KR20080104172A - Supporting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

In a supporting apparatus (40) to be used for an exposure apparatus, an exhaust groove (42b) on a supporting plane (42a) is inclined from an exposure region so that the groove is not parallel to a scanning direction. Thus, effects of return light, which is of a parallel luminous flux (20) and reflected by the exhaust groove (42b), do not appear on a work substrate (1A) in stripes, and stable uniform exposure can be performed. ® KIPO & WIPO 2009

Description

Supporting device {SUPPORTING APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to a support device for use in an exposure apparatus to support a work substrate.

Flat panel displays, such as liquid crystals used in thin TVs, tend to be larger in recent years, and masks for pattern exposure on a work substrate also tend to be larger in size, resulting in increased cost and difficulty in handling. It is becoming. On the other hand, instead of using one large mask, there is an attempt to expose a large pattern as a whole by dividing small masks of small area into a plurality of sheets (see Patent Document 1). According to the technique of patent document 1, the light source, a mask, and a workpiece board | substrate move relatively at both ends, and the light source and a mask are stopped in the middle part.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-237744

Disclosure of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

By the way, in such an exposure apparatus, in order to move a workpiece | work substrate in a scanning direction, the air floating unit is formed. The air floating unit floats and supports the work substrate by the pressure of the air discharged from the support surface toward the work substrate, and can smoothly scan the work substrate because there is little friction with the support surface. By the way, in order to collect the air discharged | emitted from the support surface, the exhaust groove must be formed in the support surface normally, The reflected light of the light which permeate | transmitted the workpiece substrate by this exhaust groove is transferred to the work substrate, As a result, There exists a possibility that the problem of not exposing uniformly may arise. According to the researches of the present inventors, it has been found that, in particular, when the exhaust grooves are parallel to the scanning direction, an uneven negligible exposure nonuniformity occurs due to the return light in a stripe pattern on the work substrate.

In view of such problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a support apparatus that can be used in an exposure apparatus and can suppress exposure failure of a work substrate.

Means to solve the problem

The said objective of this invention is achieved by the following structures.

(1) A support apparatus for supporting a workpiece substrate scanned in a predetermined direction and exposed through a fluid with respect to a support surface,

The support surface has a discharge portion for discharging the fluid toward the work substrate and a recovery portion for recovering the fluid discharged from the discharge portion, and the recovery portion has an exhaust that extends non-parallel in the scanning direction of the work substrate. A support device comprising a groove.

(2) The support device according to (1), wherein the exhaust groove is linear.

(3) The support device according to (1), wherein the exhaust groove is curved.

Effects of the Invention

According to the support device of the present invention, the support surface has a discharge portion for discharging the fluid toward the work substrate, and a recovery portion for recovering the fluid discharged from the discharge portion, the recovery portion of the work substrate Since it includes the exhaust groove which extends non-parallel to a scanning direction, generation | occurrence | production of the exposure nonuniformity by the feedback light in a stripe shape to a workpiece | substrate is suppressed, and appropriate exposure can be performed. The "fluid" is preferably air which can be obtained at low cost and is easy to handle, but is not limited thereto.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of an exposure apparatus including a support apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a view of the configuration of FIG. 1 viewed in the direction of arrow II. FIG.

3 is a top view of the support device 40 according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a view of the support device 40 in FIG. 3 as seen in the arrow IV direction.

FIG. 5: is the figure which looked at the support apparatus 40 of FIG. 3 in the arrow V direction.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating another exposure operation of the exposure apparatus of the first embodiment. FIG.

FIG. 7: is a top view of the support apparatus 40 'which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

FIG. 8: is the figure which looked at the support apparatus 40 'of FIG.

9 is a top view similar to FIG. 2 of the support device 40 '.

FIG. 10: is a top view similar to FIG. 2 regarding the modification of the support apparatus 40 '.

