US Patent 7871933 Combined stepper and deposition tool

A stepper is combined with hardware that deposits a layer of material in the course of forming an integrated circuit, thus performing the deposition, patterning and cleaning without exposing the wafer to a transfer between tools and combining the function of three tools in a composite tool. The pattern-defining material is removed by the application of UV light through the mask of the stepper, thereby eliminating the bake and development steps of the prior art method. Similarly, a flood exposure of UV eliminates the cleaning steps of the prior art method.