Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20080204692 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING MICROSTRUCTURED COMPONENTS - A method for producing microstructured components in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus is disclosed. The method includes imaging a pattern of structures into an image plane of a projection objective. The dose distribution of projection light in the image plane can be influenced so that the image of a structure is at least essentially independent of the topography of structures which lie inside a region surrounding the structure. | 08-28-2008 |
20080212061 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An illumination optical system which illuminates a plane to be illuminated using light from a light source, includes a diaphragm having an aperture of constant area and disposed on a pupil plane of the illumination optical system and an irradiation range adjustment unit configured to adjust an irradiation range of the light from the light source on the pupil plane, the irradiation range includes the aperture, wherein the irradiation range adjustment unit changes the irradiation range to adjust a quantity of illumination light on the plane to be illuminated. | 09-04-2008 |
20080218725 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR INFLUENCING THE POLARIZATION DISTRIBUTION IN AN OPTICAL SYSTEM - The disclosure relates to a device and a method for influencing the polarization distribution in an optical system, in particular in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. A device according to the disclosure includes a plurality of polarization-influencing optical elements which are arranged in a common plane in such a way that they can be moved independently of each other. | 09-11-2008 |
20080225260 | Illuminator for a lithographic apparatus and method - An illuminator for a lithographic apparatus, the illuminator including an illumination mode defining element and a plurality of polarization modifiers, the polarization modifiers being moveable into or out of partial intersection with a radiation beam having an angular and spatial distribution as governed by an illumination mode defining element. | 09-18-2008 |
20080239273 | Illumination system and polarizer for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus - An illumination system for illuminating a reticle that moves along a scanning direction in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus has an optical axis and an optical component producing an illumination angle distribution of the projection light. In accordance with the illumination angle distribution, a plurality of poles is illuminated in a pupil plane of the illumination system. The poles form an arrangement that is only mirror-symmetrical with respect to an axis that is orthogonal to the optical axis of the illumination, but neither parallel nor perpendicular to the scanning direction. | 10-02-2008 |
20080239274 | Illumination optical system, exposure apparatus, and exposure method - An illumination optical system for, when installed in an exposure system, realizing a suitable illumination condition by varying the polarized state of the illumination light according to the pattern characteristics of the mask while suppressing the loss of the intensity of the light. The illumination optical system has a light source unit for supplying a linearly polarized light for illuminating surfaces to be illuminated therewith, and a polarized state changing device for changing the polarized state of the illuminating light from a predetermined polarized state to a nonpolarized state and vice versa. The polarized state changing device is arranged in the optical path between the light source unit and the surfaces to be illuminated. The polarized state changing device can be removed from the illumination optical path and has a depolarizer for selectively depolarizing the incident linearly polarized light. | 10-02-2008 |
20080259307 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A scanning exposure apparatus which exposes a substrate is disclosed. The apparatus comprises an illumination system configured to illuminate an illumination region of an original, a projection optical system configured to project a pattern of the original onto the substrate, and a stop configured to shield a flare generating component of flare light which travels from the projection optical system to the substrate, and to pass the remaining component of the flare light. An aperture of the stop has a shape different from a shape of the illumination region, and the aperture of the stop includes a portion whose dimension in a first direction parallel to a scanning direction of the substrate changes in accordance with a distance from the center of the aperture in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. | 10-23-2008 |
20080259308 | PROJECTION OBJECTIVE FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY - A projection objective or microlithography for imaging a pattern arranged in an object plane on a substrate arranged in an image plane is disclosed. The projection objective has an arrangement of optical elements between the object plane and the image plane. The projection objective can have a first pupil plane arranged at the reticle side and at least a second pupil plane. The projection objective also includes at least one aperture diaphragm. The diaphragm aperture of which is variable and which is traversed only once by the imaging light. The at least one aperture diaphragm can be arranged within the arrangement of the optical elements at least optically close to the first pupil plane arranged at the reticle side. The projection objective further includes a pupil filter situated in immediate vicinity of the aperture diaphragm. | 10-23-2008 |
20080285003 | Linear motor driven automatic reticle blind - A reticle blind which is capable of being opened and closed at a relatively high speed and which does not cause mechanical disturbances or reaction forces. The reticle blind includes two reticle blind assemblies designed to cooperate with one another to control the passing of a laser beam of an exposure system onto a work piece, such as a semiconductor wafer or flat panel display. Each reticle blind assembly includes a linear motor having a mover and a blind configured to be positioned between a first position and a second position by the mover. Each reticle blind assembly also includes a counter mass assembly including a portion of a guide mechanism having at least one guide bar and a stator of the linear motor. The stator of the linear motor and the guide bar are integrated to form the counter mass which is configured to absorb reaction forces that are created when the blind is moved. In various embodiments, the blinds can be configured to operate in the vertical or horizontal orientation. | 11-20-2008 |
20080291422 | Light Attenuating Filter for Correcting Field Dependent Ellipticity and Uniformity - Ellipticity in an illumination beam may be corrected by measuring an ellipticity of the illumination beam and substantially eliminating the ellipticity using a light attenuating filter at a defocus position of the illumination beam, wherein the light attenuating filter has a two-dimensional pattern that compensates for ellipticity variations in the illumination beam. The light attenuating filter may stand alone, or the filter may be combined with a uniformity correction system, such that it corrects both uniformity and ellipticity. In one embodiment, the light attenuating filter is printed with an assembly of microscopic dots according to the two-dimensional pattern. | 11-27-2008 |
20080297757 | Light-Modulating Nano/Micro Scale Aperture Array Device Having Immersion Layer and High Speed Nano Scale Pattern Recording System Using the Same - An optical modulating fine aperture array device is provided. The device includes a spatial light modulation unit provided with at least one light capacity cell arranged in a shape of a matrix, wherein each of the light capacity control cells is capable of individually controlling a degree of an inputted light which passing therethrough, a micro-lens array provided with at least one micro-lens arranged in a shape of a matrix, wherein each of the micro-lenses condenses the light passing through each of the light capacity control cells, a substrate made of an optical transparent material and having a thickness substantially to a focal length of the micro-lens, wherein the micro-lens array is attached to one side of the substrate, an aperture array arranged on other side surface of the substrate and provided with at least one fine aperture, wherein each of the fine apertures discharges light passing through the substrate by condensing the light by each of the micro-lenses and an immersion thin film layer made of an optically transparent dielectric, including and formed to have a predetermined thickness from the aperture array. | 12-04-2008 |
20080304037 | Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method - A lithographic apparatus includes a support structure configured to hold a patterning device, the patterning device configured to pattern a beam of radiation according to a desired pattern, a substrate table configured to hold a substrate and a projection system configured to project the beam as patterned onto a target portion of the substrate. The lithographic apparatus further includes a polarization modifier disposed in a path of the beam. The polarization modifier comprises a material having a linear polarization. | 12-11-2008 |
20080309907 | ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION EXPOSURE INSTALLATION, AND RELATED ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE INSTALLATION - An adjusting device used to align two components of a microlithography projection exposure installation relative to each other. The adjusting device has an autocollimating device with a light source and a reflector. The light source and the reflector are each rigidly connected to one of the optical components. In one embodiment, the adjusting device has a laser light source which is different from the radiation source. A beam-splitter is downstream from the laser light source and carries useful adjustment light along a first optical path. A reflector can be rigidly connected to a reference component of an illuminating optics system or to a radiation source so that when an actual position of the reference component relative to the radiation source coincides with a desired position, the useful adjustment light is reflected back on itself. A bundle-sensitive component is sensitive to the direction and position of useful adjustment light in the optical path between bundle-sensitive component and reflector. The bundle-sensitive component can be rigidly mounted relative to the radiation source or the reflector. A light sensor is downstream from the beam-splitter in a second optical path for the useful adjustment light which is reflected back by the reflector. This results in an adjusting device which makes it possible to achieve high adjustment accuracy with relatively low construction expense. | 12-18-2008 |
20080309908 | System and Method for Providing Modified Illumination Intensity - A lithography system including a polarized illumination source, a birefringence-controllable optical element, a birefringence inducer, a pattern generator, a linear polarizer, and a projection system. The polarized illumination source is configured to provide polarized light. The birefringence-controllable optical element is optically coupled to the polarized illumination source. The birefringence inducer is coupled to the birefringence-controllable optical element and configured to induce birefringence on the birefringence-controllable optical element to provide polarization-retarded polarized light. The pattern generator is optically coupled to the birefringence-controllable optical element. The linear polarizer is optically coupled to the pattern generator and configured (i) to receive the polarization-retarded polarized light and (ii) modify intensity distribution of the polarization-retarded polarized light to provide modified polarization-retarded polarized light. The projection system is configured to project the modified polarization-retarded polarized light. | 12-18-2008 |
20080316459 | POLARIZATION-MODULATING OPTICAL ELEMENT - The invention relates to a projection system, comprising a radiation source, an illumination system operable to illuminate a structured mask, and a projection objective for projecting an image of the mask structure onto a light-sensitive substrate, wherein said projection system comprises an optical system comprising an optical axis or a preferred direction given by the direction of a light beam propagating through the optical system; the optical system comprising a temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element described by coordinates of a coordinate system, wherein one preferred coordinate of the coordinate system is parallel to the optical axis or parallel to said preferred direction; said temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element comprising a first and a second polarization-modulating optical element, the first and/or the second polarization-modulating optical element comprising solid and/or liquid optically active material and a profile of effective optical thickness, wherein the effective optical thickness varies at least as a function of one coordinate different from the preferred coordinate of the coordinate system, in addition or alternative the first and/or the second polarization-modulating optical element comprises solid and/or liquid optically active material, wherein the effective optical thickness is constant as a function of at least one coordinate different from the preferred coordinate of the coordinate system; wherein the first polarization-modulating optical element comprises optically active material with a specific rotation of opposite sign compared to the optically active material of the second polarization-modulating optical element. | 12-25-2008 |
20090002672 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS HAVING THE SAME ID BIAS - An exposure apparatus includes an exposure light source generating light to be emitted to photomask, a projection lens for projecting the light having passed through the photomask to wafer, and a transmittance adjustment filter in projection lens the transmittance adjustment filter varies the transmittance of the light projected into the projection lens as a function of position in the projection lens. | 01-01-2009 |
20090002673 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE FABRICATION METHOD - The present invention provides an exposure apparatus comprising an illumination optical system configured to illuminate a reticle with a light beam from a light source, and a projection optical system configured to project a pattern of the reticle onto a substrate, the illumination optical system including a light amount adjusting unit configured to adjust an amount of the light beam, a polarization adjusting unit configured to adjust a polarization state of the light beam, and a beam splitter configured to split the incident light beam into two light beams, wherein the light amount adjusting unit, the polarization adjusting unit, and the beam splitter are set in an order from the light source side. | 01-01-2009 |
20090002674 | OPTICAL DEVICE, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - This invention effectively limits light incidence on an adhesive material fixing an optical element. An optical device includes an optical element, a supporting member connected to the optical element through an adhesive material to support the optical element, and a light shielding film formed in an unirradiated region on the surface of the optical element to limit light incidence on the adhesive material. | 01-01-2009 |
20090002675 | POLARIZATION-MODULATING OPTICAL ELEMENT - A polarization-modulating optical element consisting of an optically active crystal material has a thickness profile where the thickness, as measured in the direction of the optical axis, varies over the area of the optical element. The polarization-modulating optical element has the effect that the plane of oscillation of a first linearly polarized light ray and the plane of oscillation of a second linearly polarized light ray are rotated, respectively, by a first angle of rotation and a second angle of rotation, with the first angle of rotation and the second angle of rotation being different from each other. | 01-01-2009 |
20090002676 | Lithographic apparatus - A lithographic apparatus including means for selectively transmitting a projection beam before imaging the patterned projection beam onto a substrate. The means may include any of the following: a selectively transmitting device disposed downstream of a patterning device in the direction of the projection beam, a fixed and a moving set of masking blades in a scanning system or an array of switchable elements. The means may be provided to a mask table/holder or to a frame or structure of the lithographic projection apparatus. | 01-01-2009 |
20090021719 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The disclosure relates to a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, as well as related components and methods. In some embodiments, a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes an illumination system and a projection objective, where the illumination system can illuminate an object plane of the projection objective and the projection objective can produce the image of the object plane on an image plane. A polarization-dependent transmission can be produced in the illumination system such that, for at least one polarization distribution in respect of the light impinging on the object plane, a non-homogeneous intensity distribution in the object plane is obtained. The non-homogeneous intensity distribution can afford a homogeneous intensity distribution in the image plane by virtue of polarization-dependent transmission properties of the projection objective. | 01-22-2009 |
20090040495 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM INCLUDING AN OPTICAL FILTER - An illumination system including an optical element, such as an optical filter, which can influence the optical properties of radiation impinging thereon is disclosed. Such a filter can have a variably adjustable absorption. The illumination system is employed for instance within a lithography apparatus. A method for the production of microelectronic components and an optical element influencing the optical properties of radiation impinging thereon are also disclosed. | 02-12-2009 |
20090040496 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE METHOD AS WELL AS A PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM FOR CARRYING OUT THE METHOD - In an exposure method for exposing a substrate which is arranged in the area of an image plane of a projection objective as well as in a projection exposure system for performing that method, output radiation directed at the substrate and having an output polarization state is produced. Through variable adjustment of the output polarization state with the aid of at least one polarization manipulation device, the output polarization state can be formed to approach a nominal output polarization state. The polarization manipulation can be performed in a control loop on the basis of polarization-optical measuring data. | 02-12-2009 |
20090040497 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS, ADJUSTING METHOD, EXPOSURE METHOD, AND DEVICE FABRICATION METHOD - The present invention provides an exposure apparatus comprising an illumination optical system configured to illuminate an original with light from a light source, a projection optical system configured to project a pattern image of the original onto a substrate, an optical integrator configured to form a pupil plane of the illumination optical system on an exit surface of the optical integrator, a first light-shielding unit and a second light-shielding unit each of which includes a plurality of light-shielding plates configured to shield certain components of the light from the light source, and a driving unit configured to drive the plurality of light-shielding plates. | 02-12-2009 |
20090040498 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus and method are provided. In some embodiments, a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a light source to generate pulsed light, an illumination device, a projection objective, and at least one photoelastic modulator between the pulsed light source and the illumination device. The illumination device is configured to illuminate an object plane of the projection objective. The projection object projects an image of an object in the object plane of the projection objective to the image plane of the projection objective. | 02-12-2009 |
20090059197 | Exposure apparatus and method of exposing a semiconductor substrate - An exposure apparatus includes a light source adapted to emit light, a photomask in a path of the light between the light source and a semiconductor substrate, the photomask being in a mask plane (MP) and having patterns to be transcribed onto the semiconductor substrate, and a spatial light modulator (SLM) in a first image correction region of the photomask between the light source and the photomask, the SLM being adapted to adjust a distribution of intensity of the light. | 03-05-2009 |
20090073413 | Write-Pattern Determination for Maskless Lithography - A method for generating a write pattern to be used in a maskless-lithography process is described. During the method, a computer system determines a one-to-one correspondence between pixels in the write pattern and at least a subset of elements in a spatial-light modulator used in the maskless-lithography process. Furthermore, the computer system generates the write pattern. Note that the write pattern includes features corresponding to at least the subset of elements in the spatial-light modulator, and the generating is in accordance with a characteristic dimension of an element in the spatial-light modulator and a target pattern that is to be printed on a semiconductor wafer during the maskless-lithography process. | 03-19-2009 |
20090073414 | Polarization-modulating element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method - There is disclosed a polarization-modulating element for modulating a polarization state of incident light into a predetermined polarization state, the polarization-modulating element being made of an optical material with optical activity and having a circumferentially varying thickness profile. | 03-19-2009 |
20090079953 | USE OF PERFLUOROALKANES IN VACUUM ULTRAVIOLET APPLICATIONS - This invention concerns liquid perfluoro-n-alkanes for use in applications demanding high transparency at UV wavelengths ranging from about 150 to 165 nm, especially 157 nm. Uses include optical couplants, optical cements, optical elements, optical inspection media for photolithography at 157 nm exposure wavelength. | 03-26-2009 |
20090086185 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An illumination optical system comprises a first polarization control unit which is located between a light source and a pupil of an illumination optical system, and a second polarization control unit which is located between the first polarization control unit and the pupil, wherein a region on the pupil includes a plurality of partial regions which are classified into a first group including a partial region having a largest area, and a second group including a partial region different from the partial region having the largest area, and the second polarization control unit controls a polarization state in the partial region which belongs to only the second group. | 04-02-2009 |
20090086186 | ILLUMINATING OPTICAL APPARATUS, EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An illumination optical apparatus is able to quickly perform switching between polarization states of illumination light in a first region and in a second region. The illumination optical apparatus of the present invention for illuminating a surface to be illuminated on the basis of light from a light source is provided with an optical integrator of a wavefront division type arranged in an optical path between the light source and the surface to be illuminated and including a plurality of wavefront division regions; and a polarization changing member for changing a polarization state of at least one beam out of a beam incident to a first region in the wavefront division regions of the optical integrator and a beam incident to a second region in the wavefront division regions of the optical integrator. | 04-02-2009 |
20090097008 | Alignment Method and Apparatus, Lithographic Apparatus, Metrology Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method - An alignment sensor includes a spatially coherent radiation source that supplies a radiation beam to an angle-resolved scatterometer. Alignment is performed by detecting beats in the scatter spectrum during scanning of the substrate relative to the scatterometer. | 04-16-2009 |
20090109418 | Wafer table for immersion lithography - Methods and apparatus allow a liquid to be substantially contained between a lens and a wafer table assembly of an immersion lithography system. According to one example, an exposure apparatus includes a lens and a wafer table assembly. The wafer table assembly has a top surface, and is arranged to support a wafer to be moved with respect to the lens as well as at least one component. The top surface of the wafer and the top surface of the component are each at substantially a same height as the top surface of the wafer table assembly. An overall top surface of the wafer table assembly which includes the top surface of the wafer, the top surface of the wafer table assembly, and the top surface of the at least one component is substantially planar. | 04-30-2009 |
20090115989 | LIGHTING OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE SYSTEM, AND EXPOSURE METHOD - There is disclosed an illumination optical apparatus which illuminates a surface to be illuminated on the basis of light from a light source, comprising, a first polarizing member arranged as rotatable around an optical axis of the illumination optical apparatus or around an axis substantially parallel to the optical axis; and a second polarizing member arranged as rotatable around the optical axis or around said axis substantially parallel thereto in an optical path between the first polarizing member and the surface to be illuminated, wherein each of the first polarizing member and the second polarizing member provides incident light with variations in a polarization state different according to respective positions of incidence. | 05-07-2009 |
20090115990 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL APPARATUS, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An illumination optical system with a simple structure reduces the effects of illumination variations caused by a spatial coherency of illumination light, while maintaining a high usage efficiency of illumination light that is emitted in pulses. The illumination optical system illuminates an irradiated plane with pulse-emitted illumination light and includes a spatial light modulator including a plurality of mirror elements each of which spatially modulates the illumination light in accordance with an incident position of the illumination light. A modulation control unit controls the mirror elements, whenever at least one pulse light is emitted, in a manner that the optical elements spatially modulate the illumination light differently from one another manner and forms substantially the same intensity distribution for the illumination light on a predetermined plane. | 05-07-2009 |
20090115991 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The disclosure relates to an illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, such as a an illumination system with which it is possible to set up an illumination angle-dependent polarisation state of the projection light incident on a mask, as well as related systems, components and methods. | 05-07-2009 |
20090122291 | PROJECTION OPTICAL SYSTEM AND IMAGE PROJECTOR - A projection optical system for projecting an image of an image display element, includes a holder for holding a lens and disposed at an image-display-element side of a stop, wherein at least a portion of an image-display-element side face of the holder or at least a portion of an image-display-element side face of a light-blocking member provided integrally with the holder at the image-display-element side of the holder, is inclined in a section including an optical axis of the lens so that a point nearer to the optical axis comes closer to the image display element. | 05-14-2009 |
20090122292 | Illumination optical apparatus and projection exposure apparatus - An illumination optical apparatus and projection exposure apparatus capable of reducing a light quantity loss when a mask is illuminated with a polarized illumination light. An illumination optical system for illuminating a reticle with an illumination light and a projection optical system for projecting the pattern image of the reticle onto a wafer are provided. An illumination light emitted from an exposure light source in a linearly polarized state in the illumination optical system passes through first and second birefringent members having different fast axis directions and is converted into a polarized state that is substantially linearly polarized in a circumferential direction with the optical axis as the center in an almost specific annular area, and them illuminates the reticle under an annular illuminating condition after passing through a fly-eye lens. | 05-14-2009 |
20090135396 | ILLUMINATING OPTICAL APPARATUS, EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An illumination optical apparatus is able to individually illuminate two regions separate from each other, under required illumination conditions. The illumination optical apparatus comprises a first illumination system to illuminate a illumination region and a second illumination region to illuminate a second illumination region. The first illumination system includes a first variable system which varies a shape or size of a light intensity distribution on an illumination pupil of the first illumination system and the second illumination system includes a second variable system which varies a shape or size of a light intensity distribution on an illumination pupil of the second illumination system. The first variable system and the second variable system vary the light intensity distribution on the illumination pupil of the first illumination system and the light intensity distribution on the illumination pupil of the second illumination system independently of each other. | 05-28-2009 |
20090135397 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, as well as related systems, methods and components are disclosed. The illumination system can include a polarization manipulator configured to variably adjust a change in the polarization state of light impinging thereon. The illumination system can also include a mirror arrangement having a plurality of mirror elements that are displaceable independently of each other to alter an angle distribution of the light reflected by the mirror arrangement. A change in the intensity distribution caused by the polarization manipulator in a plane of the projection exposure apparatus can be at least partially compensated by the mirror arrangement. | 05-28-2009 |