Explanation of the sign

1A: Work Board

10A: Photo Mask

20: parallel beam

30: optical system

31: protective cover

32: reflective mirror

40, 40 ': support device

41: expect

41a: supply path

41b: discharge furnace

42, 42 ': support plate

42a: support surface

42b, 42b ': exhaust groove

42c: suction hole

B: Bolt

OPU: Light Source Unit

Implement the invention  Best form for

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiment of this invention is described with reference to drawings. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of an exposure apparatus including a support apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a view of the configuration of FIG. 1 viewed in the direction of arrow II. FIG.

In FIG. 1, the exposure apparatus has a light source unit OPU, an optical system 30, a mask 10A, and a support portion 40 of the work substrate 1A. Although the light source unit OPU is fixed to the frame not shown, the optical system 30 provided with the reflection mirror 32 is movable on the photomask 10A in the left-right direction in the figure. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the work substrate 1A is air-floated by the support devices 40 arranged in parallel in three, and by the drive of the drive device not shown, the left-right direction of FIG. 1 as a scanning direction is shown. (The direction from the left side to the right side of FIG. 2) is movable.

Irradiation light (parallel light: 20) used for exposing and transferring a pattern (not shown) formed on the photomask 10A to the work substrate 1A is irradiated in a horizontal direction from the light source unit OPU. Irradiation light (parallel light) 20 emitted from the light source unit OPU is reflected by the reflection mirror 32 of the optical system 30, and as shown in the figure, the photomask 10A is located above the photomask 10A. It penetrates and irradiates toward the workpiece | substrate 1A. In addition, the reflection mirror 32 is covered by the protective cover 31. In addition, the irradiation area with respect to the photomask 10A of the irradiation light 20 can be adjusted by opening and closing the shutter (not shown) provided in the protective cover 31.

Moreover, 10 A of photomasks are made to hold | maintain some clearances (0.05-0.5 mm) which are not in contact with 1 A of workpiece | work substrates.

3 is a top view of the support device 40 according to the present embodiment, FIG. 4 is a view of the support device 40 of FIG. 3 seen in the direction of arrow IV, and FIG. 5 is a view of the support device 40 of FIG. 3. It is a figure seen in the arrow V direction. In FIG. 4, the support apparatus 40 consists of the base 41 on a hollow case body, and the support plate 42 which consists of the porous material arrange | positioned on the base 41. As shown in FIG. The support plate 42 is fixed on the base 41 by the bolt B (refer FIG. 3). As the porous material, for example, carbon is mainly used, but a sintered metal may be used in some cases.

The base 41 has a plurality of openings 41a passing through pressurized air connected to an air supply source (not shown) and an upper surface (that is, toward the lower surface of the support plate 42) in communication with the supply passage 41a. Has a discharge passage 41b. On the support surface 42a which is the upper surface of the support plate 42, the exhaust groove 42b which crosses in the X phase and extends to the side surface, and opens to the atmosphere, and the plurality of suction holes 42c which communicate with the inside of the base 41. Is formed. In addition, the support surface 42a except the exhaust groove 42b constitutes the discharge portion, and the exhaust groove 42b constitutes the recovery portion.

When pressurized air is supplied from the air supply source to the supply path 41a in a state where the work substrate 1A is mounted on the support plate 42, such pressurized air is discharged from the discharge path 41b via the supply path 41a. As a result, a uniform pressure is formed between the support surface 42a and the work substrate 1A by passing through the support plate 42 made of a porous material, whereby the work substrate 1A can be horizontally supported. The excess air is recovered through the exhaust groove 42b and is discharged to the side of the support device 40. Moreover, since the desired amount of air can be sucked from the suction hole 42c by making the inside of the base 41 into a vacuum, the workpiece is adjusted by adjusting the balance of the air pressure between the support surface 42a and the work substrate 1A. The floating amount of the substrate 1A can be set to a desired value.

Next, the exposure operation of the exposure apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. In the exposure apparatus which concerns on this embodiment, the board | substrate which has a special pattern at the beginning and a last, respectively, and has a continuous pattern on the way is formed. In that case, the exposure operation as shown in FIG. 6 is performed.

First, at the start of exposure, as shown in FIG. 6A, the left end of the reflection mirror 32 and the photomask 10A of the optical system 30 and the left end of the work substrate 1A are aligned and positioned.

