis by a certain distance. Transfer large area. The numerical aperture (NA) of the projection optical system 30 is about 0.2 to 0.3.

  The object to be processed 40 is a wafer in this embodiment, but widely includes glass substrates and other objects to be processed. A photoresist is applied to the object to be processed 40.

  The wafer stage 45 supports the workpiece 40 via a wafer chuck (not shown). The wafer stage 45 moves the workpiece 40 in the XYZ directions using, for example, a linear motor. Further, the position of the mask stage 25 and the position of the wafer stage 45 are monitored by a laser interferometer, for example, and both are driven at a constant speed ratio.

  The partition wall 50 forms a projection optical system space (first space) POS that houses the projection optical system 30. In other words, the partition 50 surrounds the projection optical system 30 and isolates the projection optical system space POS from the stage space (second space) STS in which the mask 20 and the object to be processed 40 are accommodated. Further, the projection optical system space POS and the stage space STS are each maintained at the reference temperature. Here, the reference temperature is selected from temperatures that do not affect (deform, etc.) the optical members housed in the projection optical system space POS and the stage space STS (that is, do not degrade the exposure performance of the exposure apparatus 1). .

The gas supply means 60 supplies a gas (for example, an inert gas such as nitrogen) to the projection optical system space POS via the supply pipe 62. Thereby, the pressure in the projection optical system space POS can be maintained higher than the pressure in the stage space STS, and the inflow of the carbon compound from the stage space STS can be reduced or prevented. In the present embodiment, the projection optical system space POS is maintained at about several Pa, and the stage space STS is maintained at about 10 ⁻⁴ Pa.

  The projection optical system space POS is exhausted at a constant speed by the turbo molecular pump TP, and a constant amount of gas is supplied from the gas supply means 60 via the supply pipe 62. Therefore, after a certain amount of time has passed, the gas flow reaches an equilibrium state, and the relationships shown in Equations 1 to 3 are derived as described above. That is, the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS via the supply pipe 62 is decelerated in the projection optical system space POS, and the gas temperature rises. In other words, the temperature of the supplied gas rises due to the speed difference between the gas speed in the supply pipe 62 and the gas speed in the projection optical system space POS (near the supply port of the supply pipe 62).

  Therefore, the exposure apparatus 1 of the present embodiment has the gas cooling means 70, and the temperature of the projection optical system space POS becomes higher than the reference temperature when the temperature of the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS rises. To prevent that. The gas cooling means 70 cools the gas supplied from the gas supply means 60 to the projection optical system space POS. The gas cooling means 70 is comprised by a Peltier device, a compressor, etc., for example. When the gas cooling means 70 is configured by a Peltier element, the temperature of the gas supplied by the gas supply means 60 can be adjusted (cooled) in units of 1/100 [° C.]. In the present embodiment, the gas cooling means 70 is also provided between the gas supply means (not shown) for supplying gas to the stage space STS and the stage space STS, and the gas supplied to the stage space STS is also cooled.

  The control unit 80 includes a CPU and a memory (not shown) and controls the operation of the exposure apparatus 1. The control unit 80 is controllably connected to the illumination device 10, the mask stage 25, the wafer stage 45, and the gas cooling unit 70. The CPU includes any processor of any name such as MPU and controls the operation of each unit. The memory is composed of ROM and RAM, and stores firmware that operates the exposure apparatus 1.

  In this embodiment, the control unit 80 controls the temperature of the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS. Specifically, the control unit 80 determines the projection optical system space based on the reference temperature of the projection optical system space POS, the pipe diameter of the supply pipe 62, and the amount of gas supplied from the gas supply unit 60 to the projection optical system space POS. Control the temperature of the gas supplied to the POS. It is known that the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS rises by about 10 ° C. depending on the location by simulation. Therefore, the control unit 80 cools and supplies the temperature of the gas to be supplied to the projection optical system space POS through the gas cooling means 70 by an amount corresponding to the temperature rise. Thereby, the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS becomes substantially the reference temperature in the projection optical system space POS. For example, when the reference temperature of the projection optical system space POS is T0 [° C.] and the temperature of the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS is Tg [° C.], the control unit 80 satisfies the following Expression 5. The temperature of the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS is controlled. In other words, the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS is supplied at a temperature lowered by 0.01 ° C. to 10 ° C. with respect to the reference temperature.