20090135398 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An exposure apparatus includes an illumination optical system configured to illuminate an original by a luminous flux from a light source and a projection optical system configured to project a pattern of the original onto a substrate. The illumination optical system includes a generator configured to form an effective light source as a light intensity distribution on a surface that has a Fourier transformation relationship with the original and an exposure dose adjuster arranged closer to the light source than the generator and configured to control an exposure dose on an exposure surface. The exposure dose adjuster includes a transmittance adjuster configured to discretely adjust a transmittance of the luminous flux, a zoom optical system configured to adjust a diameter of the luminous flux, and an aperture having a predetermined aperture area that defines a diameter of the luminous flux that has been adjusted by the zoom optical system. | 05-28-2009 |
20090135399 | PATTERN FORMATION METHOD, PATTERN FORMATION APPARATUS, EXPOSURE METHOD, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A drive system determines a combination of basic patterns (type of basic patterns to be generated and the number of pulses of each basic pattern) based on design data of patterns and pattern combination information stored in a memory. Then, based on the determined result, each micro mirror of a variable molding mask is individually controlled such that a plurality of basic patterns are sequentially generated according to each of the number of pulses, and each basic pattern generated by the variable molding mask is sequentially image-formed on a plate via a projection optical system. Thus, a pattern with a desired line width corresponding to the design data is formed at a desired position on the object with a good accuracy. | 05-28-2009 |
20090147233 | Beam transforming element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method with two optical elements having different thicknesses - A beam transforming element for forming a predetermined light intensity distribution on a predetermined surface on the basis of an incident beam includes a first basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a first region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam; and a second basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a second region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam, wherein the first basic element and the second basic element have their respective thicknesses different from each other along a direction of transmission of light. | 06-11-2009 |
20090147234 | Beam transforming element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method with two optical elements having different thicknesses - A beam transforming element for forming a predetermined light intensity distribution on a predetermined surface on the basis of an incident beam includes a first basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a first region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam; and a second basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a second region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam, wherein the first basic element and the second basic element have their respective thicknesses different from each other along a direction of transmission of light. | 06-11-2009 |
20090147235 | Beam transforming element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method with two optical elements having different thicknesses - A beam transforming element for forming a predetermined light intensity distribution on a predetermined surface on the basis of an incident beam includes a first basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a first region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam; and a second basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a second region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam, wherein the first basic element and the second basic element have their respective thicknesses different from each other along a direction of transmission of light. | 06-11-2009 |
20090168040 | DIFFRACTIVE OPTICAL DEVICE, AND ALIGNER COMPRISING THAT DEVICE - The invention relates to a pupil filter used for the illumination optical system of a semiconductor aligner or the like that can prevent a decrease in the quantity of light having transmitted through it, enhance the efficiency of semiconductor exposure, reduce loads of correction by the optical proximity effect and yield a stable yet high-resolution optical image without engendering size fluctuations of a pattern imaged on a wafer depending on a mask pattern pitch. Specifically, the invention provides a diffractive optical device for the formation of a pupil filter used for the illumination optical system of an aligner adapted to direct light emanating from a light source to a mask via an illumination optical system and project a pattern on the mask onto an alignment substrate and exposing it to light via a projection optical system. The pupil filter formed by the diffractive optical device is a dipole pupil comprising two light transmissive areas ( | 07-02-2009 |
20090168041 | PROJECTION APPARATUS - A projection apparatus including an image display element for modulating illumination light, an illumination optical system for irradiating the illumination light onto the image display element, a projection optical system for projecting the modulated light by the image display element onto a projection surface, and an optical system changing section for changing the illumination optical system, wherein the illumination optical system includes a light source, a condensing optical system, a rod integrator and an illumination relay optical system wherein the projection optical system includes a projection variable-aperture diaphragm whose aperture diameter can be adjusted, and wherein the optical system changing section changes, when the aperture diameter of the projection variable-aperture diaphragm is made smaller, the illumination optical system such that an amount of light passing through the projection variable-aperture diaphragm with that aperture diameter increases. | 07-02-2009 |
20090174877 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A lithographic projection system has an illumination system with a polarization member. A plurality of directing elements reflect different sub-beams of an incident beam into adjustable, individually controllable directions. By means of re-directing optics any desired polarized spatial intensity distribution of the beam can be produced in its cross-sectional plane. | 07-09-2009 |
20090180094 | LIGHT INTENSITY DISTRIBUTION MEASUREMENT APPARATUS AND MEASUREMENT METHOD, AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A measurement apparatus which illuminates a pattern inserted on the object plane of an optical system, and measures a light intensity distribution corresponding to the pattern formed on the image plane of the optical system includes a sensor. The sensor includes a light-shielding member having a slit and a plurality of light-receiving units, wherein the light-shielding member is inserted on the image plane of the optical system and rotates and scans, and the plurality of light-receiving units receive light transmitted through the slit. The measurement apparatus controls rotation of the light-shielding member, on the basis of the positional relationship between the plurality of light-receiving units, and the phase differences between the signals detected by the plurality of light-receiving units arising from the scan of the light-shielding member. | 07-16-2009 |
20090185155 | LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM WITH ILLUMINATION MONITOR - A lithographic system including a light source configured to provide a light beam, a mask stage configured to hold a mask having a mask pattern, a wafer stage having a surface configured to hold a wafer having a plurality of dies, and an illumination monitor having a receiver disposed at the surface of the wafer stage and a polarimeter. A projection system is configured to shape and direct the light beam via the mask pattern to form an exposure beam and to individually expose each die with the exposure beam, and is configured to shape and direct the light beam to form a monitor beam and to expose the receiver with the monitor beam. The receiver is configured to communicate the monitor beam to the polarimeter which, based on the monitor beam, is configured to provide an illumination signal representative of properties of the light beam as it passes through the lithographic system. | 07-23-2009 |
20090185156 | Exposure method and apparatus, and method for fabricating device with light amount distribution having light larger in first and second pairs of areas - An exposure method and apparatus simultaneously transfer patterns with various pitches with high-resolution. On the pupil surface of an illumination system, at least first and second pairs of areas are set. The distribution of intensity of light over the pupil surface is set so that the intensities of light of the second pair of areas is smaller than that of the first pair of areas. | 07-23-2009 |
20090195766 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OR PROJECTION OBJECTIVE OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The disclosure relates to an optical system, such as an illumination system or a projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, including such an optical system having a polarization-influencing optical arrangement which permits enhanced flexibility in affording a desired polarization distribution. | 08-06-2009 |
20090201482 | Exposure Method and Apparatus - A photosensitive material (for example, a glass substrate coated with a photoresist) is exposed to light in a predetermined pattern by illuminating the photosensitive material with exposure light by an exposure head which emits light that has been modulated by a spatial light modulation device. The exposure head and the photosensitive material are moved in a sub-scan direction at least twice for each photosensitive material. The operation of the spatial light modulation device is controlled in each of sub-scan movements to form an exposed area, of which the exposure amount is at least at two different levels, in the photosensitive material. | 08-13-2009 |
20090201483 | Polarization Control Apparatus and Method - Apparatus and methods are used to control a polarization state of a radiation beam. A polarization control unit is configured to modulate a polarization state of at least a part of a radiation beam. A determination arrangement is configured to subsequently determine the polarization state of the at least a part of the radiation beam. A feedback unit is configured to provide signals to the polarization control arrangement based on at least the determined polarization state in order to correct for deviation in the polarization state of the part of the radiation beam from a desired polarization state. For example, the correction may ensure that the polarization state of the part of the radiation beam is at, or returns to, the desired polarization state. | 08-13-2009 |
20090207398 | Near Field Exposure That Reduces Scatter of a Surface Plasmon Polariton Wave Going Around a Light Blocking Member - An exposure mask in which exposure of an exposure object is carried out on the basis of near field light leaking from a plurality of openings provided in a light blocking member in a mutually adjoining relation, in which the spacing between adjacent openings is not greater than the wavelength of light used for the exposure, and an end portion of the opening at the exposure object side has a structure effective to reduce scatter of a surface plasmon polariton wave going around to the exposure object side of the light blocking member. | 08-20-2009 |
20090213354 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROJECTION PRINTING - A method, apparatus for and a device manufactured by the same, for printing a microlithographic pattern with high fidelity and resolution using simultaneously optimized illuminator and pupil filters having semi-continuous transmission profiles. The optimization can be further improved if the illuminator and pupil filters are polarization selective. The optimization method becomes a linear programming problem and uses a set of relevant features in the merit function. With a suitably chosen merit function and a representative feature set both neutral printing without long-range proximity effects and good resolution of small features can be achieved. With only short-range proximity effects OPC correction is simple and can be done in real time using a perturbation method. | 08-27-2009 |
20090213355 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS USING THE SAME AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An illumination optical system includes a pair of fly-eye mirrors configured to receive light from a light source, a first condenser configured to condense light from the pair of fly-eye mirrors, a reflection type integrator configured to receive light from the first condenser, the reflection type integrator including a plurality of cylindrical reflective surfaces having parallel generating line directions, an aperture stop arranged perpendicular to the generating line direction, and a second condenser configured to superpose on an illuminated surface luminous fluxes from a plurality of cylindrical reflective surfaces of the reflection type integrator. | 08-27-2009 |
20090213356 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes an EUV light source which generates an emission beam of linearly polarized EUV illumination light. An illumination optics guides the emission beam along an optical axis which causes an illumination field in a reticle plane to be illuminated by the emission beam. The illumination system also includes an illumination subunit of the illumination system. The illumination subunit includes at least the EUV light source and a polarization setting device for setting a defined polarization of the EUV emission beam of the illumination subunit. | 08-27-2009 |
20090219502 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING DEVICE - An exposure apparatus includes a light dividing surface which reflects a certain component of the light beam bifurcated by an illumination optical system, and transmits the remaining component of the light beam, a first photoelectric conversion element which detects the light beam transmitted through the light dividing surface, a second photoelectric conversion element which detects the light beam reflected by the light dividing surface, and a controller which controls the light beam which becomes incident on the substrate, using the outputs from the first photoelectric conversion element and the second photoelectric conversion element while the light emitted by a light source is in a first polarization state, and the outputs from the first photoelectric conversion element and the second photoelectric conversion element while the light emitted by the light source is in a second polarization state. | 09-03-2009 |
20090251676 | Exposure apparatus and exposure method - An exposure image is accurately projected. An exposure apparatus includes a light source for emitting exposure light, a DMD, which includes a plurality of two-dimensionally-arranged pixel portions, and a telecentric optical system for collimating principal rays of the exposure light. The telecentric optical system is positioned in an optical path of the exposure light that enters the DMD. The DMD performs, based on an image signal, spatial light modulation on exposure light, which has been emitted from the light source, and that has entered the plurality of pixel portions, for each of the plurality of pixel portions. | 10-08-2009 |
20090251677 | ILLUMINATING OPTICAL UNIT AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY - A projection exposure apparatus for microlithography has an illumination system with an EUV light source and an illumination optical unit to expose an object field in an object plane. A projection optical unit images the object field into an image field in an image plane. A pupil facet mirror in a plane of the illumination optical unit that coincides with a pupil plane of the projection optical unit or that is optically conjugate with respect thereto has a plurality of individual facets on which illumination light can impinge. A correction diaphragm is in or adjacent to a pupil plane of the projection optical unit or in a conjugate plane with respect thereto. The correction diaphragm screens the illumination of the entrance pupil of the projection optical unit so that at least some source images assigned to the individual facets of the pupil facet mirror in the entrance pupil of the projection optical unit are partly shaded by one and the same diaphragm edge. The form of the diaphragm edge is predefined for the partial shading of the source images assigned to the pupil facets in the entrance pupil of the projection optical unit for the correction of the telecentricity and the ellipticity of the illumination. | 10-08-2009 |
20090257041 | Illuminator for a Photolithography Device - The invention relates to an illuminator for a photolithography device. The invention comprises: a source ( | 10-15-2009 |
20090257042 | Exposure apparatus and electronic device manufacturing method - An exposure apparatus including a field stop is provided. The exposure apparatus includes an illumination optical system that guides light from a light source to a pattern forming section, a projection optical system that projects, onto an exposed surface, a pattern image formed by the pattern forming section with light from the illumination optical system, a driving section that moves, in a scanning direction, a substrate arranged on the exposed surface, and a block section that is disposed between the projection optical system and the exposed surface, where the block section has a scanning window that determines a width, in the scanning direction, of an exposure region exposed to light projected by the projection optical system. | 10-15-2009 |
20090257043 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD, AND EXPOSURE OPTICAL SYSTEM - An illumination optical system to illuminate an illumination target surface with light from a light source comprises a distribution forming optical system including an optical integrator and forming a pupil intensity distribution on an illumination pupil located behind the optical integrator; and a transmission filter with a transmittance characteristic varying depending upon an angle of incidence of light, which is arranged in an illumination pupil space between an optical element with a power adjacent in front of the illumination pupil and an optical element with a power adjacent behind the illumination pupil and which is arranged at a position of incidence of light to pass through only a partial region of the illumination pupil or light having passed through only a partial region of the illumination pupil. | 10-15-2009 |
20090257044 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A lithographic apparatus and method for simultaneously exposing two patterning devices onto a substrate is disclosed. In an embodiment, a lithographic apparatus includes a plurality of illumination systems for receiving and conditioning a pulsed radiation beam, a beam director arranged between a source of the pulsed radiation and the illumination systems for alternately directing pulses of the radiation beam to the respective illumination systems, a support table for holding a plurality of patterning devices, each of the patterning devices being capable of imparting a respective conditioned radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a plurality of patterned radiation beams, and a projection system configured to project each of the plurality of patterned radiation beams coincidentally onto a target portion of a substrate. In an embodiment, the substrate is covered with a phase change material. | 10-15-2009 |
20090268187 | EXPOSURE SYSTEM - An exposure system includes a light source for generating an exposure light, a mask, a lens system, and a bandwidth-filtering module for narrowing bandwidth of the exposure light. The mask, the lens system and the bandwidth-filtering module are sequentially disposed on a light path of the exposure light. | 10-29-2009 |
20090268188 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An exposure apparatus includes an illumination optical system. The illumination optical system includes a first member configured to define an illuminated region of a reflective mask having a pattern to be projected onto a substrate; a second member configured to define an illuminated region in which a measurement pattern used in measuring wavefront aberration of a projection optical system is illuminated, the second member being able to be inserted into and removed from an optical path of the illumination optical system; and a condensing mirror configured to condense light from the first member on the pattern to be projected onto the substrate and light from the second member on the measurement pattern. The illuminated region defined by the second member is smaller than the illuminated region defined by the first member. | 10-29-2009 |
20090268189 | MASKS, LITHOGRAPHY DEVICE AND SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENT - One problem of projection optics concerns pupil apodization which leads to imaging defects. As here proposed, the illumination system is configured to illuminate the mask inhomogeneously. As a result, inhomogeneities in reflectivity caused by the mask itself are at least partly counteracted. This compensation not only makes the apodization over the pupil become more symmetric but also makes the intensity variation smaller overall. | 10-29-2009 |
20090279066 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND METHOD - A lithographic apparatus is disclosed that includes an illumination system configured to condition a beam of radiation, the illumination system having a Pockels cell arranged to control the polarization of the radiation beam, and an array of individually controllable reflective elements arranged to control the pupil plane distribution of the radiation beam. | 11-12-2009 |
20090284727 | Illumination optical system, exposure apparatus, device manufacturing method, compensation filter, and exposure optical system - An illumination optical system is one for illuminating a surface to be illuminated with light from a light source, which has a distribution forming optical system including an optical integrator and forming a pupil intensity distribution on an illumination pupil located behind the optical integrator, and an optical attenuator arranged on a predetermined surface in an optical path behind the optical integrator and having an attenuation characteristic of varying an attenuation rate depending upon an angle of incidence to the predetermined surface. | 11-19-2009 |
20090284728 | DICHROIC MIRROR, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A DICHROIC MIRROR, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THEREFOR - A dichroic mirror configured to separate a first type of radiation in a first wavelength range having an upper boundary from a second type of radiation in a second wavelength range having a lower boundary greater than the upper boundary of the first wavelength. The mirror includes a substrate, and a stack having a reflective surface facing away from the substrate and a width that increases stepwise in a direction towards the substrate. The stack is formed by alternating layers of first and second materials on the substrate. The reflective surface has steps with a width greater than the upper boundary of the first wavelength and less than the lower boundary of the second wavelength. | 11-19-2009 |
20090284729 | Illumination optical apparatus and projection exposure apparatus - An illumination optical apparatus and projection exposure apparatus capable of reducing a light quantity loss when a mask is illuminated with a polarized illumination light. An illumination optical system for illuminating a reticle with an illumination light and a projection optical system for projecting the pattern image of the reticle onto a wafer are provided. An illumination light emitted from an exposure light source in a linearly polarized state in the illumination optical system passes through first and second birefringent members having different fast axis directions and is converted into a polarized state that is substantially linearly polarized in a circumferential direction with the optical axis as the center in an almost specific annular area, and them illuminates the reticle under an annular illuminating condition after passing through a fly-eye lens. | 11-19-2009 |
20090296064 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM FOR SIZING FOCUSED SPOTS OF A PATTERNING SYSTEM FOR MASKLESS LITHOGRAPHY - An optical system for producing a pattern of focused spots, such as a maskless lithographic projection system, includes an illuminator, a pattern generator, and an imager. The illuminator includes a light source for generating a light beam, a homogenizer for evenly dispersing light within the light beam, and a condenser for coupling the light source to the homogenizer. The pattern generator has individually addressable elements illuminated by the light beam from the illuminator. The imager images the addressable elements of the pattern generator onto corresponding focusing elements for forming focused spots that are conjugate to aperture stops in both the imager and the illuminator. The illuminator underfills the imager aperture stop for reducing the size of the focused spots. The condenser underfills the illuminator aperture stop for further controlling the size and shape of the focused spots. | 12-03-2009 |
20090296065 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND A METHOD OF OPERATING THE APPARATUS - A lithographic projection apparatus is disclosed that includes a table, a shutter member, a fluid handling structure, and a fluid extraction system. The fluid handling structure may be configured to supply and confine liquid between a projection system and (i) a substrate, or (ii) the table, or (iii) a surface of the shutter member, or (iv) a combination selected from (i)-(iii). The surface of the shutter member may adjoin and be co-planar with a surface of the table. The surfaces of the shutter member and the table may be spaced apart by a gap. The fluid extraction system may be configured to remove liquid from the gap. | 12-03-2009 |
20090296066 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEPOLARIZER - The disclosure relates to an exposure system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus that includes a light source which produces substantially linearly polarised light which is propagated along a light propagation direction. The system also includes a light mixing system and an effectively depolarising system which is arranged upstream of the light mixing system in the light propagation direction. The effectively depolarising system causes a variation in the polarisation direction over the light beam cross-section such that the light mixing effected by the light mixing system substantially produces light without a polarisation preferred direction in an illumination plane, wherein the effectively depolarising system has at least one element of optically active crystal material with at least one portion extending substantially wedge-shaped in the light propagation direction, wherein the optical crystal axis is substantially parallel to the light propagation direction. The disclosure also provides a depolarizer which can be used in an illumination system. | 12-03-2009 |
20090316132 | Polarization-modulating element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method - There is disclosed a polarization-modulating element for modulating a polarization state of incident light into a predetermined polarization state, the polarization-modulating element being made of an optical material with optical activity and having a circumferentially varying thickness profile. | 12-24-2009 |
20090323041 | Beam transforming element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method with two optical elements having different thicknesses - A beam transforming element for forming a predetermined light intensity distribution on a predetermined surface on the basis of an incident beam includes a first basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a first region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam; and a second basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a second region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam, wherein the first basic element and the second basic element have their respective thicknesses different from each other along a direction of transmission of light. | 12-31-2009 |
20090323042 | OPTICAL SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An optical system, such as an illumination device or a projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, is disclosed. The optical system can include a polarization compensator which has at least one polarization-modifying partial element. The optical system can also include a manipulator by which the position of the at least one partial element can be altered. At least one operating mode of the optical system can be set in which the intensity, over a region which belongs to a plane perpendicular to the optical axis and which can be illuminated with light from the light source, does not exceed 20% of the maximum intensity in the plane, and the manipulator is arranged in the region. | 12-31-2009 |
20090323043 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus can include at least one transmission filter which has a different transmittance at least at two positions and which is arranged between a pupil plane and a field plane). The transmittance distribution can be determined such that it has field dependent correcting effects on the ellipticity. In some embodiments the telecentricity and/or the irradiance uniformity is not affected by this correction. | 12-31-2009 |
20090323044 | CATOPTRIC ILLUMINATION SYSTEM FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY TOOL - In general, in one aspect, the invention features a system that includes an illumination system of a microlithography tool, the illumination system including a first component having a plurality of elements. During operation of the system, the elements direct radiation from a source along an optical path to an arc-shaped object field at an object plane of a projection objective, and at least one of the elements has a curved shape that is different from the arc-shape of the object field. | 12-31-2009 |
20100002220 | LIGHT SHIELDING UNIT, VARIABLE SLIT APPARATUS, AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A light shielding unit, which shields a part of an exposure light with a light shielding member, includes a sensor which detects displacement of the light shielding member, a driving device which drives the light shielding member based on a detection result obtained by the sensor, a case which accommodates the sensor and the driving device, and a bellows mechanism which gas-seals the case with respect to the light shielding member. When the illumination area of the illumination light is defined, it is possible to mitigate the influence of the foreign matters and/or the heat generated from the driving mechanism. | 01-07-2010 |
20100020303 | DEVICE, METHOD, AND SYSTEM FOR MEASURING IMAGE PROFILES PRODUCED BY AN OPTICAL LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM - Measuring an aerial image with an aerial image measuring device having a light detector and a light blocking layer for separating polarization components of light incident thereon. The light blocking layer has first and second apertures structured differently from each other, wherein the different structures transmit at least one of the polarization components differently. The detector provides separate samples for light transmitted through the first and second apertures. Separate image profiles for each polarization component of the aerial image are generated using the samples provided by the detector. Image recovery for each of the generated image profiles is performed to generate estimated image profiles for each polarization component of the aerial image that exclude the effects of transmission through the first and second apertures of the aerial image measuring device. | 01-28-2010 |
