Synchronous position control apparatus and method

[0002] The present invention relates to a synchronous position control apparatus and method and, more particularly, to a synchronous position control apparatus and method preferably applied to a scanning semiconductor exposure apparatus, machine tool and the like, that must maintain the synchronous relationship between the positions of two or more control targets at high precision.

[0003] In general, for example, a machine tool for mold processing must cut a free surface at high precision. This control is called contour control.

[0004] In contour control, the cutting performance of the machine tool is determined by the synchronous performance between positions along a plurality of axes serving as control targets attached to the machine tool.

[0005] In a normal position control system, a tracking error from a target position is processed as an important control index. In contour control, ensuring the synchronous characteristic between axes is more important than the tracking performance to a target position in realizing a high-performance apparatus. This will be exemplified.

[0006] FIGS. 12A and 12B show a conventional synchronous position control system for two orthogonal axes on the XY plane which assumes the XY table of a machine tool. FIG. 12A shows an X-axis position control system, and FIG. 12B shows a Y-axis position control system.

[0007] In FIGS. 12A and 12B, these position control systems have time-lags of first order with respect to target position command values 2aand 2boutput from target position command value generation means (target position command value generators) 1aand 1b. Wox and Woy represent position loop gains 40aand 40bexpressing the cutoff frequencies of these time-lags of first order.

[0008] FIG. 15 shows a locus on the plane when a straight path is drawn on the XY plane for Wox=Woy=5 Hz, i.e., the tracking locus of a low-gain synchronous position control system. FIGS. 16A and 16B show tracking errors along the X- and Y-axes at that time, i.e., the time response of the low-gain synchronous position control system.

[0009] FIG. 17 shows a locus on the plane when a straight line is drawn on the XY plane for high gains of Wox=10 Hz and Woy=12 Hz, i.e., the tracking locus of a high-gain synchronous position control system. FIGS. 18A and 18B show tracking errors along the X- and Y-axes at that time, i.e., the time response of the high-gain synchronous position control system.

[0010] For a low gain, as shown in FIGS. 15, 16A, and 16B, the tracking performance of the position control system is low, but its synchronous performance is high. For a high gain, as shown in FIGS. 17, 18A, and 18B, the tracking performance of the position control system is high, but its synchronous performance is low.

[0011] From the comparison between them, the system with a low response characteristic in FIGS. 15, 16A, and 16B exhibits a smaller path error from a target path regardless of a large tracking error.

[0012] As is apparent from this example, in a system in which synchronous performance for respective axes to be controlled is important, high control performance cannot be attained only by increasing the gain of the position control system and enhancing tracking performance. Synchronous control performance must be enhanced by making position control characteristics between control axes coincide with each other.

[0013] In position control of a machine tool which performs contour control, different servo characteristics along respective control axes impair the synchronous relationship between these axes. An error occurs between a target cutting path and an actual cutting path, resulting in low processing precision. To prevent this, servo characteristics along the control axes must coincide with each other as much as possible so as to maintain a synchronous relationship between these axes.

[0014] To realize a synchronous position control system capable of maintaining a synchronous relationship between respective axes, a position control system as shown in FIG. 13 is constituted in a conventional machine tool.

[0015] This servo system has a high-gain speed control loop 43, and a low-gain position control loop 44 outside the speed control loop 43. The servo system is built in this way in order to ensure system stability and suppress disturbance by the speed control loop, and ensure a response characteristic, and particularly, a synchronous characteristic, along each axis to a target value by the position control loop.

[0016] For example, when the control axes are three X-, Y-, and Z-axes in a mold processing unit, the gains of position control loops for the three axes must be the same, but the gains of speed control loops cannot always be the same. This is because mechanical structures for the respective axes are different owing to mechanical factors, and mechanical resonant points which determine the gains of the speed control loops are different.

[0017] To suppress disturbance, the gain of the speed control loop is desirably as high as possible. However, the gains of the speed control loops for control axes are generally different under limitations of mechanical resonance. Even if the gains of the position control loops are the same, the gains of the speed control loops for the respective axes are not always the same, and thus, the response characteristics along the respective axes to a target position value are different.

[0018] In the position control system of the machine tool, the gain of the position control loop is generally set as low as about {fraction (1/10)} the gain of the speed control loop. In this case, the characteristics of the speed control loop rarely appear on the response characteristic of the position control system to a target position value. For this reason, a control system having an arrangement as shown in FIG. 13 can build a synchronous position control system for each axis.