  In this way, the temperature rise of the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS is cooled by the gas cooling means 70, and the gas is supplied to the projection optical system space POS, whereby the temperature of the projection optical system space POS is set as a reference. Can be maintained at temperature. The reason why T0-0.01 [° C.] is that if the temperature change of the gas is about 0.01 ° C., the temperature change of the optical member in the projection optical system space POS is 0.01 ° C. or less. . For example, when the temperature of the lens barrel structure changes by 0.01 ° C., the change amount of the mirror interval is about 30 nm, and the change amount of this degree can be corrected.

  Actually, the temperature of the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS does not increase as described above because the pressure is also related. However, from the simulation results, the gas cooling means 70 increases the gas flow rate by 0.01 ° C. when the amount of gas supplied is small and increases by 10 ° C. when the amount of gas supplied is large. Is lowered by 0.01 ° C. to 10 ° C.

  Further, when the cooled gas flows, the supply pipe 62 becomes lower than the reference temperature, and the surrounding members may be cooled. Therefore, in this embodiment, the heat insulating member 64 is provided in the supply pipe 62 to prevent the surrounding members from being cooled. In order to prevent the surrounding members from being cooled, the supply pipe 62 may be constituted by a double pipe, and the gas may flow through the inner pipe.

  Here, the exposure operation (exposure method) of the exposure apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the exposure operation of the exposure apparatus 1. FIG. 2A shows the overall exposure operation of the exposure apparatus 1, and FIG. 2B shows the exposure operation of FIG. Step 1030 shown in FIG. First, the workpiece 40 is transferred to the exposure apparatus 1 and placed on the wafer stage 45 (step 1010). When the object to be processed 40 is placed on the wafer stage 45, the stage space STS is exhausted by the turbo molecular pump TP, and gas is supplied to the stage space STS via a gas supply means (not shown) (step 1020). . When the stage space STS is exhausted, the projection optical system space POS may be exhausted simultaneously.

  When the gas flow in the stage space STS reaches an equilibrium state, the projection optical system space POS is exhausted and gas is supplied to the projection optical system space POS via the gas supply means 60 (step 1030). The gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS is cooled by the gas cooling means 70 by an amount of temperature that rises when supplied to the projection optical system space POS. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2B, the temperature amount of the gas that rises when supplied to the projection optical system space POS is acquired in advance (step 1032). The temperature amount of the gas may be acquired from an actual experiment or may be acquired from a simulation. When acquiring the gas temperature amount from the simulation, as described above, the temperature amount of the rising gas is calculated from the reference temperature of the projection optical system space POS, the pipe diameter of the supply pipe 62 and the gas supply amount. That's fine. Then, based on the temperature amount acquired in Step 1032 (that is, only the temperature amount), the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS is cooled (Step 1034).

When the gas flow in the projection optical system space POS reaches an equilibrium state, the pattern of the mask 20 is exposed to the object 40 (step 1040). At this time, the pressure in the projection optical system space POS is maintained higher than the pressure in the stage space STS to prevent contamination from flowing into the projection optical system space POS from the stage space STS. Further, since the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS is cooled as described above, it becomes a substantially reference temperature in the projection optical system space POS, and prevents an increase in temperature inside the projection optical system space POS. In other words, the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS prevents the exposure performance of the exposure apparatus 1 from deteriorating without affecting the optical members housed in the projection optical system space POS.
In the present embodiment, the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS is cooled based on the temperature amount of the rising gas acquired in advance. However, the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS may be cooled while measuring the temperature of the gas (or projection optical system space POS) supplied to the projection optical system space POS and feeding back the measurement result.