20100020304 | Spectral Purity Filters for Use in a Lithographic Apparatus - According to an aspect of the present invention, a spectral purity filter includes an aperture, the aperture being arranged to diffract a first wavelength of radiation and to allow at least a portion of a second wavelength of radiation to be transmitted through the aperture, the second wavelength of radiation being shorter than the first wavelength of radiation, wherein the aperture has a diameter greater than 20 μm. | 01-28-2010 |
20100026979 | ACTIVE SPOT ARRAY LITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTOR SYSTEM WITH REGULATED SPOTS - An active spot array projection system particularly for microlithographic projection includes a spatial light modulator, such as a digital micromirror device, having individually addressable elements. A focusing array, such as a microlens array, focuses elements transverse segments of the light beam into spots. Within an imaging optic between the spatial light modulator and the focusing array, an spatial frequency filter attenuates certain spatial frequencies of light arising from the irregularities of the individually addressable elements while avoiding attenuating higher spatial frequencies of light arising from the peripheral boundaries of the individually addressable elements for regulating light distributions of the spots while limiting crosstalk between adjacent spots. | 02-04-2010 |
20100033703 | MIXED POLARIZATION STATE MONITORING - Mixed polarization state monitoring is presented. One method may include selecting a set of total dose values, and for each total dose value: exposing a location on a photoresist using illumination having an x-polarization value with an x-exposure dose ratio value of the total dose value, exposing the location on the photoresist using illumination having a y-polarization value with a y-exposure dose ratio value of the total dose value, and repeating the x-polarization value exposing and the y-polarization value exposing to achieve a range of mixed polarization states and a plurality of dose ratio values that range over extremes for the x-polarization exposure and the y-polarization exposure, each repeating occurring at a different location on the photoresist; and monitoring which mixed polarization states causes a change in an image printed at the different locations in the photoresist. | 02-11-2010 |
20100033704 | DEFORMABLE MIRROR, MIRROR APPARATUS, AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A mirror apparatus includes a plurality of holes which are divided by partition wall portions on a back surface of a mirror, a plurality of thin film piezoelectric elements which are fixed to bottom surfaces of the plurality of holes respectively, a radiation temperature-regulating plate which has a plurality of projections inserted into the holes, and a mirror control system which individually controls voltages to be applied to the plurality of thin film piezoelectric elements to deform the mirror. The mirror can be efficiently deformed and/or cooled from the side of the back surface without transmitting any vibration to the mirror. | 02-11-2010 |
20100039635 | Filter Device Disposed in Reticle Library of Lithography System - A filter device disposed in the reticle library of a lithography system, the lithography system comprising: a light emitting unit for providing a light source, a reticle library disposed with a plurality of reticles, a reticle stage disposed with a fastener for fastening the reticle, a substrate stage disposed with a fastener for fastening the substrate, and a lens module for focusing the light source provided by the light emitting unit and transferring the emitted part of the reticle on the reticle stage to the substrate; the filter device being composed of a bottom base, a top cover, and a chemical absorbent layer, wherein the filter device and the reticle in the lithography system have equal size and are aligned next to each other on support shelves in the reticle library. Thus, the filter device can effectively filter the airborne molecular contaminants (AMC) surrounding the reticle. | 02-18-2010 |
20100039636 | ILLUMINATION OPTICS FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - Illumination optics for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus is used for illumination of an object field in the object plane with illumination light of a radiation source. The illumination optics has an optical beam influencing element which is divided into at least two beam influencing regions in order to generate various illumination modes for the object field which are independent of a light attenuation. The optical beam influencing element is displaceable between a first beam influencing position where a first one of the beam influencing regions is exposed to a bundle of the illumination light, and at least another beam influencing position where another one of the beam influencing regions is exposed to the bundle of the illumination light. Each of the beam influencing regions has a surface which is exposable to illumination light and has a long and a short side length, with the optical beam influencing element being displaceable perpendicular to the long side length. The result is an illumination optics which allows rapid switching between various illumination settings, preferably within fractions of a second and substantially without light loss. | 02-18-2010 |
20100045956 | Lithographic Apparatus, Method for Determining at Least One Polarization Property Thereof, Polarization Analyzer and Polarization Sensor Thereof - A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam; a polarization sensor configured at least in part to couple to a reticle stage, wherein components of the reticle polarization sensor can be loaded and unloaded in the lithographic apparatus in the manner used for conventional reticles. In one configuration an active reticle tool includes a rotatable retarder configured to vary the retardation applied to polarized light received from a field point in the illumination system. In another configuration, a passive reticle tool is configured as an array of polarization sensor modules, where the amount of retardation applied to received light by fixed retarders varies according to position of the polarization sensor module. Accordingly, a plurality of retardation conditions for light received at a given field point can be measured, wherein a complete determination of a polarization state of the light at the given field point can be determined. In another configuration, the polarization sensor is configured to measure the effect of a projection lens on a polarization state of light passing through the projection lens. | 02-25-2010 |
20100045957 | POLARIZATION-MODULATING OPTICAL ELEMENT - The invention relates to a projection system, comprising a radiation source, an illumination system operable to illuminate a structured mask, and a projection objective for projecting an image of the mask structure onto a light-sensitive substrate, wherein said projection system comprises an optical system comprising an optical axis or a preferred direction given by the direction of a light beam propagating through the optical system; the optical system comprising a temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element described by coordinates of a coordinate system, wherein one preferred coordinate of the coordinate system is parallel to the optical axis or parallel to said preferred direction; said temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element comprising a first and a second polarization-modulating optical element, the first and/or the second polarization-modulating optical element comprising solid and/or liquid optically active material and a profile of effective optical thickness, wherein the effective optical thickness varies at least as a function of one coordinate different from the preferred coordinate of the coordinate system, in addition or alternative the first and/or the second polarization-modulating optical element comprises solid and/or liquid optically active material, wherein the effective optical thickness is constant as a function of at least one coordinate different from the preferred coordinate of the coordinate system; wherein the first polarization-modulating optical element comprises optically active material with a specific rotation of opposite sign compared to the optically active material of the second polarization-modulating optical element. | 02-25-2010 |
20100045958 | LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM - A maskless lithography system for transferring a pattern onto the surface of a target. At least one beam generator for generating a plurality of beamlets. A plurality of modulators modulate the magnitude of a beamlet, and a control unit controls of the modulators. The control unit generates and delivers pattern data to the modulators for controlling the magnitude of each individual beamlet. The control unit includes at least one data storage for storing the pattern data, at least one readout unit for reading out the data from the data storage, at least one data converter for converting the data that is read out from the data storage into at least one modulated light beam, and at least one optical transmitter for transmitting the at least one modulated light beam to the modulation modulators. | 02-25-2010 |
20100053584 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination optical system includes first and second reflection integrators. The second reflection integrator forms a plurality of linear light sources using light from the first reflection integrator. The illumination optical system further includes a pair of flat plane mirrors that are arranged parallel to the meridional line direction on the second reflection integrator and opposite to each other so as to sandwich the plurality of linear light sources in between, a unit for changing an aperture shape of an aperture stop arranged at an exit side of the second reflection integrator in a direction perpendicular to the meridional line direction so that the aperture stop has an optical Fourier transformation relationship with the surface to be illuminated, and an adjustment unit configured to adjust an interval between the pair of flat plane mirrors as the aperture shape of the aperture stop is changed. | 03-04-2010 |
20100060876 | Light generating apparatus and method of controlling the same - A light beam generating apparatus and method of controlling the same is provided. The light beam generating apparatus may include a light source, a beam expander collimating a light beam emitted from the light source, an optical shutter selectively transmitting a light beam transmitted through the beam expander, and a focusing lens focusing a light beam transmitted the optical shutter. The optical shutter in the light generating apparatus can selectively transmit a light beam based on on/off control of the optical shutter on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This may permit one-dimensional, two-dimensional and three-dimensional nano patterns having various periods and directions to be manufactured. | 03-11-2010 |
20100066990 | IMAGING DEVICE WITH EXCHANGEABLE DIAPHRAGMS AND METHOD THEREFOR - The disclosure concerns a method for exchangeable introduction and/or exchange of diaphragms in an imaging device, such as an EUV projection exposure system for microlithography or a corresponding imaging device with a housing and at least one diaphragm, which is accommodated exchangeably in the housing and at least one transfer device with at least one receptacle, on or at which the diaphragm can be detachably arranged in order that it may be moved in or out of the objective space. At least one receptacle of the transfer device, on or at which the diaphragm can be detachably arranged, is an element of the diaphragm mount for positioning the diaphragm in the housing. | 03-18-2010 |
20100066991 | Passivation of Multi-Layer Mirror for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography - A reflector structure suitable for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is provided. The structure comprises a substrate having a multi-layer reflector. A capping layer is formed over the multi-layer reflector to prevent oxidation. In an embodiment, the capping layer is formed of an inert oxide, such as Al | 03-18-2010 |
20100079740 | IMAGE FORMING DEVICE PROVIDED WITH SENSOR - An image forming device has a conveying member, a light source, a photo-sensor, a shutter member, a shutter driving unit, a reflecting member and a judging member. The shutter member located between the photo-sensor and the conveying member is moved between a close position and an open position. The reflecting member provided on shutter member reflects light emitted by the light source when the shutter member entirely or partially shields the light emitted by the light source and directed toward the conveying member, and an intensity of light reflected by the reflecting member and detected by the photo-sensor varying depending on a position of the shutter member. The judging member judges whether the shutter member is located at the close position or the open position and whether the conveying member is present or absent based on the intensity of the light detected by the photo-sensor. | 04-01-2010 |
20100079741 | PROJECTION OBJECTIVE FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY - A projection objective for use in microlithography, a microlithography projection exposure apparatus with a projection objective, a microlithographic manufacturing method for microstructured components, and a component manufactured under the manufacturing method are disclosed. | 04-01-2010 |
20100085551 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam; a support constructed to support a patterning device, the patterning device being capable of imparting the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam; a mirror block provided with a substrate table constructed to hold a substrate; and a projection system configured to project the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate, wherein the mirror block is constructed and arranged to reduce slip between the mirror block and the substrate table. Slip can occur if the acceleration of the mirror block is high and the substrate table slips locally with respect to the mirror block. Slip may lead to exposure errors since the position of the substrate is no longer determined with the desired accuracy. | 04-08-2010 |
20100097594 | APPARATUS FOR FABRICATING AND OPTICALLY DETECTING BIOCHIP - An apparatus for fabricating a biochip is provided. The apparatus includes a reaction chamber which encapsulates the biochip to be sealed form an external environment. The apparatus further includes an exposure system which has a light source and a spatial light modulator. The spatial light modulator receives light from the light source and forms an optical image utilizing the light. The optical image is received by the biochip. The apparatus further includes a detection system which detects light proceeding form the biochip. | 04-22-2010 |
20100103398 | OPTICAL INTEGRATOR, ILLUMINATING OPTICAL DEVICE, EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An optical integrator has a plurality of wavefront dividing elements two-dimensionally arrayed, and is so configured that a ray group obliquely incident to an optical-axis center of an entrance face of each wavefront dividing element is emitted in parallel with the optical axis from the wavefront dividing element. In each of a required number of wavefront dividing elements out of the plurality of wavefront dividing elements, at least one curved optical face of the wavefront dividing element is formed as inclined around an axis along a predetermined direction passing an optical-axis center of an entrance face of the wavefront dividing element and being perpendicular to the optical axis AXe. | 04-29-2010 |
20100103399 | Fluid Assisted Gas Gauge Proximity Sensor - A fluid assisted gas gauge coupled to a pressure sensor enables proximity measurements to be made with a high bandwidth. A two-chamber gas gauge, containing a gas-filled measurement chamber and a fluid-filled transfer chamber and a diaphragm separating the two chambers, exhausts gas onto the surface being measured, while the incompressible fluid transmits the pressure to a pressure sensor. By minimizing the gas volume of the gas gauge, the response time is enhanced. In addition, the incompressible fluid permits the pressure sensor to be remotely located from the point of measurement without sacrificing the response time performance. In an embodiment, a differential bridge version of the fluid assisted gas gauge reduces common mode effects. | 04-29-2010 |
20100103400 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises a pupil surface and an arrangement of individually drivable beam deviating elements. Each beam deviating element is configured to direct light impinging thereon onto different positions on the pupil surface in response to a control signal applied to the beam deviating element. According to the disclosure an attenuation unit is provided which is configured to reduce the intensity of light, which is directed by any arbitrary beam deviating element (onto the pupil surface, by more than 50%. This makes it possible to reduce the intensity of light in the pupil surface that has been reflected by defective beam deviating elements. | 04-29-2010 |
20100103401 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR FORMING POLY-SILICON FILM - A method and a device for forming a poly-silicon film, using sequential lateral solidification (SLS) by laser irradiation through an optical device to pattern the laser beam so as to lengthen the crystalline grains and enhance the throughput. The optical device comprises a plurality of first transparent regions, a plurality of second transparent regions and a plurality of final transparent regions. The plurality of second transparent regions are disposed between the plurality of first transparent regions and the plurality of final transparent regions. The first transparent regions and the second transparent regions have a first width W | 04-29-2010 |
20100110407 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination optical system includes a diffractive optical element configured to convert a light intensity distribution, an optical integrator configured to uniformly illuminate a surface to be illuminated using light that has passed the diffractive optical element, a light shield member arranged at or near a Fourier transform plane between the optical integrator and the diffractive optical element, which has an optically Fourier transformation relationship with the diffractive optical element. The light shield member includes an aperture portion and a light shield portion. A border between the aperture portion and the light shield portion is set to a position having a light intensity of 0 and corresponding to a leading edge of a light intensity distribution formed on the Fourier transform plane by ±1st order diffracted light of the diffractive optical element. | 05-06-2010 |
20100118288 | Lithographic projection system and projection lens polarization sensor - A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam; a polarization sensor configured at least in part to couple to a reticle stage, wherein components of the reticle polarization sensor can be loaded and unloaded in the lithographic apparatus in the manner used for conventional reticles. In one configuration an active reticle tool includes a rotatable retarder configured to vary the retardation applied to polarized light received from a field point in the illumination system. In another configuration, a passive reticle tool is configured as an array of polarization sensor modules, where the amount of retardation applied to received light by fixed retarders varies according to position of the polarization sensor module. Accordingly, a plurality of retardation conditions for light received at a given field point can be measured, wherein a complete determination of a polarization state of the light at the given field point can be determined. In another configuration, the polarization sensor is configured to measure the effect of a projection lens on a polarization state of light passing through the projection lens. | 05-13-2010 |
20100134777 | DIAPHRAGM CHANGING DEVICE - The invention relates to an optical imaging device, in particular an objective | 06-03-2010 |
20100141921 | Optical system, exposure system, and exposure method - An optical system is able to achieve a substantially azimuthal polarization state in a lens aperture while suppressing loss of light quantity, based on a simple configuration. The optical system of the present invention is provided with a birefringent element for achieving a substantially circumferential distribution or a substantially radial distribution as a fast axis distribution in a lens aperture, and an optical rotator located behind the birefringent element and adapted to rotate a polarization state in the lens aperture. The birefringent element has an optically transparent member which is made of a uniaxial crystal material and a crystallographic axis of which is arranged substantially in parallel with an optical axis of the optical system. A light beam of substantially spherical waves in a substantially circular polarization state is incident to the optically transparent member. | 06-10-2010 |
20100141922 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL APPARATUS, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - There is disclosed a illumination optical apparatus for illuminating a second surface optically conjugate with a first surface via a reflection type original plate which can be arranged on the first surface, the illumination optical apparatus comprising: a first partial field stop arranged to define a first outer edge of a illumination region which is to be formed on the second surface, in order to limit a light beam traveling toward the first surface; and a second partial field stop arranged to define a second outer edge of the illumination region, in order to limit a light beam reflecting from the reflection type original plate which can be arranged on the first surface, wherein a first distance between the first partial field stop and the first surface is set to be larger than a second distance between the second partial field stop and the first surface. | 06-10-2010 |
20100149509 | Optical system, exposure apparatus, and method of manufacturing electronic device - An aperture diaphragm plate is provided to define a light flux on a pupil plane of an optical system or a plane or surface disposed in the vicinity of the pupil plane. An aperture, which is formed in the aperture diaphragm plate, has a three-dimensional shape corresponding to an optimum pupil shape of the optical system. It is possible to improve the imaging characteristic brought about by the optical system by providing the optimum pupil shape of the optical system. | 06-17-2010 |
20100149510 | METHODS FOR PRODUCING AN ANTIREFLECTION SURFACE ON AN OPTICAL ELEMENT, OPTICAL ELEMENT AND ASSOCIATED OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT - Methods for producing an antireflection surface ( | 06-17-2010 |
20100149511 | Illumination optical system, exposure apparatus, and exposure method - An illumination optical system illuminates an irradiated surface with light supplied from a light source. The illumination optical system includes a diffractive optical element disposed in an optical path of linearly polarized light supplied from the light source. The diffractive optical element forms a multipole illumination field including a plurality of illumination fields. The illumination optical system also includes an optical integrator that forms a multipole light source including a plurality of planar light sources with light that has passed through the multipole illumination field. The illumination optical system also includes a polarization optical member disposed in an illumination optical path and that sets a polarization direction of light that has passed through the multipole light source to a predetermined polarization direction. | 06-17-2010 |
20100149512 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER FOR MULTI-LAYER MIRROR, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS INCLUDING SUCH MULTI-LAYER MIRROR, METHOD FOR ENLARGING THE RATIO OF DESIRED RADIATION AND UNDESIRED RADIATION, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A multi-layer mirror includes a multi-layer stack. The multi-layer stack includes a plurality of alternating layers with a multi-layer stack top layer and a spectral filter top layer arranged on the multi-layer stack. The spectral filter top layer includes a first spectral purity enhancement layer that includes a first material m | 06-17-2010 |
20100157271 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND METHOD OF IRRADIATING AT LEAST TWO TARGET PORTIONS - A lithographic apparatus is disclosed that includes a table, at least two target portions on the table or on an object on the table, and a surface material between the at least two target portions. The apparatus further includes an optical system configured to project a beam of radiation, along an optical path towards the table, with a cross-section to irradiate the at least two target portions at the same time. The apparatus further includes a shield moveable into the optical path to restrict the cross-section of the beam of radiation to restrict illumination between the at least two target portions, wherein the surface material between the at least two target portions would degrade when irradiated with radiation from the optical system. | 06-24-2010 |
20100165317 | Illumination aperture for optical lithography - Embodiments of systems and methods for providing a hybrid illumination aperture in optical lithography are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed. | 07-01-2010 |
20100165318 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The disclosure concerns an illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. The illumination system includes a mirror arrangement which has a plurality of mirror units and at least one element arranged in front of the mirror arrangement in the light propagation direction to produce at least two different states of polarization incident on different mirror units. The mirror units are displaceable independently of each other for altering an angle distribution of the light reflected by the mirror arrangement. | 07-01-2010 |
20100171941 | Stage apparatus and exposure apparatus - A wafer stage system moves a wafer stage that retains a wafer via a wafer holder along a wafer base. For example, the wafer holder is formed from a material whose density is not uniform, such that the portion that includes the reflecting surface that reflects a measuring beam for position measurement is a high-density portion, and the other portions are low-density portions. Or, the wafer stage is formed from a material whose density is not uniform, such that the portion that includes the surface that constitutes a gas bearing is a high-density portion, and the other portions are low-density portions. | 07-08-2010 |
20100182582 | Passive reticle tool, a lithographic apparatus and a method of patterning a device in a lithography tool - A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam; a polarization sensor configured at least in part to couple to a reticle stage, wherein components of the reticle polarization sensor can be loaded and unloaded in the lithographic apparatus in the manner used for conventional reticles. In one configuration an active reticle tool includes a rotatable retarder configured to vary the retardation applied to polarized light received from a field point in the illumination system. In another configuration, a passive reticle tool is configured as an array of polarization sensor modules, where the amount of retardation applied to received light by fixed retarders varies according to position of the polarization sensor module. Accordingly, a plurality of retardation conditions for light received at a given field point can be measured, wherein a complete determination of a polarization state of the light at the given field point can be determined. In another configuration, the polarization sensor is configured to measure the effect of a projection lens on a polarization state of light passing through the projection lens. | 07-22-2010 |
20100182583 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An exposure apparatus | 07-22-2010 |
20100195078 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE METHOD - Exposure areas are wholly overlapped by moving a gradient refractive index lens array in a direction perpendicular to a scanning direction, or by providing a plurality of gradient refractive index lens arrays, an optical filter having a density distribution of lightness and darkness to compensate light transmission nonuniformity of the gradient refractive index lens array is arranged, or an opening control plate for limitedly using only of a uniform portion is provided. Two or more means may be simultaneously provided among the aforementioned mean. Moreover, any one of a microscopic transmission shutter array, a microscopic reflection shutter array, and a microscopic light emitter array is used instead of a mask, or an illuminating device and the mask. | 08-05-2010 |
20100195079 | Exposure device and image forming apparatus - An exposure device includes a substrate on which a light emitting element array is provided, a focusing lens that focuses light emitted by the light emitting element array, a supporting member that supports the substrate and the focusing lens. The supporting member has a contact surface. A base is provided for forcing the substrate against the contact surface of the supporting member. The base has a first engaging portion that engages a second engaging portion formed on an inner wall of the supporting member. The base is mounted to the supporting member by the engagement of the first engaging portion and the second engaging portion. | 08-05-2010 |
20100220307 | SHUTTER PIXEL, SHUTTER STRUCTURE INCLUDING THE SHUTTER PIXEL, AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SHUTTER STRUCTURE - The present invention provides a shutter pixel, a shutter structure including the shutter pixel, and an exposure apparatus including the shutter structure. The shutter pixel may include a lower substrate, an electrode disposed on the lower substrate, a spacer disposed on the edge of the electrode, a first mirror disposed on the spacer to be separated from the electrode and including a hole, an upper substrate disposed on the lower substrate to face the lower substrate, and a second mirror disposed at the upper substrate and overlapping the hole. Accordingly, a relatively simple structure may be provided. | 09-02-2010 |
20100225893 | ASYMMETRIC COMPLEMENTARY DIPOLE ILLUMINATOR - An apparatus, a method of designing the apparatus, a tool using the apparatus and a method of using the apparatus for optimizing optical photolithography during formation of integrated circuits. The apparatus includes: an asymmetrical complementary dipole element including: first and second openings being equidistant and mirror images about a first axis, the first and second openings having essentially a same first area and a same first optical density relative to a selected wavelength of light; third and fourth openings being equidistant and mirror images about a second axis, the third and fourth openings having essentially a same second area, and a same second optical density relative to the selected wavelength of light; and wherein the first axis is perpendicular to the second axis and the first and second optical densities are different. | 09-09-2010 |