[0019] In the conventional synchronous position control system, however, the speed control loop serves as an internal loop of the position control loop, and the gains of these loops may interfere with each other.

[0020] That is, when the gain of the position control loop is set about {fraction (1/10)} or less the gain of the speed control loop according to the above method, the characteristics of the two control loops can be set substantially independently.

[0021] If the gain of the position control loop must be set high in terms of the response characteristic, the gains of the two control loops are difficult to maintain at greatly different values. In other words, if a high gain is set in the position control loop, the characteristics of the speed control loop appear as a response to a target position value. At this time, different characteristics of the speed control loops for respective axes deteriorate the synchronous position control characteristic.

[0022] In the conventional arrangement, the response characteristic to a target value is determined by the gain of the position control loop. In simple position control, which does not require synchronous position control, the settling time of the control system becomes long.

[0023] The response characteristic to a target value is approximated by a system of a time lag of a first order using the gain of the position control loop as a cutoff frequency, but is difficult to cope with a case in which response characteristics except for the first-order lag characteristic are desirable.

[0024] The position control system for determining synchronous performance forms a feedback system. This poses problems in system design such that a designer who does not know a control system is difficult to design a synchronous control system.

[0025] The present invention has been made to overcome the conventional drawbacks, and has as its first object to increase the degree of freedom for adjusting the response characteristic to a target value. It is the second object of the present invention to shorten the settling time in simple positioning control. It is the third object of the present invention to realize an arrangement which can facilitate the design.

[0026] To achieve the above objects, as the first synchronous position control apparatus of the present invention, a synchronous position control apparatus comprises position controllers which perform control based on position feedback control for a plurality of axes to be controlled, target position command value generators for respective axes which generate target position command values to be set in the respective position controllers, and converters for respective axes which convert, on the basis of predetermined transfer functions, the target position command values for the respective axes that are output from the respective target position command value generators, and setting the converted values in the respective position controllers, wherein characteristics of the transfer functions are set to substantially the same high-frequency cutoff characteristics for the respective axes, and the cutoff frequency of the transfer function is set to a smaller value than a servo band in any desired position controller.

[0027] As the first synchronous position control method of the present invention, a synchronous position control method of performing synchronous position control by setting target position command values for position control mechanisms for performing control based on position feedback control for a plurality of axes to be controlled comprises converting the respective target position command values for the respective axes on the basis of predetermined transfer functions, and setting the converted values in the respective position control mechanisms, and setting characteristics of the transfer functions to substantially the same high-frequency cutoff characteristics for the respective axes, and setting the cutoff frequency of the transfer function to a smaller value than a servo band in any desired position control mechanism.

[0028] In the prior art, a synchronous position control apparatus is constituted by position controllers having a relatively low response characteristic. In the present invention, a synchronous position control apparatus is constituted by position controllers having a high response characteristic. Further, filters (converters) having a high-frequency cutoff characteristic are inserted on the input stages of the respective position controllers. The characteristics of the filters are set to coincide with each other for all the control axes, and the cutoff frequencies of the filters are set lower than any position control loop gains for all the control axes.

[0029] When the filter is used on the input stage of the position control loop having a high response characteristic, the response characteristic to a position command value is substantially determined by the response characteristic of the filter. Therefore, by setting the characteristics of the filters to coincide with each other for all the control axes, response characteristics to position command values can substantially coincide with each other for all the control axes. A synchronous position control apparatus having high synchronous performance can be easily constituted.

[0030] Since the characteristics of the filter (converter) can be set independently of the stability of the control system, the degree of freedom for adjusting the response characteristic to a position command value can be increased. The filter which determines the response characteristic only converts a target position command value. In simple positioning control which does not require synchronous control, the target position command value can be supplied without the mediacy of this filter. Thus, the synchronous position control apparatus can be used as a system having high positioning performance.

[0031] As the second synchronous position control apparatus of the present invention, a synchronous position control apparatus comprises acceleration command value generators which generate target acceleration command values for a plurality of axes to be controlled, converters for the respective axes which convert the respective target acceleration command values in accordance with predetermined transfer functions, and outputting the converted values as converted acceleration command values, integrators for the respective axes which integrate the respective converted acceleration command values twice, and outputting the integrated values as position command values, compensators for the respective axes which perform predetermined compensation for the respective converted acceleration command values, and outputting the compensated values as feedforward signals, and position controllers which perform control based on position feedback control for the respective axes on the basis of the respective position command values and the feedforward signals, wherein characteristics of the transfer functions are set to substantially the same high-frequency cutoff characteristics for the respective axes, and the cutoff frequency of the transfer function is set to a smaller value than a servo band in any desired position controller.

