JPH07142558A - Stage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To move a moving stage at high speed with high accuracy by using ceramic as the material of a stage, a guide section and a transmission section. CONSTITUTION:A chuck 1 is shifted in the direction X in an X stage 2 made of alumina ceramics. A sliding member 3 made of alumina ceramic is installed inside the X stage 2. A ball nut 4 made of ceramic is bonded with the X stage 2 through a connecting member, and screwed to a ball screw 5 for feed made of ceramic. The ball screw 5 is held by a ceramic housing 6 through a non-metallic bearing consisting of ruby, sapphire, etc. One of ceramic couplings 7 transmitting power is bonded with the ball screw 5, and the other is coupled with the driving shaft of a motor 8 driving the X stage. One surface of a rectilinear guide sliding ceramic guide 9 is abutted against a rolling guide, and the other surface is abutted against the sliding member 3, thus controlling the movement of the X stage.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stage device for moving a movable stage along a guide, and more particularly to a stage device applied to a semiconductor exposure apparatus such as a projection exposure apparatus, an electron beam drawing apparatus, or a wire bonder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional stage devices are made of Al, Ti
The movable stage portion and the transmission mechanism are configured by using a light alloy of the group or Mg group or another metal material.

[0003]

However, these metallic materials have the following problems: rigidity, deformation due to temperature change, wear resistance,
And there is a problem in terms of rust prevention. Especially when the stage device is used in a vacuum atmosphere, the wear resistance is further deteriorated because the use of the lubricant is restricted.

In addition, maintaining the accuracy of a high-precision stage device used in the field of semiconductor manufacturing is a very difficult problem in view of the change with time of metal materials.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to enable the movable stage to move at high speed and with high accuracy. An object is to provide a stage device that can be used in a vacuum atmosphere without any trouble.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, the stage device of the present invention comprises a base having a reference surface, a stage mounted on the base, and the stage including the base. A guide portion for moving the stage in a predetermined direction with respect to a reference surface, a driving source for generating a driving force for moving the stage along the guide portion, and a driving force for generating the driving force by the driving source. And a transmission unit for transmitting to the stage,
The material of the stage, the guide portion, and the transmission portion is ceramics.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a chuck made of alumina ceramics for vacuum-adsorbing a silicon wafer or a sample placed thereon. Although not shown in the figure, the wafer chuck 1 is provided with an opening for vacuum suction and a duct connected to a vacuum pump. An X stage 2 made of alumina ceramics moves the chuck 1 in the X direction. Reference numeral 3 denotes a sliding member made of alumina ceramics or having a sliding surface coated with Teflon (registered trademark).
It is provided on the inner surface of the stage 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes a ceramic ball nut for giving a feeding force to the X stage 2, which is coupled to the X stage 2 via a coupling member,
Built-in ceramic or non-metallic balls such as ruby and sapphire.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a ceramic feed ball screw which is screwed into the ball nut 4. Reference numeral 6 denotes a ceramic housing for holding the ball screw 5, and a bearing made of a non-metal such as ruby or sapphire for receiving the ball screw 5 is accommodated therein. Reference numeral 7 denotes a ceramic power transmission coupling. One side of the coupling 7 is connected to the ball screw 5, and the other side is connected to a drive shaft of a motor 8 for driving the X stage. Reference numeral 9 is a ceramic linear guide sliding guide for restricting the movement of the X stage 2. One side of the sliding guide 9 contacts the rolling guide (see FIG. 2) and the other surface contacts the sliding member 3. .

Next, 10 is a ceramic Y stage, which supports the projecting portions 2 ', 2'of the X stage 2 and is connected with an X-direction sliding guide 9. Reference numeral 11 denotes a sliding member made of ceramics or coated with Teflon (registered trademark), which is provided inside the Y stage 10. Reference numeral 12 is a linear guide sliding guide made of ceramics for restricting the movement of the Y stage 10, and is coupled to a ceramic base 18. 13 and 14 are ceramics housings made of ceramics for holding the ball screw 15 for feeding in the Y direction. The housings 13 and 14 accommodate bearings made of ceramics material or non-metallic material such as ruby or sapphire. Has been done. Although not shown in the drawing, a ball nut is screwed into the ball screw 15 and is fixed inside the Y stage 10.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a power transmission coupling, which is made of ceramics and is coupled to a motor 17 for driving the Y stage 10. Reference numerals 10 to 22 designate sliding surfaces made of ceramics, which are lapped and mirror-finished on a flat surface, and the sliding surfaces 19 and 20 support the lower protruding portions 2'and 2'of the X stage 2, and the sliding surfaces. Reference numerals 21 and 22 support the lower protruding portions 10 'and 10' of the Y stage 10, respectively.