20100225894 | Lithography systems and methods - A method of generating an imaging pattern using a mask having a mathematical (e.g., Fourier-space) representation of an imaging pattern in an imaging plane. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present application. Other methods and apparatuses are also disclosed. | 09-09-2010 |
20100225895 | Illumination optical system, exposure apparatus, and exposure method - An illumination optical system and method illuminates an irradiated surface based on linearly polarized light supplied from a light source. The illumination optical system includes a depolarizer which is selectively positioned between a first position in an optical path of the illumination optical system and a second position outside of the optical path, and has a crystal member whose thickness in a direction along an optical axis of the illumination optical system varies in a direction crossing the optical axis. | 09-09-2010 |
20100231887 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes an illumination system and a projection objective. During use of the microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, the illumination system illuminates an object plane of the projection objective. The illumination system is configured so that light components in point-symmetrical relationship with each other, which are produced during use of the illumination system and which are only superposed in the object plane, have mutually orthogonal polarization states. | 09-16-2010 |
20100231888 | OPTICAL SYSTEM - The disclosure provides an optical system having an optical axis, where the optical system includes a polarization manipulator which includes first and second subelements. The first subelement has a non-planar, optically effective surface. For light passing through the first subelement, the first subelement causes a change in the polarization state. A maximum effective retardation introduced by the first subelement along the optical axis is less than a quarter of the working wavelength of the optical system. The first subelement and the second subelement have mutually facing surfaces which are mutually complementary. The optical system also includes a position manipulator to manipulate the relative position of the first and second subelements. | 09-16-2010 |
20100253929 | PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED METHODS OF SELECTIVE DIE EXPOSURE - Several embodiments of photolithography systems and associated methods of selective die exposure are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method for exposing a microelectronic substrate in a photolithography system includes producing an illumination radiation from a radiation source and identifying a field on the microelectronic substrate to be exposed. The field is partitioned into a first region discrete from a second region. The method further includes inhibiting the illumination radiation to expose the first region while simultaneously exposing the second region to the illumination radiation. | 10-07-2010 |
20100259744 | SPECTRAL FILTER, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS INCLUDING SUCH A SPECTRAL FILTER, DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURED THEREBY - A lithographic spectral filter including a first filter element including a slit having an in plane length dimension arranged in a first direction; and a second filter element arranged at a subsequent position along an optical path of radiation of first and second wavelengths to the first filter element, the second filter element including a slit having an in plane length dimension arranged in a second direction transverse to the first direction, wherein the spectral filter is configured to reflect radiation of a first wavelength and allow transmission of radiation of a second wavelength, the first wavelength being larger than the second wavelength. | 10-14-2010 |
20100265483 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS, EXPOSURE METHOD, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTRUING DEVICE - An exposure apparatus of one aspect of the present invention is provided with a moving mechanism that moves a first portion of a belt-shaped substrate that has photosensitivity in a first heading along a first direction and moves a second portion of the substrate in a second heading along the first direction, a stage mechanism that holds a mask and moves it in a third heading along a second direction in synchronization with the movement of the substrate, and a projection optical system. The projection optical system forms a first projection image of the pattern on the first portion so that the third heading on the mask and the first heading on the first portion optically correspond, and forms a second projection image of the pattern on the second portion so that the third heading on the mask and the second heading on the second portion optically correspond. | 10-21-2010 |
20100265484 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, METHOD FOR LEVELLING AN OBJECT, AND LITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION METHOD - A lithographic apparatus configured to project a patterned radiation beam onto a substrate. The apparatus includes a support configured to hold a patterned object, and a measurement system configured to detect orientations and/or densities of user area structures that are present on a user area of the patterned object. | 10-21-2010 |
20100277708 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLOTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a beam deflection array including a number beam deflection elements, for example mirrors. Each beam deflection element is adapted to deflect an impinging light beam by a deflection angle that is variable in response to control signals. The light beams reflected from the beam deflection elements produce spots in a system pupil surface. The number of spots illuminated in the system pupil surface during an exposure process, during which a mask is imaged on a light sensitive surface, is greater than the number of beam deflection elements. This may be accomplished with the help of a beam multiplier unit that multiplies the light beams reflected from the beam deflection elements. In another embodiment the beam deflecting elements are controlled such that the irradiance distribution produced in the system pupil surface changes between two consecutive light pulses of an exposure process. | 11-04-2010 |
20100296072 | Inspection Apparatus, Lithographic Apparatus and Method of Measuring a Property of a Substrate - A piezo-electric material is placed adjacent to the path of the radiation beam such that, when power is applied to the piezo-electric material it rotates into the path of the radiation beam to block it. A smaller and lighter radiation beam shutter therefore results. | 11-25-2010 |
20100302525 | Lithographic Apparatus and Method for Illumination Uniformity Correction and Uniformity Drift Compensation - A lithographic apparatus including a uniformity correction system is disclosed. Fingers move into and out of intersection with a radiation beam to correct an intensity of the radiation beam. Actuating devices are coupled to the fingers. A width of a tip of each of the fingers is half that of a width of the actuating devices. Systems and methods compensate for uniformity drift. An illumination slit uniformity caused by system drift is measured. First positions of uniformity compensators are determined based on the uniformity. Uniformity compensators are moved to the first respective positions. A substrate is exposed. | 12-02-2010 |
20100309449 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a mirror arranged in a multi-mirror array and capable of being tilted via at least one actuator. The illumination system also includes drive electronics, which include a coarse digital-to-analogue converter with a first resolution, and a fine digital-to-analogue converter with a second resolution, and an adder. The second resolution is higher than the first resolution. The adder can add output quantities that are output by the two digital-to-analogue converters to yield an overall quantity that is capable of being applied at least indirectly to the at least one actuator of the mirror. | 12-09-2010 |
20100309450 | FILTER DEVICE FOR THE COMPENSATION OF AN ASYMMETRIC PUPIL ILLUMINATION - The invention relates to a filter device for an illumination system, especially for the correction of the illumination of the illuminating pupil, including a light source, with the illumination system being passed through by a bundle of illuminating rays from the light source to an object plane, with the bundle of illuminating rays impinging upon the filter device, including at least one filter element which can be introduced into the beam path of the bundle of illuminating rays, with the filter element including an actuating device, so that the filter element can be brought with the help of the actuating device into the bundle of illuminating rays. | 12-09-2010 |
20100315616 | ILLUMINATION DEVICE OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE METHOD - Illumination devices of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, include a deflection device with which at least two light beams impinging on the deflection device can be variably deflected independently of one another by variation of the deflection angle in each case in such a way that each of the light beams can be directed onto at least one location in a pupil plane of the illumination device via at least two different beam paths; wherein, on the beam paths, at least one optical property of the respective light beam is influenced differently. | 12-16-2010 |
20100328639 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER - A transmissive spectral purity filter is configured to transmit extreme ultraviolet radiation. The spectral purity filter includes a filter part having a plurality of apertures to transmit extreme ultraviolet radiation and to suppress transmission of a second type of radiation. The apertures may be manufactured in carrier material such as silicon by an anisotropic etching process and topped with a reflective layer such as Mo metal, Ru metal, TiN or RuO. A diffusion barrier layer such as silicon nitride Si | 12-30-2010 |
20100328640 | POLARIZATION STATE MEASUREMENT APPARATUS AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A measurement apparatus for measuring the polarization state of a light beam Fourier-transforms changes in intensity of a plurality of light beams with different polarization states, which are detected while changing a relative rotation angle θ between the waveplate and the polarizer about the optical axis, to calculate the values of first Fourier coefficients of respective components oscillating with waveforms described by cos 4θ, sin 4θ, sin 2θ, and cos 2θ, approximately calculates, using the values of the first Fourier coefficients, third coefficients that define the relationship between the first Fourier coefficients and second Fourier coefficients of the respective components oscillating with waveforms described by cos 4θ, sin 4θ, and sin 2θ assuming that the detection result contains no measurement error attributed to the optical system, and calculates a measurement error attributed to the optical system using the third coefficients. | 12-30-2010 |
20110001952 | Resist exposure and contamination testing apparatus for EUV lithography - An resist exposure and contamination testing apparatus for extreme ultraviolet lithography utilizing a wafer coated with a resist. A source of electromagnetic radiation produces a first electromagnetic beam. A deflection mirror receives the first electromagnetic beam and removes debris therefrom. The deflection mirror also produces a second electromagnetic beam free of such debris. A filter receives the second electromagnetic beam and removes visible light and near ultraviolet radiation therefrom while passing a third electromagnetic beam. A focusing element receives the third electromagnetic beam and produces a fourth electromagnetic beam of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the form of a spot onto the wafer coated with a resist. | 01-06-2011 |
20110007293 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The disclosure relates to a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, as well as related components and methods. In some embodiments, a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes an illumination system and a projection objective, where the illumination system can illuminate an object plane of the projection objective and the projection objective can produce the image of the object plane on an image plane. A polarization-dependent transmission can be produced in the illumination system such that, for at least one polarization distribution in respect of the light impinging on the object plane, a non-homogeneous intensity distribution in the object plane is obtained. The non-homogeneous intensity distribution can afford a homogeneous intensity distribution in the image plane by virtue of polarization-dependent transmission properties of the projection objective. | 01-13-2011 |
20110013168 | LIGHT GUIDE PANEL AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING PATTERN ON LIGHT GUIDE PANEL - A pattern forming apparatus for a light guide panel is provided. The apparatus may include a pattern design system, a control system, a header moving unit including an XY moving unit and a header unit, a laser system, beam splitters, and an optical unit. The pattern design system may have an input of data on a pattern. The control system may connect with the pattern design system and transmits a position signal. The XY moving unit may mechanically move up/down and left/right in response to the position signal. The header unit may be coupled with the XY moving unit and reflects a scanned laser beam. The laser system may output a laser beam by a pulse signal. The beam splitters may split a laser beam into two or more laser beams. The optical unit may reflect and collect the two or more laser beams. | 01-20-2011 |
20110019174 | OPTICAL ELEMENT, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS INCLUDING SUCH AN OPTICAL ELEMENT, DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURED THEREBY - An optical element includes a first layer that includes a first material, and is configured to be substantially reflective for radiation of a first wavelength and substantially transparent for radiation of a second wavelength. The optical element includes a second layer that includes a second material, and is configured to be substantially absorptive or transparent for the radiation of the second wavelength. The optical element includes a third layer that includes a third material between the first layer and the second layer, and is substantially transparent for the radiation of the second wavelength and configured to reduce reflection of the radiation of the second wavelength from a top surface of the second layer facing the first layer. The first layer is located upstream in the optical path of incoming radiation with respect to the second layer in order to improve spectral purity of the radiation of the first wavelength. | 01-27-2011 |
20110026002 | EUV RADIATION GENERATION APPARATUS - An EUV radiation generation apparatus includes an optical gain medium configured to produce laser radiation for interaction with a target material to produce an EUV radiation-emitting plasma, and a structure defining an aperture through which the laser radiation may pass. The structure includes a radiation guide having an outer surface constructed and arranged to guide the laser radiation away from the optical gain medium. | 02-03-2011 |
20110026003 | PROJECTION OBJECTIVE FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY - A projection objective for microlithography is used for imaging an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. The projection objective comprises at least six mirrors of which at least one mirror has a freeform reflecting surface. The ratio between an overall length (T) of the projection objective and an object image shift (d | 02-03-2011 |
20110032502 | POLARIZATION EVALUATION MASK, EXPOSURE DEVICE, AND POLARIZATION EVALUATION METHOD - Polarization evaluation mask according to one mode includes a transparent substrate, a light shielding portion, plural quarter-wavelength plates, and plural polarizers. The light shielding portion is formed on the transparent substrate and has plural openings therein. Plural quarter-wavelength plates are formed to cover at least one opening. Fast axes of the quarter-wavelength plates are different in azimuth by a certain angle. Plural polarizers are disposed upstream of the quarter-wavelength plates with respect to the illumination light and formed to overlay the quarter-wavelength plates and cover at least one of the openings. Transmission axes of the polarizers are different in azimuth by a certain angle. The plural openings are provided with different combinations of an azimuth, of the polarizer and an azimuth of the quarter-wavelength plate from one another. | 02-10-2011 |
20110043782 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTERS FOR USE IN A LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS - A spectral purity filter includes a plurality of apertures extending through a member. The apertures are arranged to suppress radiation having a first wavelength and to allow at least a portion of radiation having a second wavelength to be transmitted through the apertures. The second wavelength of radiation is shorter than the first wavelength of radiation, A first region of the spectral purity filter has a first configuration that results in a first radiation transmission profile for the radiation having the first wavelength and the radiation having the second wavelength, and a second region of the spectral purity filter has a second, different configuration that results in a second, different radiation transmission profile for the radiation having the first wavelength and the radiation having the second wavelength. | 02-24-2011 |
20110043783 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE METHOD AND DESIGNING METHOD - Exposure for performing patterning in which micropatterns differing in pitch exist in close vicinity to one another is handled, and micropatterns are formed with high accuracy with sufficient manufacture process margins without using a photomask complicated in manufacturing process at high manufacture cost like an alternating phase shift mask. A light intensity distribution of irradiation light constituted of double pole illuminations is formed to correspond to L&S patterns. The double pole illumination is constituted of a pair of illumination modes, and the double pole illumination is constituted of a pair of illumination modes. | 02-24-2011 |
20110051113 | LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM AND OPTICAL MODULE THEREOF - A lithography system includes a light source, a photo mask positioned downstream of the light source, an optical module having a front surface positioned downstream of the photo mask, and a wafer stage positioned downstream of the optical module for supporting a wafer, wherein the wafer comprises a dry film and a first medium positioned between the front surface of the optical module and a surface of the dry film. The optical module includes a container, a liquid medium situated in the container and a first set of lenses immersed in the liquid medium. | 03-03-2011 |
20110051114 | OPTIMIZED POLARIZATION ILLUMINATION - Disclosed concepts include a method of optimizing polarization of an illumination of a pattern to be formed in a surface of a substrate. Polarized illumination is optimized by determining an illumination intensity for at least one point on an illuminator for at least two polarization states, determining image log slope for the at least one point on the illuminator for the at least two polarization states, determining a maximum image log slope (ILS) where the ILS is near zero for the at least one point on the illuminator, and selecting an optimal polarization state corresponding to the at least two polarization states that minimizes an ILS for the at least one point on the illuminator. This may be repeated for a plurality of points on the illuminator. | 03-03-2011 |
20110063597 | OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND MICROLITHOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE METHOD - An optical system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, and a microlithographic exposure method are disclosed. An optical system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes an illumination device, which has a mirror arrangement having a plurality of mirror elements which are adjustable independently of one another for altering an angular distribution of the light reflected by the mirror arrangement, and at least one polarization state altering device like, e.g., a photoelastic modulator. | 03-17-2011 |
20110063598 | ILLUMINATION OPTICS FOR EUV MICROLITHOGRAPHY AND RELATED SYSTEM AND APPARATUS - An illumination optics for EUV microlithography guides an illumination light bundle from a radiation source to an object field with an extension ratio between a longer field dimension and a shorter field dimension, where the ratio is considerably greater than 1. A field facet mirror has a plurality of field facets that set defined illumination conditions in the object field. A following optics downstream of the field facet mirror transmits the illumination light into the object field. The following optics includes a pupil facet mirror with a plurality of pupil facets. The field facets are in each case individually allocated to the pupil facets so that portions of the illumination light bundle impinging upon in each case one of the field facets are guided on to the object field via the associated pupil facet. The field facet mirror not only includes a plurality of basic illumination field facets which provide a basic illumination of the object field via associated basic illumination pupil facets, but also includes a plurality of correction illumination field facets which provide for a correction of the illumination of the object field via associated correction illumination pupil facets. The result is an illumination optics which allows unwanted variations of illumination parameters, for instance an illumination intensity distribution or an illumination angle distribution, to be corrected across the object field. | 03-17-2011 |
20110069296 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE METHOD AS WELL AS A PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM FOR CARRYING OUT THE METHOD - In an exposure method for exposing a substrate which is arranged in the area of an image plane of a projection objective as well as in a projection exposure system for performing that method, output radiation directed at the substrate and having an output polarization state is produced. Through variable adjustment of the output polarization state with the aid of at least one polarization manipulation device, the output polarization state can be formed to approach a nominal output polarization state. The polarization manipulation can be performed in a control loop on the basis of polarization-optical measuring data. | 03-24-2011 |
20110075121 | CATADIOPTRIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - Catadioptric projection objective ( | 03-31-2011 |
20110080572 | Anti-Reflective Coating for Optical Elements - An optical element including an anti-reflective coating is provided. The optical element includes a silicon substrate and a reflective layer disposed onto a first portion of the surface of the silicon substrate. An anti-reflective layer is disposed onto a second portion of the surface of the silicon substrate such that destructive interference at the anti-reflective layer substantially reduces any reflection of radiation incident on the anti-reflective layer. | 04-07-2011 |
20110080573 | MULTILAYER MIRROR AND LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS - A multilayer mirror is constructed and arranged to reflect radiation haying a wavelength in the range of 2-8 nm. The multilayer mirror has alternating layers selected from the group consisting of: Cr and Sc layers, Cr and C layers, C and B | 04-07-2011 |
20110096317 | COMPONENT FOR SETTING A SCAN-INTEGRATED ILLUMINATION ENERGY IN AN OBJECT PLANE OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A component for setting a scan-integrated illumination energy in an object plane of a microlithography projection exposure apparatus is disclosed. The component includes a plurality of diaphragms which are arranged alongside one another with respect to a direction perpendicular to the scan movement and which differ in their form and the position of which can be altered approximately in the scan direction so that a portion of the illumination energy can be vignetted by at least one diaphragm. The form of the individual diaphragm is specifically adapted to the form of the illumination in a diaphragm plane in which the component is arranged. This has the effect that at least parts of the delimiting edges of two diaphragms always differ in the case of an arbitrary displacement of the diaphragms. | 04-28-2011 |
20110109893 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A projection exposure apparatus has a projection lens with an object plane, an image plane, an optical axis and a non-telecentric entrance pupil. The apparatus further comprises an illumination system having an intermediate field plane and a field stop. The field stop is positioned in or in close proximity to the intermediate field plane and defines an illuminated field in the object plane that does not contain the optical axis of the projection lens. The illumination system is configured such that, in the object plane, a mean of the angles formed between all principal rays emanating from the intermediate field plane on the one hand and the optical axis of the projection lens on the other hand differs from 0°. | 05-12-2011 |
20110109894 | POLARIZATION-MODULATING OPTICAL ELEMENT AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THEREOF - The disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing a polarization-modulating optical element, wherein the element causes, for light passing through the element and due to stress-induced birefringence, a distribution of retardation between orthogonal states of polarization, the method comprising joining a first component and a second component, wherein a non-plane surface of the first component being provided with a defined height profile is joined with a plane surface of the second component, whereby a mechanical stress causing the stress-induced birefringence is produced in the such formed polarization-modulating optical element. | 05-12-2011 |
20110116069 | COMPUTER GENERATED HOLOGRAM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE FABRICATION METHOD - The present invention provides a computer generated hologram including a plurality of anisotropic cells having different refractive indices with respect to linearly polarized light in a first direction and linearly polarized light in a second direction perpendicular to the linearly polarized light in the first direction, wherein the plurality of anisotropic cells are made of an identical material and includes a first anisotropic cell, a second anisotropic cell, a third anisotropic cell, and a fourth anisotropic cell which have different thicknesses, and the plurality of anisotropic cells change phases of linearly polarized light in the first direction and linearly polarized light in the second direction, thereby making a first light intensity distribution formed on a predetermined plane by the linearly polarized light in the first direction different from a second light intensity distribution formed on the predetermined plane by the linearly polarized light in the second direction. | 05-19-2011 |
20110122390 | EXPOSING METHOD, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - According to one embodiment, on a substrate, a resist layer is laminated on an upper side of a pattern formation layer on which a desired pattern is formed. A diffraction pattern that diffracts exposure light irradiated on the substrate is formed further on the upper side than the resist layer. Overall exposure is performed from above the diffraction pattern using a deformed light having illumination light source shape determined according to the desired pattern. Diffracted light diffracted on the resist layer. | 05-26-2011 |
20110122391 | OPTICAL SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND MICROLITHOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE METHOD - The disclosure relates to an optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus and to a microlithographic exposure method. An optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes an image rotator, which is arranged in the optical system such that light impinging on the image rotator is at least partially polarized. The image rotator rotates, for light impinging on the image rotator, both the intensity distribution and the polarization distribution of through a given angle of rotation. | 05-26-2011 |
20110122392 | MICROLITHOGRAPHY ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND MICROLITHOGRAPHY ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT - An illumination optical unit for microlithography illuminates an object field with illumination light. The unit includes a first facet mirror that has a plurality of first facets, and a second facet mirror that has a plurality of second facets. The unit has facet pairs which include respectively a facet of the first facet mirror and a facet of the second facet mirror which predefine a plurality of illumination channels for illuminating the object field. At least some of the illumination channels have in each case an assigned polarization element for predefining an individual polarization state of the illumination light guided in the respective illumination channel. | 05-26-2011 |
20110134409 | Actuator, stage device, and exposure apparatus - An actuator according to example embodiments may be relatively compact and may be driven with 2 degrees of freedom with less spatial constraints. The actuator may include a base member, a ball screw member including a ball screw coupled to the base member and a ball nut screwed onto the ball screw, a driving member coupled to the ball nut so as to move in conjunction with the ball nut, a first directional displacement member configured to move in a first direction in response to a first movement of the driving member, a wedge member coupled to the driving member so as to be moved in a second direction in response to a second movement of the driving member, a second directional displacement member configured to move in a second direction in conjunction with the wedge member, and a binding member configured to bind the first directional displacement member to at least one of the driving member, the wedge member, and the base member. | 06-09-2011 |
20110134410 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER FOR MULTI-LAYER MIRROR, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS INCLUDING SUCH MULTI-LAYER MIRROR, METHOD FOR ENLARGING THE RATIO OF DESIRED RADIATION AND UNDESIRED RADIATION, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A lithographic apparatus comprising a support configured to support a patterning device; a substrate table configured to hold a substrate; a projection system configured to project a pattern imparted to a radiation beam by the patterning device onto a target portion of the substrate; and a first multi-layer mirror and a second multi-layer mirror, the first multi-layer mirror and the second multi-layer minor being arranged along a path of the radiation beam, the first multi-layer minor and the second multi-layer mirror each having a reflectivity of at least about 50% in extreme ultra violet wavelength range, and the first multi-layer mirror configured to reduce radiation having wavelengths in a first wavelength range and the second multi-layer minor configured to reduce radiation having wavelengths in a second wavelength range different from the first wavelength range, wherein the first wavelength range and the second wavelength range are outside extreme ultra violet wavelength range. | 06-09-2011 |