[0032] As the second synchronous position control method of the present invention, a synchronous position control method comprises an acceleration command value generation step of generating target acceleration command values for a plurality of axes to be controlled, a conversion step of converting the respective target acceleration command in accordance with predetermined transfer functions for the respective axes, and outputting the converted values as converted acceleration command values, an integral step of integrating the respective converted acceleration command values twice, and outputting the integrated values as position command values for the respective axes, a compensation step of performing predetermined compensation for the respective converted acceleration command values, and outputting the compensated values as feedforward signals for the respective axes, and a position control step of performing control based on position feedback control for the respective axes on the basis of the position command values and the feed forward signals, wherein characteristics of the transfer functions are set to substantially the same high-frequency cutoff characteristics for the respective axes, and the cutoff frequency of the transfer function is set to a smaller value than a servo band in any desired position feedback control.

[0033] The second aspect adopts a feedforward loop for a target value to improve tracking performance to the target value. The structure of the compensator in the feedforward loop is simple and can be easily realized.

[0034] Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

[0035] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention;

[0038] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a position control means in the apparatus of FIG. 3;

[0044] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a control target in FIGS. 8 and 9;

[0045] FIG. 11 is a side view showing a scanning exposure apparatus according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention;

[0046] FIGS. 12A and 12B are block diagrams each showing the arrangement of a conventional synchronous position control system;

[0047] FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a conventional position control system;

[0048] FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a position control means (position controller) in the position control apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

[0049] FIG. 15 is a graph of a tracking locus showing the contour control characteristic of the synchronous position control system shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B for a low gain;

[0050] FIGS. 16A and 16B are graphs of a time response showing the contour control characteristic of the synchronous position control system shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B for a low gain;

[0051] FIG. 17 is a graph of a tracking locus showing the contour control characteristic of the synchronous position control system shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B for a high gain;

[0052] FIGS. 18A and 18B are graphs of a time response showing the contour control characteristic of the synchronous position control system shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B for a high gain;

[0053] FIG. 19 is a graph showing a synchronous error in a synchronous position control system using the conventional position control system shown in FIG. 13; and

[0054] FIG. 20 is a graph showing a synchronous error in the synchronous position control apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

[0055] Preferred embodiments of a synchronous position control apparatus and method according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0056] The synchronous position control apparatus and method according to the following embodiments improve a synchronous control characteristic by inserting prefilters on input stages of respective position control means (position controllers) or position control step, and setting the characteristics of the prefilters such that transfer characteristics of combinations of the prefilters and position control means (position controllers) for respective axes to be controlled substantially coincide with each other for all the axes.

[0057] In the embodiments, “almost the same transfer characteristics” mean not only the same transfer characteristics but also slightly different transfer characteristics so long as the apparatus performance is not influenced.

[0058] When the synchronous position control apparatus or method according to each embodiment is applied to synchronous position control for the two axes of a wafer stage and reticle stage in a scanning semiconductor exposure apparatus, the present invention further comprises a coefficient multiplying means (coefficient multiplier) for multiplying a tracking position along one axis by a predetermined coefficient, a correction means (corrector) for obtaining a correction value to be added to a position command value for any axis on the basis of a synchronous error as the difference between the tracking position multiplied by the coefficient and a tracking position along the other axis, and an addition means (adder) for adding the correction value to the position command value for either axis. Accordingly, synchronous position control performance is improved.

[0059] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The first embodiment assumes that the apparatus is applied to a machine tool for performing contour control along three, X-, Y-, and Z-axes perpendicular to each other along which a mold is cut. The X-, Y-, and Z-axes are defined as the first, second, and third axes, respectively.

[0060] In FIG. 1, these axes are discriminated by reference symbols “a”, “b”, and “c” suffixed to the reference numerals of the first, second, and third axes.

[0061] In the synchronous position control apparatus according to the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a target position command value 2agenerated by a target position command value generation means (target position command value generator) 1ais converted into a converted position command value 4awhose high-frequency vibration component is cut by a command value conversion means (command value converter) 3a. The converted position command value 4ais supplied to a position control means (position controller) 5a. The second and third axes also have the same arrangement as the first axis.