  In the exposure, the EUV light emitted from the illumination device 10 illuminates the mask 20. EUV light that passes through the mask 20 and reflects the mask pattern is imaged on the object 40 via the projection optical system 30. In the present embodiment, the image surface is an arc-shaped (ring-shaped) image surface, and the entire surface of the mask 20 is exposed by scanning the mask 20 and the workpiece 40. As described above, the exposure apparatus 1 achieves excellent exposure performance (high transfer accuracy), high throughput, high cost efficiency, and higher quality devices (semiconductor elements, LCD elements, imaging elements (CCD, etc.)) than conventional ones. , A thin film magnetic head, etc.).

  FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an exposure apparatus 1 </ b> A that is a modification of the exposure apparatus 1. The exposure apparatus 1A has a configuration similar to that of the exposure apparatus 1, and further includes a load lock chamber 100.

  The load lock chamber 100 is provided to carry the object to be processed 40 from the outside of the exposure apparatus 1A and to carry out the exposed object to be processed 40 to the outside of the exposure apparatus 1A. Since the inside of the exposure apparatus 1A is in a vacuum or reduced pressure environment, if the object 40 is to be carried into the vacuum chamber VC, the vacuum or reduced pressure environment of the exposure apparatus 1 must be destroyed.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the load lock chamber 100 is used. When the workpiece 40 is carried in from the outside of the exposure apparatus 1A, the gate valve 102 disposed between the load lock chamber 100 and the vacuum chamber VC of the exposure apparatus 1A is closed to release the load lock chamber 100 to atmospheric pressure. . Next, the gate valve 104 that connects the load lock chamber 100 and the outside is opened, and the workpiece 40 is carried from the gate valve 104. After the workpiece 40 is carried into the load lock chamber 100, the gate valve 104 is closed, the load lock chamber 100 is evacuated by the termolecular pump TP, and the load lock chamber 100 is evacuated. After the load lock chamber 100 is in a vacuum state, the object to be processed 40 can be loaded without breaking the vacuum state of the vacuum chamber VC by opening the gate valve 102. After the workpiece 40 is loaded into the vacuum chamber VC, the gate valve 102 is closed, and gas is supplied from the gas supply means 120 to the load lock chamber 100 via the supply pipe 122. When the pressure in the load lock chamber 100 reaches atmospheric pressure, the gate valve 104 is opened, and the workpiece 40 is carried into the load lock chamber 100.

  When the gas is supplied to the load lock chamber 100 in a vacuum or reduced pressure environment and the pressure is returned to the atmospheric pressure, the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber 100 is the same as the gas supplied to the projection optical system space POS. To rise. Pressure P, temperature T, specific heat ratio γ, load lock chamber 100 volume V, load lock chamber 100 initial state 1 (low pressure state), state after supplying gas to load lock chamber 100 Is 2. In this case, assuming that the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber 100 is TR and the kinetic energy of the supplied gas is smaller than the enthalpy of the gas, the following formula 6 is established.

  Formula 6 shows that the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber 100 increases. Although Equation 6 is calculated based on various assumptions, it has been found that the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber 100 also rises in actual experiments.

  When the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber 100 rises, the temperature of the member housed in the load lock chamber chamber 100 rises. Therefore, when the workpiece 40 is carried into the load lock chamber 100 (the workpiece 40 is placed on the holding unit), the temperature of the workpiece 40 rises above the reference temperature and returns to the reference temperature. The time will be longer. As a result, the time until the object to be processed 40 is transferred from the load lock chamber 100 to the vacuum chamber VC becomes longer, leading to a decrease in throughput.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, as described above, the temperature increase amount of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber 100 is obtained in advance through experiments or simulations, and the gas cooling means 130 is used to supply the gas that has cooled the temperature increase amount. Supply. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber 100 from becoming higher than the reference temperature. The configuration of the gas cooling means 130 is the same as that of the gas cooling means 70, and therefore detailed description thereof is omitted here.