20110149261 | OPTICAL SYSTEM, IN PARTICULAR OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An optical system, in particular of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, includes an optical system axis and a polarization-influencing optical arrangement, wherein said arrangement has a polarization-influencing optical element which includes an optically active material having an optical crystal axis and is of a thickness profile which varies in the direction of said optical crystal axis, and a position manipulator for manipulation of the position of said polarization-influencing optical element, wherein the polarization manipulator is adapted to cause rotation of the polarization-influencing optical element about an axis of rotation, wherein said axis of rotation is arranged at an angle of 90°±5° relative to the optical system axis. | 06-23-2011 |
20110149262 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER AND LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS - A spectral purity filter is configured to reflect extreme ultraviolet radiation. The spectral purity filter includes a substrate, and an anti-reflective coating on a top surface of the substrate. The anti-reflective coating is configured to transmit infrared radiation. The filter also includes a multi-layer stack configured to reflect extreme ultraviolet radiation and to substantially transmit infrared radiation. | 06-23-2011 |
20110157574 | Endoscope - Provided is an endoscope that is capable of improving the ease of insertion by reducing the size of a distal end of an inserted portion, while ensuring a preferable observation field of view by improving the light distribution of illumination light. The endoscope employed has a tube-like inserted portion having a distal end; a light guide that is accommodated in the inserted portion and guides illumination light to the distal end; an illumination optical system that radiates the illumination light guided by the light guiding member and an objective optical system that collects light from a region illuminated by the illumination optical system, which are disposed at the distal end of the inserted portion, wherein an end portion of the light guide facing the plano-concave lens extends substantially parallel to an optical axis of the objective lens, and a shoulder portion of the distal end and an outer surface of the plano-concave lens located at the should portion are inclined so as to become narrower toward the tip. | 06-30-2011 |
20110164237 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER - A transmissive spectral purity filter is configured to transmit extreme ultraviolet radiation. The spectral purity filter includes a filter part having a plurality of apertures configured to transmit extreme ultraviolet radiation and to suppress transmission of a second type of radiation. Each aperture has been manufactured by an anisotropic etching process. | 07-07-2011 |
20110170083 | Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method - A system and method are used to detect thermal radiation from a mask. Debris particles on the mask heat up, but do not cool down as quickly as the surrounding mask. Due to the temperature difference, the wavelength of radiation emitted by particles and the mask differs. Thus by detecting the thermal radiation, it is possible to detect the presence of particles deposited on the mask. If particles are detected, the mask can be cleaned. | 07-14-2011 |
20110170084 | LIGHT EXPOSURE MASK AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE USING THE SAME - The present invention provides a light exposure mask which can form a photoresist layer in a semi-transmissive portion with uniform thickness, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device in which the number of photolithography steps (the number of masks) necessary for manufacturing a TFT substrate is reduced by using the light exposure mask. A light exposure mask is used, which includes a transmissive portion, a light shielding portion, and a semi-transmissive portion having a light intensity reduction function where lines and spaces are repeatedly formed, wherein the sum of a line width L of a light shielding material and a space width S between light shielding materials in the semi-transmissive portion satisfies a conditional expression (2n/3)×m≦L+S≦(6n/5)×m when a resolution of a light exposure apparatus is represented by n and a projection magnification is represented by 1/m (m≧1). | 07-14-2011 |
20110181860 | Cooled spider and method for grazing-incidence collectors - A cooled spider for grazing-incidence collectors includes an outer ring, an inner ring and spokes that mechanically and fluidly connect the inner and outer rings. Cooling channels in the outer and inner rings and in the spokes define a general cooling-fluid flow path through the spider. The general cooling-fluid flow path has input and output points located substantially 180° apart so that the flow path diverges at the input point into two branch flow paths that flow in opposite directions through the spider, and then converge at the output point. Input and output cooling fluid manifolds are fluidly connected to the outer ring at the input and output points and serve to flow cooling fluid over the cooling-fluid flow path. | 07-28-2011 |
20110188019 | POLARIZATION-MODULATING OPTICAL ELEMENT - The invention relates to a projection system, comprising a radiation source, an illumination system operable to illuminate a structured mask, and a projection objective for projecting an image of the mask structure onto a light-sensitive substrate, wherein said projection system comprises an optical system comprising an optical axis or a preferred direction given by the direction of a light beam propagating through the optical system; the optical system comprising a temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element described by coordinates of a coordinate system, wherein one preferred coordinate of the coordinate system is parallel to the optical axis or parallel to said preferred direction; said temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element comprising a first and a second polarization-modulating optical element, the first and/or the second polarization-modulating optical element comprising solid and/or liquid optically active material and a profile of effective optical thickness, wherein the effective optical thickness varies at least as a function of one coordinate different from the preferred coordinate of the coordinate system, in addition or alternative the first and/or the second polarization-modulating optical element comprises solid and/or liquid optically active material, wherein the effective optical thickness is constant as a function of at least one coordinate different from the preferred coordinate of the coordinate system; wherein the first polarization-modulating optical element comprises optically active material with a specific rotation of opposite sign compared to the optically active material of the second polarization-modulating optical element. | 08-04-2011 |
20110188020 | Overlay Measurement Apparatus, Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method Using Such Overlay Measurement Apparatus - An overlay measurement apparatus has a polarized light source for illuminating a sample with a polarized light beam and an optical system to capture light that is scattered by the sample. The optical system includes a polarizer for transmitting an orthogonal polarization component that is orthogonal to a polarization direction of the polarized light beam. A detector measures intensity of the orthogonal polarization component. A processing unitise connected to the detector, and is arranged to process the orthogonal polarization component for overlay metrology measurement using asymmetry data derived from the orthogonal polarization component. | 08-04-2011 |
20110194093 | POLARIZATION-INFLUENCING OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT AND AN OPTICAL SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A polarization-influencing optical arrangement includes a pair, which includes a first lambda/2 plate and a second lambda/2 plate. The first and second lambda/2 plates partially overlap each other forming an overlap region and at least one non-overlap region. | 08-11-2011 |
20110205519 | POLARIZATION CONVERTING UNIT, ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - According to one embodiment, a polarization converting unit, for converting incident light into light in a predetermined polarization state and emitting the converted light, has a first optically rotatory member having a first thickness distribution of thicknesses in an optical-axis direction different at a plurality of locations and a second optically rotatory member having a second thickness distribution, each of which is a member to rotate linearly polarized light incident thereto as propagating light, around the optical-axis direction. The first and second optically rotatory members are comprised of an optical material with an optical activity arranged so as to have a crystal axis coincident or parallel with the optical-axis direction. Particularly, the sum of respective thicknesses of superimposed regions in the first and second optically rotatory members is different from the sum of respective thicknesses of other superimposed regions in the first and second optically rotatory members when viewed along the optical-axis direction. | 08-25-2011 |
20110211185 | Spectral Purity Filter, Radiation Source, Lithographic Apparatus, and Device Manufacturing Method - A spectral purity filter is configured to allow transmission therethrough of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and to refract or reflect non-EUV secondary radiation. The spectral purity filter may be part of a source module and/or a lithographic apparatus. | 09-01-2011 |
20110222041 | APPARATUS, METHOD, AND LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM - An apparatus which can measure an aerial image is provided. The apparatus includes an aperture configured to transmit light of the aerial image, a detector configured to detect the transmitted light at a plurality of first relative positions to the aperture, a controller configured to control a second relative position of the aperture to the aerial image, and a processor configured to generate information about the aerial image based on data obtained from the detector at each first relative position by controlling the second relative position of the aperture and position data about the first relative positions. | 09-15-2011 |
20110222042 | OPTICAL DEVICE AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An optical device includes a wavelength separation filter configured to separate incident light into light having a first wavelength and light having a second wavelength, the wavelength separation filter including a blazed grating whose cross-sectional shape is a saw-tooth shape formed by one-dimensionally arranging a plurality of grating elements, wherein the blazed grating is configured to exert a first power on the light having the first wavelength, of the light having the first wavelength and the light having the second wavelength, by gradually changing angles surfaces of the plurality of grating elements make with a base plane, and to exert a second power on the light having the second wavelength, of the light having the first wavelength and the light having the second wavelength, by gradually changing lengths of the plurality of grating elements along a direction in which the plurality of grating elements are arranged. | 09-15-2011 |
20110222043 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The disclosure relates to a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, such as are used for the production of large-scale integrated electrical circuits and other microstructured components. The disclosure relates in particular to coatings of optical elements in order to increase or reduce the reflectivity. | 09-15-2011 |
20110228247 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS - An illumination system is disclosed having a polarization member that includes first and second polarization modifiers movable into at least partial intersection with a radiation beam such that the respective polarization modifier applies a modified polarization to at least part of the beam. The illumination system further includes an array of individually controllable reflective elements positioned to receive the radiation beam after it has passed the polarization member, and a controller configured to control movement of the first and second polarization modifiers such that the first and second polarization modifiers intersect with different portions of the radiation beam. | 09-22-2011 |
20110235015 | ILLUMINATION OPTICS FOR EUV MICROLITHOGRAPHY - An illumination optics for EUV microlithography illuminates an object field with the aid of an EUV used radiation beam. Preset devices preset illumination parameters. An illumination correction device corrects the intensity distribution and/or the angular distribution of the object field illumination. The latter has an optical component to which the used radiation beam is at least partially applied upstream of the object field and which can be driven in a controlled manner. A detector acquires one of the illumination parameters. An evaluation device evaluates the detector data and converts the latter into control signals. At least one actuator displaces the optical component. During exposures, the actuators are controlled with the aid of the detector signals during the period of a projection exposure. A maximum displacement of below 8 μm is ensured for edges of the object field towards an object to be exposed. The result is an illumination optics that is used to ensure conformance with preset illumination parameters even given the most stringent demands upon precision. | 09-29-2011 |
20110242517 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A MICRO-STRUCTURED STRUCTURAL MEMBER BY THE AID OF SUCH A PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM AND POLARIZATION-OPTICAL ELEMENT ADAPTED FOR USE IN SUCH A SYSTEM - The invention relates to a projection exposure system, in particular for micro-lithography. The projection exposure system according to the invention comprises a light source for producing light in the EUV region. The projection exposure system further comprises a first optical system for illuminating a mask by the light of the light source and a second optical system for imaging the mask on a component. At least one polarization-optical element is disposed on the beam path between the light source and the component. | 10-06-2011 |
20110255068 | EUV mirror module - An EUV mirror module is disclosed that comprises a substrate with a curved upper surface and a curved electroformed mirror. A self-adjusting bonding material is disposed between the substrate and the electroformed mirror. The bonding material is flowable at a melting temperature and self-adjusts to conformally fill the region between substrate to the electroformed mirror and bond the substrate and the electroformed mirror. The substrate may have at least one cooling channel for cooling the mirror module. | 10-20-2011 |
20110273697 | Polarization-modulating element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method - There is disclosed a polarization-modulating element for modulating a polarization state of incident light into a predetermined polarization state, the polarization-modulating element being made of an optical material with optical activity and having a circumferentially varying thickness profile. | 11-10-2011 |
20110273698 | Beam transforming element, illumination optical apparatus, exposure apparatus, and exposure method with two optical elements having different thicknesses - A beam transforming element for forming a predetermined light intensity distribution on a predetermined surface on the basis of an incident beam includes a first basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a first region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam; and a second basic element made of an optical material with optical activity, for forming a second region distribution of the predetermined light intensity distribution on the basis of the incident beam, wherein the first basic element and the second basic element have their respective thicknesses different from each other along a direction of transmission of light. | 11-10-2011 |
20110285979 | PROJECTION OBJECTIVE WITH DIAPHRAGMS - A projection objective for imaging an object arranged in an object plane of the projection objective into an image of the object lying in an image plane of the projection objective has a multiplicity of transparent optical elements and holding devices for holding the optical elements at prescribable positions along an imaging beam path of the projection objective. Each of the optical elements has an optical useful region lying in the imaging beam path and an edge region lying outside the optical useful region. At least one holding element of the holding device assigned to the optical element acts at the edge region in the region of a contact zone. At least one of the optical elements is assigned a diaphragm arrangement with a false light diaphragm arranged directly upstream of the optical element and a second false light diaphragm arranged directly downstream of the optical element. Each of the false light diaphragms is fashioned in such a way that the false light diaphragm screens at least a part of the edge region against radiation running outside the imaging beam path. | 11-24-2011 |
20110299056 | System and Method Configured to Provide Predetermined Depth Of Focus and to Control Irradiance Distribution - A system and method for illuminating an imaging optical system are provided, designed to spread the irradiance distribution at a pupil located at a mirror, to decrease the maximum irradiance on the mirror in the pupil, while maintaining a predetermined depth of focus of the imaging optical system (i.e. a depth of focus that is predetermined to be acceptable for the particular imaging optical application). | 12-08-2011 |
20110310375 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - According to an embodiment, the illumination optical system for illuminating an illumination target surface with light from a light source is provided with a polarization converting member which converts a polarization state of incident light so as to form a pupil intensity distribution in a predetermined polarization state on an illumination pupil of the illumination optical system; and a phase modulating member which is arranged in the optical path on the illumination target surface side with respect to the polarization converting member and which transmits light from the pupil intensity distribution so as to convert linearly polarized light thereof polarized in a first direction, into required elliptically polarized light and maintain a polarization state of linearly polarized light polarized in a second direction (X-direction or Y-direction) obliquely intersecting with the first direction, in order to reduce influence of retardation caused by a subsequent optical system between the polarization converting member and the illumination target surface. | 12-22-2011 |
20120038898 | Lithographic Apparatus and Alignment Method - A lithographic apparatus comprising a source collector module including a collector, configured to collect radiation from a radiation source; an illuminator configured to condition the radiation collected by the collector and to provide a radiation beam; and a detector arrangement comprising a reflector arrangement disposed in a fixed positional relationship with respect to the illuminator, the reflector arrangement being arranged to reflect radiation from the source collector module; and a sensor arrangement disposed in a fixed positional relationship with respect to the reflector arrangement, the sensor arrangement being configured to measure at least one property of radiation reflected by the reflector, the detector arrangement being configured to determine the location of a far field position of the radiation as a function of at least one property of the radiation reflected by the reflector and measured by the sensor arrangement. | 02-16-2012 |
20120075611 | DIAPHRAGM CHANGING DEVICE - The invention relates to an optical imaging device, in particular an objective | 03-29-2012 |
20120081687 | INTERFERENCE PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF USING SAME - An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides an interference projection exposure system comprising a beam-providing subsystem and an objective lens subsystem that can provide a plurality of light beams which intersect and interfere at an image plane to produce a high spatial frequency periodic optical-intensity distribution. The interference projection system can further comprise a pattern mask that can alter the periodic optical-intensity distribution so as to incorporate functional elements within the periodic optical-intensity distribution. The beam providing subsystem can comprise a beam generating subsystem, a beam conditioning subsystem and a beam directing subsystem. Another exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides for a method of producing a high spatial frequency periodic optical-intensity distribution using a interference projection exposure system. | 04-05-2012 |
20120099093 | POLARIZATION ACTUATOR - The present invention relates to an apparatus for influencing a light beam arrangement comprising a plurality of light beams ( | 04-26-2012 |
20120147350 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER - A transmissive spectral purity filter configured to transmit extreme ultraviolet radiation includes a filter part having a plurality of apertures to transmit extreme ultraviolet radiation and to suppress transmission of a second type of radiation. The apertures may be manufactured in semiconductor material such as silicon by an anisotropic etching process. The semiconductor material is provided with a hydrogen-resistant layer, such as silicon nitride Si | 06-14-2012 |
20120147351 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER - A transmissive spectral purity filter is configured to transmit extreme ultraviolet radiation (λ<20 nm). The filter comprises a grid-like structure comprising a plurality of microscopic apertures fabricated in a carrier material such as silicon. The grid-like structure in at least part of its area is formed so as to have, within an expected range of operating conditions, a negative Poisson's ratio. By forming the grid of a material that likes to expand or contract simultaneously in orthogonal directions, the management of differential thermal expansion is improved. Various geometries are possible to achieve a negative Poisson's ratio. The aperture geometry may that of a re-entrant polygon or re-entrant shape having curved sides. Examples include a so-called re-entrant or auxetic honeycomb, in which each aperture is hexagonal, as in the regular honeycomb, but the form is a re-entrant hexagon rather than a regular hexagon. | 06-14-2012 |
20120154776 | Lithographic Projection Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method - An electrical connector suitable, for example, for connecting high voltage carrying cables in a low pressure environment comprises a housing having a conducting surface and a plurality of cable insertion parts, each cable insertion part comprising an electrical conductor configured to connect to an electrical cable and an insulating sleeve surrounding the electrical conductor, wherein the housing surrounds the plurality of cable insertion parts. | 06-21-2012 |
20120154777 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND METHOD OF ADJUSTING AN ILLUMINATION MODE - An illumination system is disclosed that had a plurality of moveable reflective elements and associated actuators which may be configured to form an illumination mode. One or more of the actuators is arranged to move between first, second and third positions, and so move an associated moveable reflective element between first, second and third orientations, the first and second orientations being such that radiation reflected from the moveable reflective element forms part of the illumination mode, and the third orientation being such that radiation reflected from the moveable reflective element does not form part of the illumination mode. | 06-21-2012 |
20120154778 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER - A method of forming a spectral purity filter having a plurality of apertures configured to transmit extreme ultraviolet radiation and suppress transmission of a second type of radiation, in which trenches are formed in a base material in a pattern corresponding to the walls to be formed between the apertures. The trenches are filled with a grid material to form walls of the grid material, and the base material is selectively removed until the grid material is exposed and forms the spaces between the walls of the grid material for the apertures. | 06-21-2012 |
20120154779 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER - A method for manufacturing a spectral purity filter is provided in which openings in a first surface of a base material, corresponding to a plurality of apertures of the spectral purity filter, are formed. At least the surfaces of the base material surrounding the openings in the first surface are chemically treated to form a layer of a second material, and the base material is etched from the second surface such that the openings extend from the first surface of the base material to the second surface of the base material. | 06-21-2012 |
20120162626 | SHUTTER DEVICE FOR A LITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS AND LITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS - A shutter device for a lithography apparatus includes a housing for maintaining an ultrahigh vacuum. A disk within the housing is rotatable about a rotation axis. The disk has at least one opening arranged on a circumferential line around the rotation axis and serving for transmitting ultraviolet light. A lithography apparatus includes such a shutter device, as well as a light source for ultraviolet light, an optical unit for imaging a pattern onto a target surface, and a camera device for detecting the imaged pattern. | 06-28-2012 |
20120162627 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY - An illumination optical unit includes a collector mirror which produces a polarization distribution that is applied to the first faceted optical element during the operation of the illumination optical unit. There are at least two first facet elements to which radiation having a differing polarization is applied. The first faceted optical element has at least one first state in which the normal vectors of the reflective surfaces of the first facet elements are selected so that a first predetermined polarization distribution results at the location of the object field during the operation of the illumination optical unit. | 06-28-2012 |
20120170015 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A DEVICE USING LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS - A spectral purity filter includes a substrate, a plurality of apertures through the substrate, and a plurality of walls. The walls define the plurality of apertures through the substrate. The spectral purity filter also includes a first layer formed on the substrate to reflect radiation of a first wavelength, and a second layer formed on the first layer to prevent oxidation of the first layer. The apertures are constructed and arranged to be able to transmit at least a portion of radiation of a second wavelength therethrough. | 07-05-2012 |
20120182537 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A spectral purity filter, in particular for use in a lithographic apparatus using EUV radiation for the projection beam, includes a plurality of apertures in a substrate. The apertures are defined by walls having side surfaces that are inclined to the normal to a front surface of the substrate. | 07-19-2012 |
20120188527 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus can include at least one transmission filter which has a different transmittance at least at two positions and which is arranged between a pupil plane and a field plane). The transmittance distribution can be determined such that it has field dependent correcting effects on the ellipticity. In some embodiments the telecentricity and/or the irradiance uniformity is not affected by this correction. | 07-26-2012 |
20120194796 | LIGHT QUANTITY ADJUSTMENT APPARATUS LENS UNIT AND OPTICAL APPARATUS PROVIDED WITH THE SAME - This light quantity adjustment apparatus is provided with a pair of first and second boards each having, an exposure aperture, and a plurality of diaphragm blades supported between the pair of broads to be openable and closable to adjust a quantity of light passing through the exposure aperture, and each of the diaphragm blades is comprised of a blade substrate in which are formed a base end portion positioned outside the exposure aperture, and a blade portion that moves forward and backward with respect to the exposure aperture to form a diaphragm aperture, and an auxiliary substrate, having a joint surface to be joined to the base end portion, in which are formed a first shaft portion penetrating the base end portion from the joint surface, and a second shaft portion provided to stand on the side opposite to the joint surface. | 08-02-2012 |
20120206705 | OPTICAL ELEMENT AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An optical element is used for an exposure apparatus which is configured to illuminate a mask with an exposure light beam for transferring a pattern on the mask onto a substrate through a projection optical system and to interpose a given liquid in a space between a surface of the substrate and the projection optical system. The optical element includes a first anti-dissolution member provided on a surface of a transmissive optical element on the substrate's side of the projection optical system. | 08-16-2012 |
20120229787 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - In a lithographic apparatus, an illumination mode is set using a field mirror comprising a plurality of movable facets to direct radiation to selectable positions on a pupil facet mirror. In the event that a field facet mirror is defective and cannot be set to a desired position, another of the movable facet mirrors is set to a corrective position, different than its desired position, to at least partially ameliorate a deleterious effect of the defective facet mirror. | 09-13-2012 |
20120236285 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND EXPOSURE METHOD - An illumination optical system illuminates an irradiated surface with light supplied from a light source. The illumination optical system includes a diffractive optical element disposed in an optical path of linearly polarized light supplied from the light source. The diffractive optical element forms a multipole illumination field. including a plurality of illumination fields. The illumination optical system also includes an optical integrator that forms a multipole light source including a plurality of planar light sources with light that has passed through the multipole illumination field. The illumination optical system also includes a polarization optical member disposed in an illumination optical path and that sets a polarization direction of light that has passed through the multipole light source to a predetermined polarization direction. | 09-20-2012 |