[0062] In the control system with this arrangement, conversion means 3a, 3b, and 3cfor the respective axes are second-order filters having almost the same frequency characteristics and high-frequency cutoff characteristics. The position control means 5ahas a single-loop arrangement using a position control loop, like the one shown in FIG. 14. A position compensation means (position compensator) 45 in this arrangement is a PID compensator. Position control means (position controllers) 5band 5cfor the second and third axes also have the same arrangement.

[0063] In the control system of FIG. 1, the gains of the position control loops (to be referred to as position loop gains hereinafter) of the position control means 5a, 5b, and 5care 80 Hz, 90 Hz, and 100 Hz, respectively. The cutoff frequencies of the command value conversion means 3a, 3b, and 3care 5 Hz, which is much lower than the position loop gains of the position control means for the respective axes.

[0064] With these settings, responses to target command values for the respective axes are determined by responses at about 5 Hz from the high-frequency cutoff filters (conversion means 3ato 3c). Position response characteristics along the respective axes substantially coincide with each other, and a system having a high synchronous characteristic between the axes can be built.

[0065] As described above, the arrangement for one axis in a conventional synchronous position control system includes a speed control loop as shown in FIG. 13. The position loop gains of this system are set to 5 Hz for all the axes, and the gains of the speed control loops for the first, second, and third axes are set to 80 Hz, 90 Hz, and 100 Hz, respectively. With these settings, for example, the first and second axes exhibit a synchronous error as shown in FIG. 19. In the first embodiment, the first and second axes exhibit a synchronous error as shown in FIG. 20. As is apparent from FIGS. 19 and 20, the first and second axes obtain almost the same synchronous control performance.

[0066] By adopting the control system shown in FIG. 1, a synchronous position control system can be built only by inserting the conversion means on the input stages of the respective position control means without changing the characteristics of the control system in the position control system having position control means with different control characteristics. This synchronous position control system can be easily applied to various systems.

[0067] The first embodiment has exemplified a synchronous position control apparatus for three axes. For a larger number of axes, the number of arrangements for 1-axis control can be increased by a necessary number of axes to easily implement a synchronous position control apparatus for multiple axes.

[0068] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In this apparatus, prefilters are inserted on the input stages of respective position control means to make position control characteristics to target values along respective axes substantially coincide with each other and to improve the synchronous position control characteristic.

[0069] As described above, to move a plurality of axes in accordance with target position command values, response characteristics to the target values along the respective control axes must coincide with each other. For this purpose, the first embodiment improves the synchronous position control characteristic by inserting high-frequency cutoff filters (conversion means) having the same characteristics on the input stages of position control means having different response characteristics to position command values. To the contrary, the second embodiment makes the transfer characteristics of combinations of prefilters and position control means substantially consistent for all the axes.

[0070] As shown in FIG. 2, the transfer functions of position control means 5a, 5b, and 5care defined as G1, G2, and G3, respectively. The transfer functions of prefilters 7a, 7b, and 7care defined as F1, F2, and F3, respectively. The prefilters 7a, 7b, and 7care set to satisfy F1×G1=F2×G2=F3×G3. Transfer functions from target position value signals to tracking positions in the position control means 5ato 5cafter the prefilters 7ato 7ccan be made equal for all the axes.

[0071] In the second embodiment, the transfer function F1 is set to unity, and F2 and F3 are defined as F2=G1/G2 and F3=G1/G3. In principle, the axes have no synchronous position error between them. In practice, the transfer functions G1, G2, and G3 are high-order transfer functions, the coefficient of a high-order term is difficult to obtain, and the coefficient varies. The transfer functions F2 and F3 are, therefore, difficult to define in the above way. For this reason, the transfer functions F2 and F3 of the compensators 7band 7care defined by approximating these transfer functions. Even in this case, the synchronous control characteristic can be improved compared to the control system described in the first embodiment.

[0072] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment improves tracking performance to a target value by using a feedforward loop for the target value.

[0073] Changing the transfer characteristic by a prefilter as in the second embodiment complicates the transfer function of the prefilter. To the contrary, in the feedforward loop method of the third embodiment, the structure of the compensator is simple and can be easily implemented.

