PRESSURE REDUCING DEVICE, METHOD OF CONTROLLING SUBSTRATE, EXPOSURE SYSTEM, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To keep a space inside a chamber as a pressure-reduced atmosphere. SOLUTION: An exposure system is equipped with the optical vacuum chamber 24b for composing a pressure-reduced optical space C at a position confronting a wafer 12a and a mask 12b and an electrostatic chuck 13 holding the wafer 12a and the mask 12b. The chamber 24b is equipped with an opening located at its part confronting the wafer 12a and the mask 12b and a surrounding member surrounding the opening. A gap between the end 11 of the surrounding member and the wafer 12a, the mask 12b or their surrounding structure (e.g. electrostatic chuck 13) is kept fine enough in size for forming the pressure- reduced optical space in the optical vacuum chamber 24b independent of the pressure of a wafer space A and a mask space B where the electrostatic chuck 13 is arranged, so that the optical space C inside the optical vacuum chamber 24b can be kept as a pressure-reduced atmosphere. COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO