1. A melting vessel, having an integrated contact surface formed thereon, formed from a composition consisting essentially of:
from about 25 to about 99% by weight of a binder material, said binder material consisting essentially of zirconia or a blend of alumina and zirconia;
from about 1 to about 75% by weight of a filler material;
a deflocculant; and
wherein at least about 85% of the integrated contact surface of said melting vessel consists of said binder material, said integrated contact surface being non-reactive with molten metals contained within said vessel.
2. The melting vessel of claim 1, wherein at least about 90% of the surface of said melting vessel consists of said binder material.
3. The melting vessel of claim 1, wherein at least about 95% of the surface of said melting vessel consists of said binder material.
4. The melting vessel of claim 1, wherein said binder consists essentially of a blend of alumina and zirconia.
5. The melting vessel of claim 1, wherein the binder consists essentially of zirconia.
6. The melting vessel of claim 1, wherein said binder further includes additional binders.
7. The melting vessel of claim 6, wherein said additional binder is clay.
8. The melting vessel of claim 4, wherein said binder further includes additional binders.
9. The melting vessel of claim 4, wherein said additional binder is clay.
10. The melting vessel of claim 1, wherein said filler material is selected from the group consisting of mullite, fused mullite, silica, fused silica, and mixtures thereof.
11. The melting vessel of claim 10, wherein said filler material has a mesh size from about 4 to about 325 mesh.
12. The melting vessel of claim 4, wherein said alumina has a mean particle size of from about 0.1 to about 10 microns.
13. The melting vessel of claim 1, wherein said zirconia has a mean particle size of from about 0.1 micron to about 20 microns.
14. The melting vessel of claim 4, wherein said alumina has a mean particle size of from about 0.1 to about 10 microns and said zirconia has a mean particle size of from about 0.1 micron to about 20 microns.
15. The melting vessel of claim 1, wherein said binder material includes from about 1% to about 99% by weight of either zirconia or a blend of alumina and zirconia.
16. The melting vessel of claim 1, wherein said binder material further includes from about 1 to about 10% by weight of clay.
17. A melting vessel, having an integrated contact surface formed thereon, formed from a composition consisting essentially of:
from about 60% to about 75% by weight of a binder material, said binder material consisting of alumina, zirconia, and clay;
from about 25% to about 40% by weight of a filler material, said filler material consisting of at least one of fused mullite and fused silica or a blend thereof;
from about 0.01% to about 0.3% of a deflocculant; and
wherein at least about 85% of the surface of said melting vessel consists of said binder material, said integrated contact surface being non-reactive with molten metals contained within said vessel.
18. The melting vessel of claim 17, wherein said filler material has a mesh size of from about 4 mesh to about 325 mesh.
19. The melting vessel of claim 17, wherein said alumina has a mean particle size of from about 0.1 micron to about 10 microns.
20. The melting vessel of claim 17, wherein said zirconia has a mean particle size of from about 0.1 micron to about 20 microns.
21. The melting vessel of claim 17, wherein said alumina has a mean particle size of from about 0.1 to about 10 microns and said zirconia has a mean particle size of from about 0.1 micron to about 20 microns.
22. The melting vessel of claim 17, wherein said alumina has a mean particle size of about 3 microns and said zirconia has a mean particle size of about 8 microns.
23. The melting vessel of claim 17, wherein the deflocculant consists of sodium polyacrylate.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A stage apparatus comprising:
a base;
a stage that can move on a surface of the base;
an imparting unit arranged inside the base, which has a mass body and an actuator that is fixed to the base and moves the mass body in a direction vertical to the surface, the imparting unit being configured to apply a force to the base by moving the mass body; and
a controlling unit that controls movement of the mass body in the vertical direction in the imparting unit in accordance with movement of the stage, so that a force, which is generated in the base by the movement of the stage in a rotational direction around an axis parallel to the surface, is reduced.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plane motor for driving the stage formed between the stage and the base.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controlling unit generates a drive command value of the mass body by utilizing a drive command value of the stage.
4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the controlling unit determines a thrust of the mass body in the vertical direction based on a thrust of the stage in a direction along the surface of the base, and a distance between a center of gravity of the stage and a center of gravity of the base.
5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the controlling unit generates a drive command value of the mass body by utilizing at least one selected from the current position, speed, and acceleration of the stage.
6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a gravity compensation mechanism that gives a force to the mass body in a direction opposite to the gravity.
7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imparting unit has a plurality of mass bodies and a total sum of thrusts of the plurality of mass bodies in the vertical direction is zero.
8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the base is provided so as to be movable in a direction along the surface, and the movement of the base reduces a translational force along the surface that is generated by the movement of the stage.
9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of stages provided on the base, wherein the controlling unit controls the movement of the mass body in the vertical direction in the imparting unit in accordance with the movement of the plurality of stages, so that a resultant force in a rotational direction around an axis parallel to the surface, which is generated in the base by the movement of the plurality of stages, is reduced.
10. An exposure apparatus comprising:
a light source that emits exposure light;
the stage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stage of the stage apparatus is used as a wafer stage that moves with a wafer mounted thereon;
a reticle stage for mounting a reticle; and
an optical system that forms, on a wafer on the wafer stage, an image of a reticle pattern that is mounted on the reticle stage.
11. A method of manufacturing a device, the method comprising:
a step of exposing a pattern to a substrate using the exposure apparatus according to claim 10; and
a step of developing the exposed substrate.
12. A stage apparatus comprising:
a base;
a stage that can move on a surface of the base in a first direction and a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction;
a plurality of imparting units arranged inside the base, which each have a mass body and an actuator that is fixed to the base and moves the mass body in a direction vertical to the surface, each imparting unit being configured to apply a force to the base by moving the mass body, wherein at least one imparting unit is placed in each of four areas of the base, which are obtained by dividing the base with a plane that is in the first direction and orthogonal to the surface and includes a center of gravity of the base, and a plane that is in the second direction and orthogonal to the surface and includes a center of gravity of the base; and
a controlling unit that controls the movement of each mass body in the vertical direction in accordance with the movement of the stage, so that a force, which is generated in the base by the movement of the stage in rotational directions around axes parallel to the first and second directions, is reduced, wherein the controlling unit controls the movement of each mass body, so that two imparting units placed diagonally from each other, among the four imparting units placed in four areas, impart forces to the base that have the same absolute value, but opposite directions,
wherein the two imparting units placed diagonally from each other are connected with a wire and hung from an upper location.