20120249989 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL DEVICE, ILLUMINATION METHOD, AND EXPOSURE METHOD AND DEVICE - An illumination optical apparatus includes a light splitting device which splits the beam into a plurality of beams with respective polarization states different from each other, a spatial light modulation device which is arranged on at least one of a first optical path in which a first beam out of the plurality of beams travels and a second optical path in which a second beam out of the plurality of beams travels, and which has a plurality of optical elements arranged two-dimensionally and driven individually and a control device which controls the spatial modulation device to combine the first beam and the second beam at least in part. | 10-04-2012 |
20120268724 | LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING A TARGET, SUCH AS A WAFER, A METHOD FOR OPERATING A LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING A TARGET, SUCH AS A WAFER AND A SUBSTRATE FOR USE IN SUCH A LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM - The invention relates to a lithography system for processing a target, such as a wafer and a substrate for use in such a lithography system. The lithography system comprises a beam source arranged for providing a patterning beam, a final projection system arranged for projecting a pattern on the target surface, a chuck arranged for supporting the target and a mark position system arranged for detecting a position mark on a surface. | 10-25-2012 |
20120281196 | PROJECTION OBJECTIVE OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A projection lens of a projection exposure apparatus, for imaging a mask which can be positioned in an object plane onto a light-sensitive layer which can be positioned in an image plane, includes a housing, in which at least one optical element is arranged, at least one partial housing which is arranged within said housing and which at least regionally surrounds light passing from the object plane as far as the image plane during the operation of the projection lens, and a reflective structure, which reduces a light proportion which reaches the image plane after reflection at the at least one partial housing, by comparison with an analogous arrangement without said reflective structure. | 11-08-2012 |
20120281197 | Holographic Mask Inspection System with Spatial Filter - Disclosed are apparatuses, methods, and lithographic systems for holographic mask inspection. A holographic mask inspection system ( | 11-08-2012 |
20120281198 | FILTER DEVICE FOR THE COMPENSATION OF AN ASYMMETRIC PUPIL ILLUMINATION - The invention relates to a filter device for an illumination system, especially for the correction of the illumination of the illuminating pupil, including a light source, with the illumination system being passed through by a bundle of illuminating rays from the light source to an object plane, with the bundle of illuminating rays impinging upon the filter device, including at least one filter element which can be introduced into the beam path of the bundle of illuminating rays, with the filter element including an actuating device, so that the filter element can be brought with the help of the actuating device into the bundle of illuminating rays. | 11-08-2012 |
20120293785 | OPTICAL ELEMENT HAVING A PLURALITY OF REFLECTIVE FACET ELEMENTS - An optical element for use in an illumination optical unit of an EUV microlithography projection exposure apparatus includes a plurality of reflective facet elements. Each reflective facet element has at least one reflective surface. In this case, at least one facet element is arranged in a manner rotatable about a rotation axis. The rotation axis intersects the at least one reflective surface of the facet element. With such an optical element, it is possible to alter the direction and/or the intensity of at least part of the illumination radiation within the illumination optical unit in a simple manner. | 11-22-2012 |
20120293786 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The disclosure relates to an illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. The illumination system can include a depolariser which in conjunction with a light mixing system disposed downstream in the light propagation direction at least partially causes effective depolarisation of polarised light impinging on the depolariser. The illumination system can also include a microlens array which is arranged upstream of the light mixing system in the light propagation direction. The microlens array can include a plurality of microlenses arranged with a periodicity. The depolariser can be configured so that a contribution afforded by interaction of the depolariser with the periodicity of the microlens array to a residual polarisation distribution occurring in a pupil plane arranged downstream of the microlens array in the light propagation direction has a maximum degree of polarisation of not more than 5%. | 11-22-2012 |
20120307224 | SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER - A spectral purity filter includes a body of material, through which a plurality of apertures extend. The apertures are arranged to suppress radiation having a first wavelength and to allow at least a portion of radiation having a second wavelength to be transmitted through the apertures. The second wavelength of radiation is shorter than the first wavelength of radiation. The body of material is formed from tungsten-molybdenum alloy or a molybdenum-rhenium alloy or a tungsten-rhenium alloy or a tungsten-molybdenum-rhenium alloy. | 12-06-2012 |
20120307225 | Optical Imaging Writer System - System and method for applying mask data patterns to substrate in a lithography manufacturing process are disclosed. In one embodiment, a parallel imaging writer system includes a plurality of spatial light modulator (SLM) imaging units, where each of the plurality of SLM imaging units includes one or more illumination sources, one or more alignment sources, one or more projection lenses, and a plurality of micro mirrors configured to project light from the one or more illumination sources to the corresponding one or more projection lens. The parallel imaging writer system further includes a controller configured to control the plurality of SLM imaging units, where the controller tunes each of the SLM imaging unit individually in writing a mask data to a substrate. | 12-06-2012 |
20120320360 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE FABRICATION METHOD - The present invention provides an exposure apparatus including a light shielding plate which is placed on a plane conjugate to an object plane of a projection optical system in an illumination optical system, includes, on an edge thereof, an arc that overlaps a circular boundary line inside an outer periphery of a substrate, and defines a region on the substrate, to which a pattern is to be transferred, a detection unit which detects a shift amount between the center position of the substrate and the center position of an array of a plurality of shot regions on a layer, and a control unit which positions the plate at a position, at which the plate shields light incident on an outer peripheral region shifted inward from the outer periphery of the substrate by a predetermined width, based on the shift amount. | 12-20-2012 |
20120327385 | OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR SEMICONDUCTOR LITHOGRAPHY - Semiconductor lithography system includes a plurality of optical components, including an optical component movable a distance along a straight line within a time of between 5 ms and 500 ms. The straight line can have a polar and azimuth angle of between 0° and 90°, and a distance between the straight line and an optical axis of the apparatus being less than a cross-sectional dimension of a projection exposure beam bundle of the projection exposure apparatus. The apparatus can also include a guide unit configured to guide the optical component. The apparatus can further include a drive unit configured to drive the optical component via drive forces so that torques generated by inertial forces of the optical component and of optional components concomitantly moved with the optical component, and the torques generated by the drive forces, which act on the guide unit, compensate for one another to less than 10%. | 12-27-2012 |
20130003035 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR LITHOGRAPHY - A lithography apparatus is provided. The lithography apparatus includes: a polarizing filter that converts incident light to first polarized light having a single polarizing direction; and a photo mask that is disposed to be separated from the polarizing filter and in which a polarizing pattern having a polarization axis of a predetermined direction in order to convert the applied first polarized light to second polarized light by adjusting a transmittance of the first polarized light and a light blocking pattern that blocks the first polarized light are formed, wherein by radiating light in which a transmittance is adjusted in the photo mask, the photoresist is patterned. Thereby, a lithography apparatus that can embody patterning having repeatability is | 01-03-2013 |
20130010275 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND SPECTRAL PURITY FILTER - A reflector includes a multi layer mirror structure configured to reflect radiation at a first wavelength, and one or more additional layers. The absorbance and refractive index at a second wavelength of the multi layer mirror structure and the one or more additional layers, and the thickness of the multi layer mirror structure and the one or more additional layers, are configured such that radiation of the second wavelength which is reflected from a surface of the reflector interferes in a destructive manner with radiation of the second wavelength which is reflected from within the reflector. | 01-10-2013 |
20130021592 | ARRANGEMENT FOR AND METHOD OF CHARACTERISING THE POLARISATION PROPERTIES OF AN OPTICAL SYSTEM - An arrangement for and a method of characterising the polarisation properties of an optical system, in particular an optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. The arrangement includes at least one polarisation state generator ( | 01-24-2013 |
20130038852 | RETICLE REMOVING APPARATUS AND RETICLE REMOVING METHOD USING THE SAME - A reticle removing apparatus adapted to remove a reticle in a reticle library of an exposure apparatus is provided. The reticle removing apparatus includes a bracket and a reticle removing module movably coupled to the bracket, wherein the reticle removing module is configured to be moved into the reticle library in a first direction to remove the reticle in the reticle library. A reticle removing method using the reticle removing apparatus is also provided. | 02-14-2013 |
20130057844 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a light source to produce projection light beam, and a first and a second diffractive optical element between the light source and a pupil plane of the illumination system. The diffractive effect produced by each diffractive optical element depends on the position of a light field that is irradiated by the projection light on the diffractive optical elements. A displacement mechanism changes the mutual spatial arrangement of the diffractive optical elements. In at least one of the mutual spatial arrangements, which can be obtained with the help of the displacement mechanism, the light field extends both over the first and the second diffractive optical element. This makes it possible to produce in a simple manner continuously variable illumination settings. | 03-07-2013 |
20130063711 | Linear Motor and Lithography Arrangement Including Linear Motor - A lithographic apparatus including a uniformity correction system is disclosed. The lithographic apparatus comprises an illumination system configured to condition a beam of radiation. The illumination system comprises a uniformity correction system located at a plane configured to receive a substantially constant pupil when illuminated with the beam of radiation. The uniformity correction system includes fingers configured to be movable into and out of intersection with a radiation beam so as to correct an intensity of respective portions of the radiation beam. A linear motor actuator arrangement drives the fingers to their respective appropriate positions to compensate for non-uniform illumination. Control is provided by a control system that precisely manipulates carriers of the fingers. | 03-14-2013 |
20130077077 | OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND MICROLITHOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE METHOD - An optical system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus and a microlithographic exposure method are disclosed. In an embodiment an optical system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes at least one mirror arrangement having a plurality of mirror elements which are displaceable independently of each other for altering an angular distribution of the light reflected by the mirror arrangement. The optical system also includes at least one manipulator downstream of the mirror arrangement in the light propagation direction. The manipulator has a raster arrangement of manipulator elements so that light incident on the manipulator during operation of the optical system is influenced differently in its polarization state and/or in its intensity in dependence on the incidence location. | 03-28-2013 |
20130083307 | Photo-Alingment Apparatus, and Method for Fabricating Liquid Crystal Display - A photo-alignment apparatus is provided, which includes an exposure machine, at least one mask and a photo-alignment area. The exposure machine includes a light source, a polarization plate, and a multilayer splitter. The light source emits an unpolarized light. The polarization plate receives the unpolarized light and converts the unpolarized light into a polarized light. The multilayer splitter split the polarized light into a first light beam and a second light beam. The mask includes at least two transmission portions which allow the first and second light beams to be transmitted therethrough and be projected onto the photo-alignment area for exposure thereto. | 04-04-2013 |
20130088700 | BLIND, EXPOSURE APPARATUS HAVING THE BLIND AND METHOD OF DRIVING THE EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An exposure apparatus includes a light source, a mask and a blind. The light source is disposed over a substrate. The light source cyclically radiates light. The mask is disposed between the light source and the substrate. The mask includes an exposure region and a peripheral region. The peripheral region surrounds the exposure region. A pattern is formed in the exposure region. A plurality of first alignment marks is disposed in the peripheral region. The blind is disposed between the light source and the mask. The blind includes a blocking plate and an adjusting part. The blocking part may move across the substrate. The blocking plate includes second alignment marks disposed at end portions of the blocking plate, opposite to each other. The adjusting part adjusts a position of the blocking plate. | 04-11-2013 |
20130088701 | IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE INSTALLATION FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY INCLUDING SAME - An imaging optical system has a plurality of mirrors which image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. The imaging optical system has a pupil obscuration. The last mirror in the beam path of the imaging light between the object field and the image field has a through-opening for the passage of the imaging light. A penultimate mirror of the imaging optical system in the beam path of the imaging light between the object field and the image field has no through-opening for the passage of the imaging light. The imaging optical system has precisely eight mirrors. The result is an imaging optical system which exhibits a favorable combination of small imaging errors, manageable production and good throughput. | 04-11-2013 |
20130107239 | OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING SUCH AN OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT | 05-02-2013 |
20130107240 | Maskless Vortex Phase Shift Optical Direct Write Lithography | 05-02-2013 |
20130114060 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes an optical integrator that includes an array of optical raster elements. A condenser superimposes the light beams associated with the optical raster elements in a common field plane. A modulator modifies a field dependency of an angular irradiance distribution in an illuminated field. Units of the modulator are associated with one of the light beams and are arranged at a position in front of the condenser such that only the associated light beam impinges on a single modulator unit. The units are configured to variably redistribute, without blocking any light, a spatial and/or an angular irradiance distribution of the associated light beams. A control device controls the modulator units if it receives an input command that the field dependency of the angular irradiance distribution in the mask plane shall be modified. | 05-09-2013 |
20130120730 | FACET MIRROR DEVICE - A facet mirror device includes a facet element and a support element which supports the facet element. The facet element includes a curved support section. The support element includes a support section. The support section of the support element forms a support edge which contacts the curved support section of the facet element. | 05-16-2013 |
20130176546 | Illumination optical unit with a movable filter element - An illumination optical unit illuminates an object field using radiation with a first wavelength. The illumination optical unit includes a filter element for suppressing radiation with a second wavelength. The filter element includes at least one component with an obscuring action. As a result of the obscuring action, during operation of the illumination optical unit there is at least one region of reduced intensity of radiation with the first wavelength on a first optical element, arranged downstream of the filter element in the light direction, of the illumination optical unit. The filter element can assume a multiplicity of positions, which lead to different regions of reduced intensity. For each point on an optical used surface of the first optical element, there is at least one position such that the point does not lie in a region of reduced intensity. | 07-11-2013 |
20130176547 | Lithographic Apparatus and a Method for Determining a Polarization Property - A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system, a support, a patterning device, a substrate table, a projection system, and a detector. The apparatus further includes a polarization changing element, such as a quarter-wave plate, that is adjustable and a polarization analyzer, such as a linear polarizer. The polarization changing element and the polarization analyzer are arranged in order in the radiation beam path at the level at which a patterning device would be held by the support. By taking intensity measurements for different rotational orientations of the polarization changing element, information on the state of polarization of the radiation at the level of the patterning device can be obtained. Because the polarization analyzer is located before the projection system, the measurements are not affected by the fact that the detector is located after the projection system, such as at the level of the substrate. | 07-11-2013 |
20130182234 | Projection Exposure System and Projection Exposure Method - A projection exposure system includes an illumination system configured to illuminate a mask with radiation. The projection exposure system also includes a projection objective configured to project an image of a pattern of the mask onto a radiation-sensitive substrate. The projection exposure system further includes an angle-selective filter arrangement arranged at or close to a field surface of the projection objective in a projection beam path optically downstream of the object surface. The angle-selective filter arrangement is effective to filter radiation incident on the filter arrangement according to an angle-selective filter function. | 07-18-2013 |
20130188164 | DOUBLE DIPOLE LITHOGRAPHY METHOD FOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE FABRICATION - A method of photolithography including coupling a first aperture to a lithography system, then performing a first illumination process to form a first pattern on a layer of a substrate using the first aperture, thereafter coupling a second aperture to the lithography system, and performing a second illumination process to form a second pattern on the layer of the substrate using the second aperture. The first aperture includes a first pair and a second pair of radiation-transmitting regions. The second aperture includes a second plate having a third pair and a fourth pair of radiation-transmitting regions. | 07-25-2013 |
20130194561 | OPTICAL COMPONENT FOR MASKLESS EXPOSURE APPARATUS - Disclosed relates to an optical component for a maskless exposure apparatus, and more particularly, to a micro-prism array or a micro-mirror array which is an optical component capable of screening diffused light such that the image of a pixel of a digital micro-mirror display (DMD) formed by a first image-forming lens in the maskless exposure apparatus has no influence on the image of a neighboring pixel and of totally reflecting the light after reflection or diffraction at the same time, thus improving exposure performance by using the quantity of light being transmitted without a loss and increasing numerical apertures (NAs) at the same time. | 08-01-2013 |
20130194562 | Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method - A lithographic apparatus comprising a source of EUV radiation, an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam, and a projection system configured to project the radiation beam onto a substrate, wherein the apparatus further comprises a filter configured to prevent or reduce the transmission of unwanted radiation and an apparatus configured to detect damage of the filter, wherein the damage detection apparatus comprises an antenna configured to receive radio waves and an analysis apparatus configured to determine the presence of filter damage based upon the received radio waves. | 08-01-2013 |
20130208254 | NANO-PHOTOLITHOGRAPHIC SUPERLENS DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING SAME - A system for nano-photolithography, a superlens device, and a method for fabricating the superlens device. A system for three-dimensional nano-photolithography includes a light source having a predetermined light wavelength, a device to be patterned, a photoresist layer of photoresponsive material photoresponsive to the predetermined light wavelength formed on the device, and a superlens device in contact with the photoresist layer. The superlens device includes a superlens layer in contact with the photoresist layer, a light permissive mask layer transparent to the predetermined light wavelength and having a layer of nanopatterned opaque features formed thereon, and an intermediate layer separating the superlens layer and the light permissive mask layer by a predetermined distance. The light source is located to radiate light at the predetermined light wavelength on the light permissive mask layer. The layer of nanopatterned opaque features includes a layer of opaque features with varying height dimensions. | 08-15-2013 |
20130208255 | SCANNING EXPOSURE APPARATUS USING MICROLENS ARRAY - A microlens array is a stacked body of four unit microlens arrays, and the optical axis of a portion of the unit microlens arrays can be shifted from the optical axis of the other unit microlens arrays. In a scanning exposure apparatus, a CCD line camera detects an image on a substrate, and using a first-layer pattern on the substrate as a reference pattern, in a case in which a mask exposure pattern does not match the reference pattern, shifts the optical axis of the microlenses to adjust the magnification of a projection pattern using the microlens array. This makes it possible to adjust the exposure position using the microlens array so that even when the exposure pattern deviates from the reference pattern, the deviation can be detected during exposure and an exposure pattern misregistration can be prevented, enabling the precision of the exposure pattern to be enhanced in an overlay exposure. | 08-15-2013 |
20130215407 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE METHOD - Exposure areas are wholly overlapped by moving a gradient refractive index lens array in a direction perpendicular to a scanning direction, or by providing a plurality of gradient refractive index lens arrays, an optical filter having a density distribution of lightness and darkness to compensate light transmission nonuniformity of the gradient refractive index lens array is arranged, or an opening control plate for limitedly using only of a uniform portion is provided. Two or more means may be simultaneously provided among the aforementioned mean. Moreover, any one of a microscopic transmission shutter array, a microscopic reflection shutter array, and a microscopic light emitter array is used instead of a mask, or an illuminating device and the mask. | 08-22-2013 |
20130222780 | EUV microlithography projection exposure apparatus with a heat light source - The disclosure relates to an EUV microlithography projection exposure apparatus having an exposure light source for producing radiation in a first spectral range from 5 nm-15 nm, and a heat light source for producing radiation in a second spectral range from 1-50 μm. The apparatus also includes an optical system having a first group of mirrors for guiding radiation from the first spectral range along a light path such that each mirror in the first group can have a first associated intensity distribution applied to it in the first spectral range during operation of the exposure light source. The heat light source is arranged such that at least one mirror in the first group can have a second associated intensity distribution in the second spectral range applied to it during operation of the heat light source. The first intensity distribution differs from the second intensity distribution essentially by a position-independent factor. | 08-29-2013 |
20130222781 | METHOD FOR DRIVING SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR, METHOD FOR FORMING PATTERN FOR EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE METHOD, AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A method for driving a spatial light modulator includes setting a plurality of mirror elements in a first region into a state of phase | 08-29-2013 |
20130229640 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD USING SAME - An exposure apparatus includes a light shielding plate that is arranged on a plane conjugate to a substrate plane and shields against light to prevent the light; a first driving unit that rotationally drives the light shielding plate about an axis parallel to an optical axis of the illumination system; a second driving unit that linearly drives the light shielding plate within a plane perpendicular to the optical axis; a detecting unit that detects a light-shielding position; and a control unit that stores a light-shielding position at reference time point and prior to and after change of the light shielding plate, and calculates a variation amount of the light-shielding position based on a light-shielding position detected by the detecting unit at any time point after the light shielding plate is changed, a light-shielding position at the reference time point, and the difference between stored light-shielding positions. | 09-05-2013 |
20130242278 | Projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus designed forEUV and a method of optically adjusting a projection objective - The invention concerns a projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus designed for EUV, for imaging an object plane illuminated in operation of the projection exposure apparatus into an image plane, wherein the projection objective has at least one mirror segment arrangement ( | 09-19-2013 |
20130242279 | CATADIOPTRIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - Catadioptric projection objective ( | 09-19-2013 |
20130242280 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL APPARATUS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination optical apparatus and projection exposure apparatus capable of reducing a light quantity loss when a mask is illuminated with a polarized illumination light. An illumination optical system for illuminating a reticle with an illumination light and a projection optical system for projecting the pattern image of the reticle onto a wafer are provided. An illumination light emitted from an exposure light source in a linearly polarized state in the illumination optical system passes through first and second birefringent members having different fast axis directions and is converted into a polarized state that is substantially linearly polarized in a circumferential direction with the optical axis as the center in an almost specific annular area, and them illuminates the reticle under an annular illuminating condition after passing through a fly-eye lens. | 09-19-2013 |
20130242281 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An exposure apparatus includes a pattern generator with light switches arrayed on a plane parallel to a surface of an object to be exposed. Each of the light switches has a switching element that is a rectangular pillar of an electro-optic crystal, and a pair of polarizers arranged on respective sides in the long axis direction of the switching element. The exposure apparatus drives the light switches individually to generate an exposure pattern having a certain bright and dark form and irradiate the object to be exposed with the pattern. Furthermore, the exposure apparatus has a plurality of microlenses provided on the light-output side of the pattern generator so that the optical axes of the microlenses are aligned to the longitudinal center axes of the switching elements, so as to project images of light-output ends of the switching elements at reduced size onto the object to be exposed. | 09-19-2013 |
20130250265 | Projection Exposure Apparatus for EUV Microlithography and Method for Microlithographic Exposure - The disclosure relates to a projection exposure apparatus for EUV microlithography which includes an illumination system for illuminating a pattern, and a projection objective for imaging the pattern onto a light-sensitive substrate. The projection objective has a pupil plane with an obscuration. The illumination system generates light with an angular distribution having an illumination pole which extends over a range of polar angles and a range of azimuth angles and within which the light intensity is greater than an illumination pole minimum value. From the illumination pole toward large polar angles a dark zone is excluded within which the light intensity is less than the illumination pole minimum value, and which has in regions a form corresponding to the form of the obscuration of the pupil plane. | 09-26-2013 |
20130250266 | Projection exposure apparatus with optimized adjustment possibility - Method for operating a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography, the projection exposure apparatus comprising an optical element, a manipulator, which acts on the optical element by changing the temperature of the optical element and the deflection of which brings about a heat flow caused by the manipulator into the optical element. The history of the effects, in particular the temperatures introduced into the optical element or the optical effects caused thereby, of the manipulator are recorded in a record. | 09-26-2013 |