And as shown to FIG. 6 (b), the reflection mirror 32, the photomask 10A, and the workpiece | substrate 1A are synchronized, and are moved from right to left, respectively. At this time, the movement speed of the reflection mirror 32 and the photomask 10A is slowed down so that the speed of the reflection mirror 32> the speed of the photomask 10A> the speed of the work substrate 1A (FIG. 6). (c).).

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6 (d), the reflection mirror 32 and the photomask 10A are stopped at the position where the reflection mirror 32 becomes approximately the center of the photomask 10A. Here, the work substrate 1A keeps moving at this speed (see Fig. 6 (e)).

And when the exposure position is close to the right end of the work substrate 1A, as shown in Fig. 6 (f), the reflection mirror 32 and the photomask 10A are started to move, as shown in Fig. 6 (g). Similarly, the reflective mirror 32, the photomask 10A, the work substrate 1A are synchronized with each other so that the right end of the reflective mirror 32 and the photomask 10A and the right end of the work substrate 1A are aligned. Move to. This completes the exposure operation.

In the exposure apparatus according to the present embodiment, when forming a substrate having the same continuous pattern from beginning to end, the workpiece is stopped with the reflection mirror 32 and the photomask 10A stopped, similarly to FIG. 6 (d). It can expose by moving only the board | substrate 1A at a fixed speed.

During such exposure operation, the feedback light reflected from the support surface 42a at the time when the reflection mirror 32 and the photomask 10A are stopped and only the work substrate 1A is moved has an influence on the exposure accuracy. Crazy However, in this embodiment, since the exhaust groove 42b of the support surface 42a is inclined obliquely with respect to the exposure area so as not to be parallel to the scanning direction, the feedback light reflected by the exhaust groove 42b of the parallel beam 20 is used. The influence becomes streaked and does not appear on the work substrate 1A, so that stable and uniform exposure is possible.

FIG. 7: is a top view of the support apparatus 40 'which concerns on 2nd Embodiment, and FIG. 8 is the figure which looked at the support apparatus 40' of FIG. 9 is a top view similar to FIG. 2 of the support device 40 '.

In this embodiment, the support apparatus 40 'has adhere | attached the some support plate 42' on the base 41. As shown in FIG. The support plate 42 'is disk-shaped, and the suction hole 42c which communicates with the inside of the base 41 is formed in the center. In this embodiment, the exhaust groove 42b 'is provided between the adjacent support plates 42'. Since the structure other than that is the same as that of embodiment mentioned above, description is abbreviate | omitted.

According to this embodiment, 1 A of pressurized air work substrates discharged from the upper surface (support surface) of the support plate 42 'are floated and supported. At this time, since the exhaust groove 42b 'for collecting the discharged air is not parallel to the scanning direction (left and right direction in Fig. 9), the exhaust groove 42b' in the parallel beam 20 (see Fig. 1) is used. The influence of the reflected feedback light becomes striped and does not appear on the work substrate 1A, so that stable and uniform exposure is possible.

Moreover, as a modification of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, it is also possible to make support plate 42 'into rectangular plate shape. In such a case, if the exhaust grooves 42b 'are formed between the adjacent support plates 42', the exhaust grooves 42b 'may extend in parallel in the scanning direction (left and right direction in FIG. 10). Therefore, in this modification, the support apparatus 40 'is arrange | positioned obliquely, respectively, so that exhaust groove 42b' may not become parallel with a scanning direction.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated with reference to embodiment, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Of course, a change and improvement are possible within the scope of the invention. The exhaust groove may be straight or curved.

This application is based on the JP Patent application (Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-164658) of an application on June 14, 2006, The content is taken in here as a reference.

Claims (3)

A support apparatus for supporting a workpiece substrate scanned in a predetermined direction and exposed through a fluid with respect to a support surface, The support surface has a discharge portion for discharging the fluid toward the work substrate and a recovery portion for recovering the fluid discharged from the discharge portion, and the recovery portion has an exhaust that extends non-parallel in the scanning direction of the work substrate. A support device comprising a groove. The method of claim 1, And said exhaust groove is straight. The method of claim 1, And said exhaust groove is curved.

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