[0074] The operation for the first axis in the apparatus of FIG. 3 will be explained. As shown in FIG. 3, the high-frequency component of a target acceleration command value 11agenerated by a target acceleration command value generation means 10ais cut by a conversion means 3ato obtain a converted acceleration command value 12a. The converted acceleration command value 12ais integrated twice by an integral means (integrator) 15ato obtain a position command value 16a. The position command value 16ais supplied to a position control means 5a.

[0075] The converted acceleration command value 12ais converted into a feedforward signal 14aby a compensation means 13a, and the feedforward signal 14ais supplied to the position control means 5a. The position control means 5ais driven by the position command value 16aand the feedforward signal 14a. The arrangement and operation for the second and third axes are the same as those for the first axis, and a repetitive description thereof will be omitted.

[0076] The block diagram of FIG. 3 does not show feedforward processing in detail, and thus a detailed arrangement of the position control means 5afor the first axis in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG. 9. The arrangement and operation for the second and third axes are the same as those for the first axis, and a repetitive description thereof will be omitted.

[0077] As shown in FIG. 9, a positional error 20ais obtained from the difference between the position command value 16aand a tracking position 6aof a control target 22a. A position compensator 21acalculates a compensation control input 23abased on the positional error 20a. The position compensator 21ais generally a PID compensator. A control input 24aas the sum of the compensation control input 23aand the feedforward signal 14aoutput from the compensation means 13adrives the control target 22a.

[0078] The feedforward signal 14ais determined by the characteristics of the control target 22a. When the tracking position 6aperfectly follows the target position command value 16a, a characteristic Hi of the compensation means 13awhich calculates the feedforward signal 14ain the arrangement shown in FIG. 9 can be given by

[0079] H1=(1/s²)/S1  (1)

[0080] where s is the Laplacian operator, and S1 is the transfer function expressing the characteristic of the control target 22a. When the control target 22ais represented by a model as shown in FIG. 10, the characteristic H1 of the compensation means 13ais as given below.

[0081] FIG. 10 shows a control target by a simple mechanical system using a linear motor as an actuator. In FIG. 10, M represents the mass of a stage 55; Ki, the gain of a current amplifier 51; and K5, the thrust constant of a linear motor 53. The control input to this system is a current command value 50.

[0082] Substituting the characteristic of the model in FIG. 10 into equation (1) yields the characteristic of the compensation means 13ain this example:

[0083] H1=M/(Kt×Ki)  (2)

[0084] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, axes to be controlled are limited to two axes, and synchronous position control performance is improved by performing correction based on a synchronous error between the two axes.

[0085] This control is effective in a system in which the positions of two control targets desirably have a proportional relationship. In practice, this control is applied to a synchronous position control system for a wafer stage and reticle stage in a scanning semiconductor exposure apparatus or to a portal machine tool for controlling two columns by separate actuators.

[0086] The arrangement in FIG. 4 is the basic arrangement of a system using synchronous correction. The operation in this arrangement will be explained. The high-frequency vibration component of a target position command value 2agenerated by a target position generation means 1ais cut by a filter 3ato obtain a new converted position command value 4a. The position command value 4ais supplied to a first position control means 5a.

[0087] A position command value 2bgenerated by a target position value generation means 1bfor the second axis is converted into a converted position command value 4bby a conversion means 3b. A synchronous error 33 is obtained from the difference between a tracking position 6bof a second position control means 5band a position prepared by multiplying a position 6aof the first position control means by a predetermined coefficient K. A synchronous correction means (synchronous corrector) 34 receives the synchronous error 33 to output a synchronous compensation value 35. In this embodiment, the synchronous correction means 34 an integral compensator. The sum of the converted position command value 4band the synchronous compensation value 35 serves as a position command value to the second position control means 5b.

[0088] A control loop for calculating any synchronous error between two axes and compensating for the error will be called a synchronous loop. Even when a synchronous error occurs between tracking positions along the first and second axes in an arrangement having this synchronous loop, the synchronous compensator 34 can move the second axis by the error amount to maintain a synchronous relationship between the two axes.

[0089] A control system including the synchronous loop as in the fourth embodiment is most different in characteristics against disturbance from a control system having no synchronous loop as in the first to third embodiments. That is, in the arrangement of the control system having no synchronous loop, disturbance generated on each axis is suppressed by only the servo characteristic along the axis. To the contrary, the arrangement having the synchronous loop as in the fourth embodiment can reduce distribution that cannot be suppressed on the first axis, by moving the second axis using the synchronous loop.