20130250267 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A system to control the focus of a mask-less lithographic apparatus, the apparatus including a projection system to project an image of a programmable patterning device onto a substrate. A first actuator system is configured to move at least one of the lenses of the projection system in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the projection system. A radiation beam expander is configured to project an image of the programmable patterning device onto the at least one lens. A second actuator system is configured to move the radiation beam expander in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the projection system in order to control the focus of the image projected onto the substrate. | 09-26-2013 |
20130250268 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL APPARATUS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination optical apparatus and projection exposure apparatus capable of reducing a light quantity loss when a mask is illuminated with a polarized illumination light. An illumination optical system for illuminating a reticle with an illumination light and a projection optical system for projecting the pattern image of the reticle onto a wafer are provided. An illumination light emitted from an exposure light source in a linearly polarized state in the illumination optical system passes through first and second birefringent members having different fast axis directions and is converted into a polarized state that is substantially linearly polarized in a circumferential direction with the optical axis as the center in an almost specific annular area, and them illuminates the reticle under an annular illuminating condition after passing through a fly-eye lens. | 09-26-2013 |
20130250269 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An exposure apparatus has an optical device configured to be capable of diffusing coherent light beams from respective points to the entire region of at least a specific zone, an irradiation unit configured to irradiate the coherent light beams to the optical device so that the coherent light beams scan a surface of the optical device, and a spatial light modulator that is provided at a location overlapped with the specific zone and illuminated by the illumination device. The irradiation unit makes the coherent light beams scan the surface of the optical device by changing propagation directions of the coherent light beams, and coherent light beams modulated by the spatial light modulator are guided to a surface of a photosensitive medium. | 09-26-2013 |
20130258304 | ENHANCED EUV LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM - The present disclosure provides a semiconductor lithography system. The lithography system includes a projection optics component. The projection optics component includes a curved aperture. The lithography system includes a photo mask positioned over the projection optics component. The photo mask contains a plurality of elongate semiconductor patterns. The semiconductor patterns each point in a direction substantially perpendicular to the curved aperture of the projection optics component. The present disclosure also provides a method. The method includes receiving a design layout for a semiconductor device. The design layout contains a plurality of semiconductor patterns each oriented in a given direction. The method includes transforming the design layout into a mask layout. The semiconductor patterns in the mask layout are oriented in a plurality of different directions as a function of their respective location. | 10-03-2013 |
20130258305 | Scanned-Spot-Array EUV Lithography System - In an EUV scanned-spot-array lithography system, a modulated array of radiation beams diverging from object spots on an object surface and is projected onto a printing surface by means of a two-mirror projection system similar to a flat-image, Schwarzschild system. Each beam converges to a diffraction-limited image point on the surface, and the surface is scanned in synchronization with the beam modulation to print a synthesized, high-resolution raster image. The spot-generation optics can be configured to compensate for object field curvature, distortion, and geometric point-imaging aberrations in the projection system, enabling diffraction-limited printing without coherent proximity effects over the full image field. The spot-generation optics can comprise either micromirrors or transmitting microlenses, and can be diffractive (e.g., phase-Fresnel lenses) or non-diffractive. Chromatic dispersion in either refractive or diffractive elements can be substantially eliminated by configuring the micro-optics as Schupmann achromatic doublets. | 10-03-2013 |
20130271741 | Optical system, in particular of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus - The invention relates to an optical system, in particular of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, with a polarization-influencing optical arrangement ( | 10-17-2013 |
20130271742 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ALIGNMENT PROCESSING - The present invention employs a plurality of photomasks each having first and second apertures of which widths are set so that adjacent end regions of the adjacent first and second alignment regions overlap with each other with an overlapping dimension approximately equal to a tracking accuracy of an alignment device. The photomasks are arranged alternately in a direction intersecting the scanning direction of the substrate so that the first and the second apertures are arranged at a constant pitch. In this state, two polarized lights, that are different in at least one of polarization direction and incident angle to a substrate, are made to be incident into the first and the second apertures, respectively, to irradiate an alignment film on the substrate with the two lights that have passed through the first and the second apertures, respectively, to form the first and the second alignment regions adjacently to each other. | 10-17-2013 |
20130278912 | SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING DEVICE - A spatial light modulator has a plurality of mirror elements each of which is controllable into a first state in which the mirror element reflects incident light with a change in a phase thereof by a first phase and a second state in which the mirror element reflects the incident light with a change in the phase thereof by a second phase 180° different from the first phase; and a boundary portion arranged between the mirror elements, which changes the phase of the incident light by a third phase substantially (90°+k·180°) (where k is an integer) different from the first phase. In projecting a pattern with the use of the spatial light modulator, an error caused in the pattern can be reduced even if the light quantity of light passing a gap region between the optical elements in the spatial light modulator is large. | 10-24-2013 |
20130278913 | FILTER DEVICE FOR THE COMPENSATION OF AN ASYMMETRIC PUPIL ILLUMINATION - The invention relates to a filter device for an illumination system, especially for the correction of the illumination of the illuminating pupil, including a light source, with the illumination system being passed through by a bundle of illuminating rays from the light source to an object plane, with the bundle of illuminating rays impinging upon the filter device, including at least one filter element which can be introduced into the beam path of the bundle of illuminating rays, with the filter element including an actuating device, so that the filter element can be brought with the help of the actuating device into the bundle of illuminating rays. | 10-24-2013 |
20130293861 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises an optical integrator having a plurality of light entrance facets and a beam deflection array of reflective or transparent beam deflecting elements. Each beam deflecting element is configured to illuminate a spot on the optical integrator at a position that is variable by changing a deflection angle produced by the beam deflecting element. The illumination system further comprises a control unit which is configured to control the beam deflection elements in such a manner that a light pattern assembled from the spots on at least one of the light entrance facets is varied in response to an input command that a field dependency of the angular irradiance distribution in a mask plane shall be modified. | 11-07-2013 |
20130293862 | POLARIZATION-MODULATING OPTICAL ELEMENT - A microlithography optical system includes a projection objective and an illumination system that includes a temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element. The temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element includes a first polarization-modulating optical element of optically active material, the first polarization-modulating optical element having a first specific rotation with a sign. The temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element includes also includes a second polarization-modulating optical element of optically active material, the second polarization-modulating optical element having a second specific rotation with a sign opposite to the sign of the first specific rotation. | 11-07-2013 |
20130301025 | Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method Utilizing Data Filtering - An apparatus and method are used to form patterns on a substrate. The apparatus comprises a projection system, a patterning device, a low-pass filter, and a data manipulation device. The projection system projects a beam of radiation onto the substrate as an array of sub-beams. The patterning device modulates the sub-beams to substantially produce a requested dose pattern on the substrate. The low-pass filter operates on pattern data derived from the requested dose pattern in order to form a frequency-clipped target dose pattern that comprises only spatial frequency components below a selected threshold frequency. The data manipulation device produces a control signal comprising spot exposure intensities to be produced by the patterning device, based on a direct algebraic least-squares fit of the spot exposure intensities to the frequency-clipped target dose pattern. In various examples, filters can also be used. | 11-14-2013 |
20130301026 | MASK AND OPTICAL FILTER MANUFACTURING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME - A mask and an optical filter manufacturing apparatus including the same are provided. A mask used for a roll-to-roll process of forming patterns in a base film configured to move along a curved surface includes a mask body having a curved surface disposed opposite a roll around which the base film is wound and a plane surface corresponding to the reverse side of the curved surface. The curved surface of the mask body is disposed a predetermined distance apart from a curved surface of the roll. The mask and optical filter manufacturing apparatus enable formation of uniform patterns on the base film to enhance the quality of products and precisely attain the properties of the base film. | 11-14-2013 |
20130308113 | EXPOSURE METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING DEVICE WITH LIGHT AMOUNT DISTRIBUTION HAVING LIGHT LARGER IN FOUR AREAS - An exposure method and apparatus for illuminating a pattern with an illumination system to expose a substrate through a projection system. The pattern is illuminated with illumination light with a light amount distribution in which an amount of light is larger in a pair of first areas and a pair of second areas than in an area other than the first and second areas on a pupil plane of the illumination system. The pair of the first areas being arranged outside an optical axis, the pair of the second areas being arranged on ten same straight line as the pair of the first areas are arranged on, and the pair of the second areas being arranged outside the pair of the first areas. | 11-21-2013 |
20130308114 | EXPOSURE METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING DEVICE WITH LIGHT AMOUNT DISTRIBUTION HAVING LIGHT LARGER IN FOUR AREAS - An exposure method and apparatus for illuminating a pattern with an illumination system to expose a substrate through a projection system. The pattern is illuminated with illumination light with a light amount distribution in which an amount of light is larger in a pair of first areas and a pair of second areas than in an area other than the first and second areas on a pupil plane of the illumination system. The pair of the first areas being arranged outside an optical axis, the pair of the second areas being arranged on ten same straight line as the pair of the first areas are arranged on, and the pair of the second areas being arranged outside the pair of the first areas. | 11-21-2013 |
20130308115 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises a light source which is configured to produce projection light (PL), a pupil plane and a diffractive optical element that is arranged between the light source and the pupil plane such that an irradiance distribution of projection light (PL) in the pupil plane depends on the position of a field that is illuminated by the projection light (PL) on the diffractive optical element. The illumination system further comprises an optical imaging system-that is arranged between the light source and the diffractive optical element. The optical imaging system ensures that changes of the direction and divergence of the projection light (PL) emitted by the light source have no substantial effect on the position and size of the field which is illuminated on the diffractive optical element by the projection light (PL). | 11-21-2013 |
20130314683 | SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR, METHOD OF DRIVING SAME, AND EXPOSURE METHOD AND APPARATUS - A method of driving a spatial light modulator includes: setting, in an array of mirror elements, mirror elements in a first state for turning incident light into reflected light with the same phase as that of the incident light or with a phase different by a first phase from that of the incident light and mirror elements in a second state for turning incident light into reflected light with a phase different approximately 180° from the first phase to an arrangement with a first phase distribution; and setting, in the array of mirror elements, the first mirror elements and the second mirror elements to an arrangement with a second phase distribution which is an inversion of the first phase distribution. | 11-28-2013 |
20130342821 | IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM - The disclosure generally relates to imaging optical systems that include a plurality of mirrors, which image an object field lying in an object plane in an image field lying in an image plane, where at least one of the mirrors has a through-hole for imaging light to pass through. The disclosure also generally relates to projection exposure installations that include such imaging optical systems, methods of using such projection exposure installations, and components made by such methods. | 12-26-2013 |
20140016109 | ARRANGEMENT FOR ACTUATING AN ELEMENT IN A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The invention relates to an arrangement for actuating an element in an optical system of a projection exposure apparatus, wherein the projection exposure apparatus has a carrying frame, comprising at least one actuator for exerting controllable forces on the element, wherein the actuator has a first actuator part, which is coupled to the carrying frame via at least one mechanical filter, and a second actuator part, which is mechanically coupled directly to the carrying frame, and wherein the loading on the first actuator part is at least partly relieved by the second actuator part when forces are exerted on the element. | 01-16-2014 |
20140028990 | POLARIZATION-MODULATING ELEMENT, ILLUMINATION OPTICAL APPARATUS, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND EXPOSURE METHOD - There is disclosed a polarization-modulating element for modulating a polarization state of incident light into a predetermined polarization state, the polarization-modulating element being made of an optical material with optical activity and having a circumferentially varying thickness profile. | 01-30-2014 |
20140028991 | EXPOSURE CONTROL DEVICE - An exposure controller according to the present disclosure is to be arranged on an optical path, and includes first and second light quantity regulators, each of which has a first region that has a property of transmitting a light beam polarized in a particular direction and a second region that does not have the property of transmitting a light beam polarized in the particular direction. The exposure controller regulates the quantity of light by rotating the first and second light quantity regulators. | 01-30-2014 |
20140036247 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT - An illumination optical unit for an EUV projection exposure apparatus has a diaphragm comprising a radiation-transmissive region having a discrete symmetry group. The form of the diaphragm is adapted to the form of the facets of a pupil facet mirror or to the form of the radiation source. The diaphragm is preferably arranged in the region of an intermediate focal plane. | 02-06-2014 |
20140043595 | EUV collector system with enhanced EUV radiation collection - A collector system for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation includes a collector mirror and a radiation-collection enhancement device (RCED) arranged adjacent an aperture member of an illuminator. The collector mirror directs EUV radiation from an EUV radiation source towards the aperture member. The RCED redirects a portion of the EUV radiation that would not otherwise pass through the aperture of the aperture member or that would not have an optimum angular distribution, to pass through the aperture and to have an improved angular distribution better suited to input specifications of an illuminator. This provides the illuminator with greater amount of useable EUV radiation than would otherwise be available from the collector mirror alone, thereby enhancing the performing of an EUV lithography system that uses such a collector system with a RCED. | 02-13-2014 |
20140043596 | ARRANGEMENT FOR ACTUATING AN ELEMENT IN A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An arrangement actuates an element in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. The arrangement includes first and second actuators and first and second mechanical couplings. The first and second actuators are coupled to the element via corresponding ones of the first and second mechanical couplings for applying respective forces to the element which is regulatable in at least one degree of freedom. The first and second actuators have first and second actuator masses, respectively, and the first actuator mass and the first mechanical coupling conjointly define a first mass-spring system operating as a first low-pass filter. The second actuator mass and the second mechanical coupling conjointly define a second mass-spring system operating as a second low-pass filter. The first and second mass-spring systems have first and second natural frequencies deviating from each other by a maximum deviation equal to 10% of the largest of the first and second natural frequencies. | 02-13-2014 |
20140071420 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A lithographic projection apparatus is disclosed for use with an immersion liquid positioned between the projection system and a substrate. Several methods and mechanism are disclosed to protect components of the projection system, substrate table and a liquid confinement system. These include providing a protective coating on a final element of the projection system as well as providing one or more sacrificial bodies upstream of the components. A two component final optical element of CaF | 03-13-2014 |
20140071421 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, PROGRAMMABLE PATTERNING DEVICE AND LITHOGRAPHIC METHOD - In an embodiment, a lithographic apparatus is disclosed that includes a modulator configured to expose an exposure area of the substrate to a plurality of beams modulated according to a desired pattern and a projection system configured to project the modulated beams onto the substrate. The modulator includes a deflector to displace the plurality of beams with respect to an exposure area. | 03-13-2014 |
20140078486 | Grazing Incidence Reflectors, Lithographic Apparatus, Methods for Manufacturing a Grazing Incidence Reflector and Methods for Manufacturing a Device - A grazing incidence reflector ( | 03-20-2014 |
20140078487 | METHOD FOR MOVING AN OPTICAL ELEMENT OF A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY - The invention relates to a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography comprising an optical element actuatable by a first and a second actuator. The actuators are controlled via control intervals in such a way that a minimum deflectability predefined in accordance with a preselectable parameter α is guaranteed at every point in time of the control. | 03-20-2014 |
20140085619 | Lithographic Apparatus, Spectral Purity Filter and Device Manufacturing Method - A lithographic apparatus for patterning a beam of radiation and projecting it onto a substrate, comprising at least two spectral purity filters configured to reduce the intensity of radiation in the beam of radiation in at least one undesirable range of radiation wavelength, wherein the two spectral purity filters are provided with different radiation filtering structures from each other. | 03-27-2014 |
20140092373 | FABRICATION OF HIGH EFFICIENCY, HIGH QUALITY, LARGE AREA DIFFRACTIVE WAVEPLATES AND ARRAYS - An apparatus and method is presented for fabricating high quality one- or two dimensional diffractive waveplates and their arrays that exhibit high diffraction efficiency over large area and being capable of inexpensive large volume production. Employed is a generally non-holographic and aperiodic polarization converter for converting the polarization of a coherent input light beam that may be of a visible wavelength into a pattern of continuous spatial modulation at the output of said polarization converter. A photoresponsive material characterized by an anisotropy axis that may be formed or aligned according to polarization of said light beam is exposed to said polarization modulation pattern and may be coated subsequently with an anisotropic material overlayer. | 04-03-2014 |
20140118715 | Laser Interference Lithography Apparatus Using Fiber as Spatial Filter and Beam Expander - In a laser interference lithography apparatus, a laser source provides a first laser beam, and an optics assembly is optically coupled to the laser source and receives and processes the first laser beam into one or multiple second laser beams. An exposure stage carries a to-be-exposed object. The fiber assembly receives and processes the second laser beam(s) into one or multiple single mode and stable coherent third laser beams without spatial noise. An interference pattern is generated on the to-be-exposed object using the third laser beam(s). The apparatus is configured without a pin hole spatial filter and a beam expander being disposed on an optical path from an output end of the laser source to the exposure stage. | 05-01-2014 |
20140132942 | OPTICAL SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND MICROLITHOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE - The disclosure relates to optical systems of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, and to a microlithographic exposure method. According to an aspect of the disclosure, an optical system has a light source, a ray-splitting optical element, which splits a light ray incident on this element when the projection exposure apparatus is in operation into a first partial ray and a second partial ray, with the first and the second partial ray having mutually orthogonal polarization directions, and at least one ray-deflecting optical element for generating a desired polarized illumination setting from the first partial ray and the second partial ray, wherein the ray-splitting optical element is arranged such that light incident on this ray-splitting optical element when the projection exposure apparatus is in operation has a degree of polarization of less than one. | 05-15-2014 |
20140160456 | OPTICAL APERTURE DEVICE - An optical module includes an aperture device and a support structure supporting the aperture device. The aperture device defines an aperture edge and an aperture plane. The aperture edge is adapted to define a geometry of a light beam passing the aperture device along an optical axis. The support structure is adapted to hold the aperture device in a defined manner when the aperture plane is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane. A temperature distribution prevails within the aperture device and at least one of the aperture device and the support structure is adapted to maintain at least one of a relative position of the aperture edge with respect to the optical axis and a geometry of the aperture edge substantially unaltered upon an introduction of a thermal energy into the aperture device, where the thermal energy being adapted to cause an alteration in the temperature distribution. | 06-12-2014 |
20140176932 | RETICLE, EXPOSURE APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME, AND EXPOSURE METHOD - A reticle including exposure monitoring keys. The reticle includes an exposure region that is to be exposed to light during an exposure process, and a non-exposure region surrounding the exposure region and not to be exposed to the light. The exposure monitoring keys are disposed across a boundary between the exposure region and the non-exposure region. | 06-26-2014 |
20140204356 | ARRANGEMENT FOR ACTUATING AN ELEMENT IN A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The invention relates to arrangements for actuating an element in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. In accordance with one aspect, an arrangement for actuating an element in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises a first number (n | 07-24-2014 |
20140211189 | RADIATION MODULATOR FOR A LITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS, A LITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS, A METHOD OF MODULATING RADIATION FOR USE IN LITHOGRAPHY, AND A DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A radiation modulator for a lithography apparatus, a lithography apparatus, a method of modulating radiation for use in lithography, and a device manufacturing method is disclosed. The radiation modulator for a lithography apparatus may have a plurality of waveguides supporting propagation therethough of radiation having a wavelength less than 450 nm; and a modulating section configured to individually modulate radiation propagating in each of the waveguides in order to provide a modulated plurality of output beams. | 07-31-2014 |
20140218710 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR FORMING A RETICLE - A method of forming a reticle includes: loading a blank reticle; projecting an electron beam; moving a second aperture plate having a first pattern aperture and a second pattern aperture so that the first pattern aperture is directly overlapped by a first aperture of a first aperture plate, the electron beam passing through the first pattern aperture after passing the first aperture; exposing the blank reticle with the electron beam after the electron beam passes the first pattern aperture, to form a first exposure pattern; moving the second aperture plate so that the second pattern aperture is directly overlapped by the first aperture of the first aperture plate, the electron beam passing through the second pattern aperture after passing the first aperture; exposing the blank reticle with the electron beam after the electron beam passes the second pattern aperture, to form a second exposure pattern; and developing the blank reticle having the first and second exposure patterns to form the reticle having first and second patterns. | 08-07-2014 |
20140233008 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, DEVICE PRODUCTION METHOD, AND LIGHT POLARIZATION UNIT - An illumination optical system which illuminates an illumination objective surface with a light from a light source. The illumination optical system includes a spatial light modulator which includes a plurality of optical elements arranged within a predetermined plane and controlled individually, and which forms a light intensity distribution in an illumination pupil of the illumination optical system; and a polarization unit which is arranged in a position optically conjugate with the predetermined plane, and which polarizes an incident light beam having a first and second partial light beams, coming into the polarization unit such that the first and second partial light beams have polarization states different from each other, and emits the polarized incident light beam as an outgoing light beam, wherein the polarization unit changes, in a cross section of the outgoing light beam, a ratio between a cross sectional areas of the first and second partial light beams. | 08-21-2014 |
20140253895 | CYLINDRICAL RETICLE SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND EXPOSURE METHOD - A cylindrical reticle system is provided for performing a unidirectional scan-exposure. The cylindrical reticle system includes a base and a center shaft fixed a one side of the base. The cylindrical reticle system also includes a first bearing fixed at the end of the center shaft near to the base and a second bearing fixed at the other end of the center shaft far from the base. Further, the cylindrical reticle system includes a cylindrical reticle having an imaging region and two non-imaging regions at both end of the imaging region. | 09-11-2014 |
20140253896 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND EXPOSURE METHOD THEREOF - An exposure apparatus is provided for performing an unidirectional scan-exposure. The exposure apparatus includes a base and a wafer stage group having a plurality of wafer stages on the base for holding wafers and successively moving from a first position to a second position of the base cyclically. The exposure apparatus also includes an alignment detection unit above the first position for detecting wafer stage fiducials at the first position and alignment marks on a wafer on the wafer stage to align the wafer. Further, the exposure apparatus includes a reticle stage on the second position for loading a cylindrical reticle and causing the cylindrical reticle to rotate around the center axis of the reticle stage and an optical projection unit between the reticle stage and the base for projecting light passing through the cylindrical reticle onto exposure regions on a wafer on the wafer stage. | 09-11-2014 |
20140253897 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND EXPOSURE METHOD THEREOF - A wafer alignment system is provided for performing a unidirectional scan-exposure. The wafer alignment system includes a plurality of wafer stages successively moving from a first position to a second position of a base cyclically. The wafer alignment method also includes an encoder plate having a first opening and a second opening. Further, the wafer alignment system includes a plurality of encoder plate readers and a plurality of wafer stage fiducials on the wafer stages. Further, the wafer alignment system also includes an alignment detection unit above the first opening of the encoder plate. | 09-11-2014 |