2 and 3 show stages 2 and 1, respectively.
2 shows a structure for supporting 0, and in FIG.
Reference numeral 24 is a roller or needle bearing made of ceramics or a non-metal material (retainer is Teflon material), and in FIG. 3, 25 is an air pad made of ceramics when an air bearing is used. A pneumatic duct (not shown) is connected. It should be noted that, of these members, conventional alloy members can be used for the portions excluding the sliding surface and the rolling portions, depending on the application.

When the motor 8 fixed to the Y stage 10 is driven with the above structure, the ball screw 5 is rotated through the coupling 7, and the ball nut 4 screwed with the ball screw 5 is fed back and forth. The X stage 2 fixed to this can be moved back and forth in the X direction. The X stage 2 is a plane 19
By moving on the horizontal axis 20 and 20, it is displaced in the horizontal plane without fine movement in the Z direction, and fluctuations in the Y direction are restricted by the guide 9. On the other hand, when the motor 17 fixed to the base 18 is driven, the ball screw 15 rotates via the coupling 16 and the Y stage 10 can be moved back and forth in the Y direction. The Y stage 10 moves on the planes 21 and 22 and is regulated by the guide 12 to be accurately displaced in the Y direction.

In this embodiment, coupling couplings 7, 1
The reason why the ceramics is used as 6 is that the vibration transmission from the feeding device can be reduced with high rigidity and low inertia. Further, if the entire stage is made of a ceramic material, since the ceramic itself is a non-magnetic material, it can be used in an electron beam drawing apparatus that requires a non-magnetic stage, and there is a possibility that chemicals will adhere. It is also possible to apply to a precision feeding device and a precision measuring device in some other field. Moreover, since it can be used in a chemical solution or can be used in a vacuum by taking advantage of the fact that it does not rust, it can be applied to space development. Further, since the chuck for sucking and holding the wafer is made of ceramics, the heat absorbed by the wafer at the time of exposure is hard to be transmitted to the stage, and the deformation due to the thermal strain of the stage can be prevented.

[0015]

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the weight of the movable portion of the stage device without lowering its rigidity, and to fluctuate with changes in the ambient atmospheric temperature due to the low thermal conductivity and low thermal expansion coefficient of the ceramic material. It is possible to provide a highly accurate stage device that is difficult to perform. Further, it is possible to improve wear resistance, it is hard to cause problems such as ringing like metal, and it is possible to achieve a non-lubricated sliding surface or rolling surface.
For example, it becomes possible to provide a stage device that can be used even in a vacuum atmosphere. In addition, since the change with time of the stage device can be made extremely small, high stage accuracy can be maintained for a long period of time. Furthermore, by using a ceramic as the transmission part for transmitting the driving force generated by the driving source to the stage, vibration and heat transmitted from the driving source to the stage can be reduced, so that extremely high stage accuracy can be achieved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above effects, the chuck for holding an object to be transferred such as a wafer is made of ceramics, so that the heat absorbed by the object to be transferred by exposure or the like is transmitted to the stage. It is difficult to prevent the stage from being deformed due to thermal strain.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above effects, since the base is made of ceramics, relative displacement due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the guide portion, the stage and the base does not occur. It is possible to provide a stage device with higher accuracy.

According to the invention described in claim 4, it is possible to provide a two-dimensional stage device having the above effects.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the semiconductor wafer can be exposed by using the stage device having the above effects, it is possible to manufacture the semiconductor with high productivity and accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a stage device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a main part of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Chuck 2 X Stage 3 Sliding Member 4 Ball Nut 5 Ball Screw 6 Housing 7 Coupling 8 X Motor 9 X Guide 10 Y Stage 11 Sliding Member 12 Y Guide 13, 14 Housing 15 Ball Screw 16 Coupling 17 Y Motor 18 Base

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location F16H 25/24 A 9242-3J B 9242-3J

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A base having a reference surface, a stage mounted on the base, a guide unit for moving the stage in a predetermined direction with respect to the reference surface of the base, The stage, the guide unit, and the transmission unit include a drive source that generates a drive force for moving the stage along the guide unit, and a transmission unit that transmits the drive force generated by the drive source to the stage. A stage device characterized in that the material of the part is ceramics. 2. The stage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
A stage device, wherein a chuck for holding an object to be conveyed is installed on the stage, and the material of the chuck is ceramics. 3. The stage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
A stage device, wherein the base material is ceramics. 4. The stage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The stage apparatus, wherein the stage moves two-dimensionally in a plane parallel to the reference plane. 5. The stage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The stage device, wherein the transported object is a semiconductor wafer.