[0090] For this reason, the arrangement having the synchronous loop attains higher synchronous position control performance than in the arrangement having no synchronous loop. The fourth embodiment uses a simple integral compensator (I compensator) as the synchronous correction means 34, but the synchronous correction means 34 can be formed from a PI compensator, PID compensator, or the like.

[0091] The fourth embodiment independently generates a target position command value for the second axis. Alternatively, as in the fifth embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 5, a converted position command value 4bfor the second axis may be obtained by multiplying a converted position command value 4afor the first axis by K by a coefficient multiplying means 32, and the target value generation means 1band conversion means 3bfor the second axis in the fourth embodiment may be omitted.

[0092] FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the sixth embodiment; it shows a synchronous position control apparatus in which a synchronous compensation loop is added to the arrangement of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

[0093] If a sufficient synchronous precision cannot be obtained by the methods of the fourth and fifth embodiments, the arrangement of the sixth embodiment in FIG. 6 can be adopted to further improve synchronous performance. In this arrangement as well as the fifth embodiment, a target command value for the second axis is calculated by multiplying a position command value for the first axis by a coefficient.

[0094] In the apparatus having a control system shown in FIG. 6, a prefilter 7ais inserted on the input stage of a position control means 5ain order to improve synchronous performance for target values along two axes, as described in the second embodiment.

[0095] The transfer functions of position control means for the first and second axes are set as G1 and G2. The transfer functions of the prefilters 7aand a prefilter 7binserted on the input stages of the position control means 5aand a second position control means 5bare set as F1 and F2. F1 and F2 are set to satisfy F1×G1−F2×G2. At this time, the tracking characteristics of the position control means 5aand 5bfor target position command values are almost the same, and no synchronous error occurs for the target positions. Since a synchronous error caused by disturbance cannot be compensated for by the prefilters 7aand 7b, the synchronous loop is effective for reducing the influence of disturbance.

[0096] FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a synchronous position control apparatus according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention. As described in the third embodiment, the method using a prefilter in the sixth embodiment complicates the structure of the prefilter, and may be difficult to implement.

[0097] In the seventh embodiment, feedforward signals 14aand 14bare generated from a target acceleration signal 11ato drive position control means 5aand 5b. This can be easily implemented. The operation of the apparatus is almost the same as those described in the third and fourth embodiments.

[0098] FIG. 11 is a side view showing a scanning exposure apparatus according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention. Although the first to seventh embodiments do not particularly limit the target, the eighth embodiment will exemplify a case in which the present invention is applied to a scanning exposure apparatus.

[0099] In the exposure apparatus, a reticle stage surface plate 71 for supporting a reticle stage 55bis integrated with a frame 94 which stands on a surface plate 92 for supporting a wafer stage 55a. Exposure light which exposes a wafer W on the wafer stage 55athrough a reticle on the reticle stage 55bis emitted by a light source 95 represented by a broken line.

[0100] The frame 94 supports the reticle stage surface plate 71, and an optical projection system 96 between the reticle stage 55band the wafer stage 55a. A stator 75 of a linear motor for accelerating/decelerating the reticle stage 55bis supported by a support frame 90 separate from the frame 94. The driving repulsion force of the motor of the reticle stage 55bmay be transferred to the wafer stage 55ato act as disturbance to the driving unit or vibrate the optical projection system 96.

[0101] In the apparatus arrangement shown in FIG. 11, the wafer stage 55ais moved by the driving unit in synchronism with the reticle stage 55b. While the reticle stage 55band wafer stage 55amove, their positions are continuously detected by laser interferometers 98 and 97, and fed back to the driving units of the reticle stage 55band wafer stage 55a. This makes it possible to accurately synchronize the scan start positions of the reticle stage 55band wafer stage 55aand control the scan speed in a constant-speed scan region with high precision.

[0102] The operation when the control system of FIG. 8, showing the seventh embodiment in more detail, is applied to this exposure apparatus will be explained. In this case, the wafer stage 55aand the reticle stage 55bundergo synchronous position control with a positional relationship corresponding to the projection magnification of the lens 96 using the optical center of the lens 96 as an origin.

[0103] Hence, a proportionality constant K in coefficient multiplying means 31 and 32 of FIG. 8 is the projection magnification of the lens, which is four in this embodiment. Both the wafer stage 55aand reticle stage 55bto be controlled have the arrangement shown in FIG. 10. Building components concerning the wafer stage 55aand reticle stage 55bare discriminated by reference symbols a and b.