The amount by which the gas cooling means 130 cools the gas is determined by the pressure in the load lock chamber 100 and the open time to the atmosphere. It is known that the gas supplied to the load lock chamber 100 rises by about 6 ° C. through experiments and simulations.
Since the gas cooling means 130 can lower the gas temperature by 0.01 ° C. to 10 ° C., the gas cooling means 130 can sufficiently cool the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber 100 and is supplied to the load lock chamber 100. The temperature of the gas at that time is substantially the reference temperature. Thus, since the temperature of the load lock chamber 100 at the time of opening to the atmosphere is substantially the reference temperature, the time to wait for the object 40 to be stabilized at the reference temperature in the load lock chamber 100 is shortened, thereby preventing a decrease in throughput. be able to.

  Next, an embodiment of a device manufacturing method using the exposure apparatus 1 or 1A will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining how to fabricate devices (ie, semiconductor chips such as IC and LSI, LCDs, CCDs, and the like). Here, the manufacture of a semiconductor chip will be described as an example. In step 1 (circuit design), a device circuit is designed. In step 2 (mask production), a mask on which the designed circuit pattern is formed is produced. In step 3 (wafer manufacture), a wafer is manufactured using a material such as silicon. Step 4 (wafer process) is called a pre-process, and an actual circuit is formed on the wafer by lithography using the mask and the wafer. Step 5 (assembly) is called a post-process, and is a process for forming a semiconductor chip using the wafer created in step 4. The assembly process (dicing, bonding), packaging process (chip encapsulation), and the like are performed. Including. In step 6 (inspection), inspections such as an operation confirmation test and a durability test of the semiconductor device created in step 5 are performed. Through these steps, the semiconductor device is completed and shipped (step 7).

  FIG. 5 is a detailed flowchart of the wafer process in Step 4. In step 11 (oxidation), the surface of the wafer is oxidized. In step 12 (CVD), an insulating film is formed on the surface of the wafer. In step 13 (electrode formation), an electrode is formed on the wafer by vapor deposition or the like. Step 14 (ion implantation) implants ions into the wafer. In step 15 (resist process), a photosensitive agent is applied to the wafer. Step 16 (exposure) uses the exposure apparatus 1 or 1A to expose a circuit pattern on the mask onto the wafer. In step 17 (development), the exposed wafer is developed. In step 18 (etching), portions other than the developed resist image are removed. In step 19 (resist stripping), the resist that has become unnecessary after the etching is removed. By repeating these steps, multiple circuit patterns are formed on the wafer. According to this device manufacturing method, it is possible to manufacture a higher quality device than before. Thus, the device manufacturing method using the exposure apparatus 1 or 1A and the resulting device also constitute one aspect of the present invention.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Exposure apparatus 10 Illumination apparatus 20 Mask 25 Mask stage 30 Projection optical system 40 To-be-processed object 45 Wafer stage 50 Partition 60 Gas supply means 62 Supply piping 64 Thermal insulation member 70 Gas cooling means 80 Control part 1A Exposure apparatus 100 Load lock chamber 102 and 104 Gate valve 120 Gas supply means 122 Supply pipe 130 Gas cooling means POS Projection optical system space STS Stage space VC Vacuum chamber

Claims (5)

A load lock device including a load lock chamber,
A pump for evacuating the load lock chamber;
Gas supply means for supplying gas to the load lock chamber;
Cooling means for cooling the gas supplied to the load lock chamber ,
Said cooling means, a temperature lower than the just before Kimoto reference temperature amount that gas is supplied the temperature of the gas by the gas supply means to the load lock chamber that is evacuated rises above the reference temperature of the load lock chamber load-lock device for cooling the gas, characterized in that on. When the reference temperature is T0 [° C.] and the temperature of the gas supplied to the load lock chamber is Tg [° C.]
Said cooling means, T0-10 [℃] ≦ Tg ≦ T0-0.01 [℃] to satisfy, to cool the gas, the load lock device according to claim 1, wherein the. Load lock device according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in previously obtained Ru, it minute to the rise. A lithographic apparatus,
A lithography apparatus comprising the load lock device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . Transferring the pattern to the object to be processed using the lithography apparatus according to claim 4 ;
And developing the object to which the pattern has been transferred in the step.