[0104] As shown in FIG. 8, an acceleration command value 11ato the wafer stage 55athat is generated by a target acceleration command value generation means 10ais converted into a converted acceleration signal 12awhose high-frequency component is cut by a command value conversion means 3a. The converted acceleration command value 12ais integrated twice by the integral means 15a, and supplied as a position command value 16ato a wafer position control means 5a.

[0105] In the wafer position control means 5a, a positional error 20aas the difference between the position command value 16aand a wafer tracking position 6ameasured by the laser interferometer 97 is input to a position compensator 21a.

[0106] The converted acceleration signal 12ais converted into a feedforward signal 14aby a compensation means 13a. A control input 24aas the sum of the feedforward signal 14aand an output signal 23afrom the position compensator 21ais input to a control target 22a.

[0107] The control target 22ahas the arrangement shown in FIG. 10. More specifically, the control input 24ais input as a current command value 50 to the control target 22a. The current command value 50 is amplified into a current 52 by a current amplifier 51, and the current 52 is supplied to a linear motor 53 serving as an actuator to generate a thrust 54. The thrust 54 drives the wafer stage 55a. The tracking position 6aat this time is measured by the laser interferometer 97.

[0108] The reticle stage 55bis driven similarly to the wafer stage 55a. That is, the position command value 16ato the wafer stage 55ais multiplied by a lens projection magnification of four by the coefficient multiplying means 32, and supplied as a target position command value 16 to the reticle stage 55b.

[0109] The measured wafer tracking position 6ais multiplied by a projection magnification of four by the coefficient multiplying means 31. The difference between the wafer tracking position 6aand the measured position 6bof the reticle stage 55bis calculated to obtain a synchronous error 33. The synchronous error 33 is converted into a correction value signal 35 by a correction means 34. The target position command value 16bto the reticle stage 55bis generated from the sum of the correction value signal 35 and a value prepared by multiplying the target wafer position value 16aby four.

[0110] In a reticle position control means 5b, a positional error 20bas the difference between the position command value 16band the reticle tracking position 6bmeasured by the laser interferometer 98 is input to a position compensator 21b. The converted acceleration signal 12ais multiplied by 4 by a coefficient multiplying means 36, and converted into a feedforward signal 14bby a compensation means 13b.

[0111] A control input 24bto a control target 22bis generated from the sum of the feedforward signal 14band a compensation control input 23bas an output from a position compensator 21b. The control target 22bhas the arrangement shown in FIG. 10, similar to the wafer stage 55a.

[0112] The control input 24bis input as the current command value 50 to the control target 22b. The current command value 50 is amplified into a current 52 by the current amplifier 51, and the current 52 is supplied to the linear motor 53 serving as an actuator, thereby generating the thrust 54. The thrust 54 drives the reticle stage 55b. The reticle tracking position 6bat this time is measured by the laser interferometer 98.

[0113] The eighth embodiment has exemplified a system built using the wafer stage 55aas the first axis and the reticle stage 55bas the second axis. Even if the first and second axes are exchanged, the same system can be implemented.

[0114] As has been described above, according to the above-described embodiments, conversion means for target position command values are arranged, and their characteristics are set to almost the same high-frequency cutoff characteristics for respective axes. In addition, the cutoff frequency is set lower than the servo band in any position control means. As a result, response characteristics for target position command values substantially coincide with each other for all the axes. A synchronous position control apparatus having high synchronous performance can be easily designed and constituted.

[0115] The degree of freedom for adjusting the response characteristic for a target position command value can be increased. In simple positioning control which does not require any synchronous control, the target position command value is supplied without the mediacy of any conversion means. In this fashion, the apparatus can be easily used as a system having high positioning performance.

[0116] Prefilters are inserted on the input stages of position control means. The characteristics of the prefilters are set such that the transfer characteristics of combinations of the prefilters and the position control means for respective axes substantially coincide with each other for all the axes. The synchronous control characteristic can be further improved.

[0117] Position control performed on the basis of a feedforward signal based on a converted acceleration command value can improve tracking performance to a target value. The apparatus can be more easily constituted.

[0118] When the present invention is applied to synchronous position control for two axes, synchronous position control performance can be further improved using a synchronous loop.

[0119] As many apparently widely different embodiments of the present invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.