20140268085 | OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The invention relates to an optical system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, comprising an optical system axis (OA) and a polarization-influencing optical arrangement, wherein the polarization-influencing optical arrangement comprises a first polarization-influencing element, which is produced from optically uniaxial crystal material and has a first orientation of the optical crystal axis, the-first orientation being perpendicular to the optical system axis and a thickness that varies in the direction of the optical system axis, and a second polarization-influencing element, which is arranged downstream of the first polarization-influencing element in the light propagation direction, is produced from optically uniaxial crystal material and has a second orientation of the optical crystal axis, the second orientation being perpendicular to the optical system axis, and a plane-parallel geometry, wherein the second orientation is different from the first orientation. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268086 | Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Process and Mask - The present disclosure is directed towards lithography processes. In one embodiment, a patterned mask is provided. An information of a position of diffraction light (PDL) on a pupil plane of a projection optics box (POB) is used to define as a light-transmitting region of a pupil filter. The patterned mask is exposed by an on-axis illumination (ONI) with partial coherence σ less than 0.3. The pupil filter is used to transmit diffraction light to a target. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268087 | Lithography and Mask for Resolution Enhancement - A lithography process in a lithography system includes loading a mask having multiple mask states and having a mask pattern consisting of a plurality of polygons and a field. Different mask states are assigned to adjacent polygons and the field. The lithography process further includes configuring an illuminator to generate an illumination pattern on an illumination pupil plane of the lithography system; configuring a pupil filter on a projection pupil plane of the lithography system with a filtering pattern determined according to the illumination pattern; and performing an exposure process to a target with the illuminator, the mask, and the pupil filter. The exposure process produces diffracted light and non-diffracted light behind the mask and the pupil filter removes most of the non-diffracted light. | 09-18-2014 |
20140285787 | EXPOSURE SYSTEM AND EXPOSURE METHOD - According to one embodiment, an exposure system includes: a supporting stage; a plurality of masks provided on an upper side of the supporting stage; and a light source being capable of irradiating a substrate with light through the plurality of masks, the plurality of masks including: a first mask, and a light shielding film being patterned in the first mask; and a second mask provided on an upper side or a lower side of the first mask, the second mask including a second region facing a first region of the first mask, the light shielding film not being present in the first region, and a light shielding film not being patterned in the second region or the light shielding film being patterned in at least a part of the second region, and a plurality of laser-irradiated marks being provided in at least the second region of the second mask. | 09-25-2014 |
20140285788 | OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND MICROLITHOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE METHOD - The invention relates to an optical system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, and to a microlithographic exposure method. An optical system for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises a polarization-influencing optical arrangement, wherein the polarization-influencing optical arrangement comprises at least one first array of first polarization-influencing elements and a second array of second polarization-influencing elements, wherein the first and second arrays are arranged successively in the light propogation direction, wherein the first and second polarization-influencing elements in each case have a birefringence that is dependent on the presence of an electric field, and wherein the first polarization-influencing elements and the second polarization-influencing elements are transverse Pockels cells. | 09-25-2014 |
20140285789 | Lithography Method and Structure for Resolution Enhancement with a Two-State Mask - A lithography process in a lithography system includes loading a mask that includes two mask states defining an integrated circuit (IC) pattern. The IC pattern includes a plurality of main polygons, wherein adjacent main polygons are assigned to different mask states; and a background includes a field in one of the mask states and a plurality of sub-resolution polygons in another of the two mask states. The lithography process further includes configuring an illuminator to generate an illuminating pattern on an illumination pupil plane of the lithography system; configuring a pupil filter on a projection pupil plane of the lithography system with a filtering pattern determined according to the illumination pattern; and performing an exposure process to a target with the illuminator, the mask, and the pupil filter. The exposure process produces diffracted light and non-diffracted light behind the mask and the pupil filter removes most of the non-diffracted light. | 09-25-2014 |
20140293256 | MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - Microlithography projection objectives for imaging into an image plane a pattern arranged in an object plane are described with respect to suppressing false light in such projection objectives. | 10-02-2014 |
20140300881 | DIGITAL EXPOSURE DEVICE USING GLV AND DIGITAL EXPOSURE DEVICE USING DMD - A digital exposure device including a GLV or a DMD. The digital exposure device also includes: a stage to support and move a substrate in a scan direction; an optical system disposed between the stage and the GLV or the DMD, to form a pattern on the substrate by modulating light received from the GLV or the DMD; and a control unit to control the a width of the pattern by a unit, the unit being obtained by dividing the width of the pattern by a natural number m, in the second direction. | 10-09-2014 |
20140300882 | ARRANGEMENT FOR ACTUATING AN ELEMENT IN A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The invention relates to arrangements for actuating an element in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. In accordance with one aspect, an arrangement for actuating an element in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises a first number (n | 10-09-2014 |
20140307245 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL ASSEMBLY, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An illumination optical system can form a pupil intensity distribution with a desired beam profile. The illumination optical system for illuminating an illumination target surface with light from a light source is provided with a spatial light modulator which has a plurality of optical elements arrayed on a predetermined surface and individually controlled and which variably forms a light intensity distribution on an illumination pupil of the illumination optical system; a divergence angle providing member which is arranged in a conjugate space including a surface optically conjugate with the predetermined surface and which provides a divergence angle to an incident beam and emits the beam; and a polarizing member which is arranged at a position in the vicinity of the predetermined surface or in the conjugate space and which changes a polarization state of a partial beam of a propagating beam propagating in an optical path. | 10-16-2014 |
20140327898 | MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION OPTICAL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A DEVICE - In some embodiments, a catoptric microlithgraphy projection optical system includes a plurality of reflective optical elements arranged to image radiation from an object field in an object plane to an image field in an image plane. The image field can have a size of at least 1 mm×1 mm. This optical system can have an object-image shift (OIS) of about 75 mm or less. Metrology and testing can be easily implemented despite rotations of the optical system about a rotation axis. Such a catoptric microlithgraphy projection optical system can be implemented in a microlithography tool. Such a microlithography tool can be used to produce microstructured components. | 11-06-2014 |
20140340665 | ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT EMITTING DIODE ARRAY LIGHT SOURCE FOR PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY AND METHOD - A light source includes a plurality of ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) and an LED phase shift controller coupled to the plurality of UV LEDs adapted to control the phase shift of each UV LED in the plurality of UV LEDs. The plurality of UV LEDs forms a UV LED array. An ultraviolet lithography system can include a light source as described above. The system can further include a mirror assembly in a light path of the light source, the mirror assembly having a polarization mirror with an interference coating. A method provides a light source for an ultraviolet lithography system including the element of providing an plurality of UV LEDs that emit UV light and the element of controlling a phase shift of the plurality of UV LEDs with an LED phase shift controller coupled to each UV LED or arrays of the UV LEDs in the plurality of UV LEDs. | 11-20-2014 |
20140347647 | METHOD FOR ADJUSTING A PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - A projection objective having a number of adjustable optical elements is optimized with respect to a number of aberrations by specifying a set of parameters describing imaging properties of the objective, each parameter in the set having an absolute value at each of a plurality of field points in an image plane of the projection objective. At least one of the optical elements is adjusted such that for each of the parameters in the set, the field maximum of its absolute value is minimized. | 11-27-2014 |
20140362362 | METHOD FOR ADJUSTING AN OPTICAL SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A method for adjusting an optical system in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes establishing, for a given actual position of a polarization-influencing component, a distribution of IPS values in a pupil plane of the projection exposure apparatus. Each IPS value denotes the degree of realization of a predetermined polarization state for a light ray reflected at a respective mirror element of the mirror arrangement. The method also includes changing the position of the polarization-influencing component on the basis of the established distribution. | 12-11-2014 |
20150015866 | RADIATING DEVICE AND MEDIA EXPOSURE DEVICE - This invention relates to a media exposing device for exposing media. The media exposure device includes a holding structure; a substrate having a plurality of diodes mounted thereon; and a radiation modification element for modifying the radiation emitted by the diodes. The substrate and the radiation modification element are secured by the holding structure in an arrangement wherein the diodes can emit radiation from the device and wherein the radiation modification element is spaced from the diodes in the radiation path of the diodes; and a telecentric lens secured to the holding structure in an arrangement wherein the telecentric lens is substantially in register with the radiation path of the diodes. | 01-15-2015 |
20150022799 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM INCLUDING MULTIPLE MIRRORS - An imaging optical system includes a plurality of mirrors configured to image an object field in an object plane of the imaging optical system into an image field in an image plane of the imaging optical system. An illumination system includes such an imaging optical system. The transmission losses of the illumination system are relatively low. | 01-22-2015 |
20150029482 | PROJECTION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND EXPOSURE METHOD - An immersion projection optical system having, for example, a catadioptric and off-axis structure, reduces the portion of an image space filled with liquid (immersion liquid). The projection optical system, which projects a reduced image of a first plane onto a second plane through the liquid, includes a refractive optical element (Lp) arranged nearest to the second plane. The refractive optical element includes a light emitting surface (Lpb) shaped to be substantially symmetric with respect to two axial directions (XY-axes) perpendicular to each other on the second plane. The light emitting surface has a central axis (Lpba) that substantially coincides with a central axis ( | 01-29-2015 |
20150029483 | Exposure Device, Exposure Method and Method of Manufacturing Semiconductor Device - The present invention provides a highly controllable device for exposure from the back side and an exposure method, and also provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using the same. The present invention involves exposure with the use of the back side exposure device of which a reflecting means is disposed on the front side of a substrate, apart from a photosensitive thin film surface by a distance X (X=0.1 μm to 1000 μm), and formation of a photosensitive thin film pattern in a self alignment manner, with good controllability, at a position a distance Y away from the end of a pattern. The invention fabricates a TFT using that method. | 01-29-2015 |
20150036116 | APERTURE FOR PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY - An aperture is configured to be disposed between an illumination source and a semiconductor substrate in a photolithography system. The aperture includes a light-transmission portion with a non-planar thickness profile to compensate the discrepancy of wave-fronts of the light beams of different orders. | 02-05-2015 |
20150042973 | PHOTONIC ACTIVATION OF REACTANTS FOR SUB-MICRON FEATURE FORMATION USING DEPLETED BEAMS - A fine feature formation method and apparatus provide photon induced deposition, etch and thermal or photon based treatment in an area of less than the diameter or cross section of a STED depleted laser beam. At least two STED depleted beams are directed to a reaction location on a substrate where a beam overlap region having an area smaller than the excitation portion of the beams is formed. A reactant or reactants introduced to the reaction region is excited by the combined energy of the excitation portions of the two beams, but not excited outside of the overlap region of the two excitation portions of the beams. A reactant is caused to occur only in the overlap region. The overlap region may be less that 20 nm wide, and less than 1 nm in width, to enable the formation of substrate features, or the change in the substrate, in a small area. | 02-12-2015 |
20150042974 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT AND OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR EUV PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY - An illumination optical unit for EUV projection lithography serves for obliquely illuminating an illumination field, in which an object field of a downstream imaging catoptric optical unit and a reflective object to be imaged can be arranged. A pupil generating device of the illumination optical unit is embodied so that an illumination pupil results, which brings about a dependency of an imaging telecentricity against a structure variable of the object to be imaged. This dependency is such that a dependency of the imaging telecentricity against the structure variable of the object to be imaged on account of interaction of the oblique illumination with structures of the object to be imaged is at least partly compensated for. An optical system for EUV projection lithography also has an imaging catoptric optical unit alongside an illumination optical unit and can additionally have a wavefront manipulation device. | 02-12-2015 |
20150049321 | FACET MIRROR - Illumination optical unit for illuminating an object field in a projection exposure apparatus, comprising a first facet mirror with a structure, which has a spatial frequency of at least 0.2 mm | 02-19-2015 |
20150062551 | OPTICAL SYSTEM, IN PARTICULAR OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The invention relates to an optical system, in particular of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, with an optical system axis (OA) and a polarization-influencing optical arrangement. According to one aspect, the polarization-influencing optical arrangement comprises at least one polarization-influencing optical element, which has a monolithic design and linear birefringence, wherein the overall absolute value of the birefringence of all of the polarization-influencing optical elements deviates by at most +15% from the value lambda/2, wherein lambda is the working wavelength of the optical system, wherein the direction of the fast axis of this birefringence varies in a plane perpendicular to the optical system axis (OA) in the at least one polarization-influencing optical element, and wherein the distribution of the fast axis of the birefringence of the polarization-influencing optical element is brought about by radiation-induced defects, which are situated in at least one optically unused region of the element. | 03-05-2015 |
20150070676 | LIGHT MODULATOR AND EXPOSURE HEAD - A first electro-optic crystal substrate and a second electro-optic crystal substrate are provided as an electro-optic crystal substrate. The first electro-optic crystal substrate comprises a first periodic polarization reversal structure in which first polarization pairs, in each of which the directions of polarization in response to electric fields are opposite to each other, are arranged in a first period along a first arrangement direction which is orthogonal or inclined with respect to the direction of propagation, and light passes through the first periodic polarization reversal structure. The second electro-optic crystal substrate comprises a second periodic polarization reversal structure in which second polarization pairs, in each of which the directions of polarization in response to electric fields are opposite to each other, are arranged in a second period along a second arrangement direction which is orthogonal or inclined with respect to the direction of propagation, and light outstanding from the first electro-optic crystal substrate passes through the second periodic polarization reversal structure. At least one of a first condition and a second condition is satisfied. The first condition is that the first and the second periods are different from each other and a second condition is that the first arrangement direction and the second arrangement direction are different from each other. | 03-12-2015 |
20150070677 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY - A projection exposure apparatus for projection lithography comprises a light source for generating illumination light. An illumination optical unit guides the light to an object field. A catadioptric projection optical unit with at least one curved mirror images an object in the object field onto a substrate in an image field. An object displacement drive- and a substrate displacement drive serve to displace the object and the substrate. A compensation device serves to compensate aberrations of the projection optical unit, which are caused by an arching of the object or the substrate. The compensation device comprises a wavelength manipulation device for manipulating a wavelength of the illumination light during the projection exposure. The result of this is a projection exposure apparatus in which the imaging quality of the projection optical unit is optimized, particularly taking into account a field curvature. | 03-12-2015 |
20150085272 | OPTICAL SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The invention relates to an optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, in particular for operation in the EUV, comprising at least one polarization-influencing arrangement having a first reflection surface and a second reflection surface, wherein the first reflection surface and the second reflection surface are arranged at an angle of 0°±10° or at an angle of 90°±10° relative to one another, wherein light incident on the first reflection surface during the operation of the optical system forms an angle of 45°±5° with the first reflection surface, and wherein the polarization-influencing arrangement is rotatable about a rotation axis running parallel to the light propagation direction of light incident on the first reflection surface during the operation of the optical system. | 03-26-2015 |
20150098072 | BEAM GUIDANCE SYSTEM FOR THE FOCUSING GUIDANCE OF RADIATION FROM A HIGH-POWER LASER LIGHT SOURCE TOWARD A TARGET AND LPP X-RAY SOURCE COMPRISING A LASER LIGHT SOURCE AND SUCH A BEAM GUIDANCE SYSTEM - A beam guidance system serves for the focusing guidance of radiation from a high-power laser light source toward a target. The beam guidance system has at least one mirror as reflective beam guidance component and at least one transmission component which is at least partially transmissive to the radiation as refractive beam guidance component. The arrangement of the at least one mirror and of the at least one transmission component is such that beam-induced changes to the beam guidance properties of the at least one mirror are at least partly compensated for by beam-induced changes to the beam guidance properties of the at least one transmission component. This results in a beam guidance system in which beam-induced changes to the beam guidance properties of the beam guidance system do not have a disturbing effect on the focusing guidance of the radiation from the laser light source. | 04-09-2015 |
20150103327 | LITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS WITH SEGMENTED MIRROR - A lithography apparatus is disclosed, which comprises a mirror having at least two mirror segments which are joined together in such a way that an interspace is formed between the mirror segments, and a sensor for detecting the relative position of the mirror segments, wherein the sensor is arranged in the interspace between the mirror segments. | 04-16-2015 |
20150109597 | FAST GENERATION OF ELEMENTS WITH INDIVIDUALLY PATTERNED ANISOTROPY - The present invention relates to an apparatus which allows producing elements with individually patterned anisotropic properties, where the pattern may vary from element to element. An apparatus according to the invention comprises a support for a substrate and an exposure unit for providing spatially modulated aligning light with a first polarization plane, wherein the exposure unit contains a light source, a spatial light modulator, which can be controlled electronically, for example by a computer, and a projection lens. The present invention furthermore relates to a method for fast production of elements with individually patterned anisotropic properties using such an apparatus. | 04-23-2015 |
20150116685 | Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Process to Print Low Pattern Density Features - The present disclosure provides a method for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) process. The method includes loading a binary phase mask (BPM) to a lithography system, wherein the BPM includes two phase states and defines an integrated circuit (IC) pattern thereon; setting an illuminator of the lithography system in an illumination mode according to the IC pattern; configuring a pupil filter in the lithography system according to the illumination mode; and performing a lithography exposure process to a target with the BPM and the pupil filter by the lithography system in the illumination mode. | 04-30-2015 |
20150138524 | Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Process and Mask - A system of an extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is disclosed. The system includes a mask having reflective phase-shift-grating-blocks (PhSGBs). The system also includes an illumination to expose the mask to produce a resultant reflected light from the mask. The resultant reflected light contains mainly diffracted lights. The system also has projection optics to collect and direct resultant reflected light to expose a target. | 05-21-2015 |
20150316853 | SUPPORT ELEMENTS FOR AN OPTICAL ELEMENT - Support elements for an optical element and a method for supporting an optical element are disclosed. The disclosure can be used in connection with arbitrary optical apparatuses or optical imaging methods. In particular, the disclosure can be used in connection with the microlithography employed in the manufacture of microelectronic circuits. | 11-05-2015 |
20150316854 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS INCLUDING MECHANISM TO REDUCE INFLUENCE OF PRESSURE FLUCTUATIONS - The invention relates to a projection exposure apparatus for semiconductor lithography, comprising an illumination system for illuminating a mask arranged on a movable mask stage, and comprising a projection lens for imaging the mask onto a semiconductor substrate, wherein at least one means is present for at least partly decoupling at least parts of the illumination system and/or of the projection lens from the influence of pressure fluctuations in the medium surrounding the projection lens or the illuminated system, the pressure fluctuations being attributed to movements of the mask stage during the operation of the apparatus. | 11-05-2015 |
20150316855 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR SEMICONDUCTOR LITHOGRAPHY INCLUDING AN ACTUATOR SYSTEM - The disclosure relates to a projection exposure apparatus for semiconductor lithography which includes an actuator system to mechanically actuate a component of the projection exposure apparatus. The actuator system has at least one mechanism to reduce and/or dampen the heat input into the component that is due to heat arising during the operation of the actuator system. | 11-05-2015 |
20150323387 | POLARIZATION MEASURING DEVICE, LITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS, MEASURING ARRANGEMENT, AND METHOD FOR POLARIZATION MEASUREMENT - A polarization measuring device ( | 11-12-2015 |
20150323872 | Projection System and Mirror and Radiation Source for a Lithographic Apparatus - Disclosed is a system configured to project a beam of radiation onto a target portion of a substrate within a lithographic apparatus. The system comprises a mirror ( | 11-12-2015 |
20150323874 | EUV LIGHT SOURCE FOR GENERATING A USED OUTPUT BEAM FOR A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An EUV light source serves for generating a used output beam of EUV illumination light for a projection exposure apparatus for projection lithography. | 11-12-2015 |
20150331330 | Apparatus and method of direct writing with photons beyond the diffraction limit - Direct-write lithography apparatus and methods are disclosed in which a transducer image and an image of crossed interference fringe patterns are superimposed on a photoresist layer supported by a substrate. The transducer image has an exposure wavelength and contains bright spots, each corresponding to an activated pixel. The interference image has an inhibition wavelength and contains dark spots where the null points in the crossed interference fringes coincide. The dark spots are aligned with and trim the peripheries of the corresponding bright spot to form sub-resolution photoresist pixels having a size smaller than would be formed in the absence of the dark spots. | 11-19-2015 |
20150346604 | Illumination Optical Unit For Projection Lithography - An illumination optical unit for projection lithography serves for illuminating an object field, in which an object to be imaged can be arranged, with illumination light. The illumination optical unit has a field facet mirror having a plurality of field facets. Furthermore, the illumination optical unit has a pupil facet mirror having a plurality of pupil facets. The field facets are imaged into the object field by a transfer optical unit. The illumination optical unit additionally has a deflection facet mirror having a plurality of deflection facets, which is arranged in the illumination beam path between the field facet mirror and the pupil facet mirror. This results in an illumination optical unit in which the illumination of the object to be imaged can be configured flexibly and can be adapted well to predefined values. | 12-03-2015 |
20150346607 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD USING SAME - An exposure apparatus includes a light shielding plate that is arranged on a plane conjugate to a substrate plane and shields against light to prevent the light from entering an outer peripheral region outside the circular borderline on the substrate; a first driving unit that rotationally drives the light shielding plate about an axis parallel to an optical axis of the illumination system; a second driving unit that linearly drives the light shielding plate within a plane perpendicular to the optical axis; a detecting unit that detects a light-shielding position; and a control unit that stores a light-shielding position at reference time point and light-shielding positions prior to and after change of the light shielding plate when the light shielding plate is changed after the reference time point, and calculates a variation amount of the light-shielding position based on a light-shielding position detected by the detecting unit at any time point after the light shielding plate is changed, a light-shielding position at the reference time point, and the difference between light-shielding positions before and after the light shielding plate is changed. | 12-03-2015 |
20150355555 | Illumination Optical Unit For Projection Lithography - The disclosure provides an illumination optical unit for projection lithography, which illuminates an object field with illumination light. The illumination optical unit includes a field facet mirror with a plurality of field facets and a pupil facet mirror with a plurality of pupil facets. The field facets are imaged in the object field by a transfer optical unit. The pupil facet mirror includes a pupil facet mirror polarization section and a pupil facet mirror neutral section. The polarization section is arranged so that the illumination light is reflected in the region of a Brewster angle. The neutral section is arranged so that the illumination light is reflected in the region of a normal incidence. | 12-10-2015 |
20150370176 | ACTUATORS AND MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEMS AND METHODS USING THE SAME - An actuator includes a housing, a movable part, and an advancing unit that is at least temporarily connected to the movable part. The advancing unit includes a deformation unit and a deformer configured to deform the deformation unit with a vector component perpendicular to an effective direction of the actuator so that a total length of the deformation unit changes in the effective direction of the actuator as a result of the deformation. The movable part is configured to move in the effective direction of the actuator upon a removal of the vector component on the deformation unit and the deformation unit is disposed along the effective direction of the actuator upon the removal of the vector component on the deformation unit. | 12-24-2015 |
20160004164 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM FOR AN EUV LITHOGRAPHY DEVICE AND FACET MIRROR THEREFOR - The invention relates to an illumination system for an EUV lithography device, comprising: a first facet mirror having facet elements that reflect EUV radiation, and a second facet mirror having facet elements for reflecting the EUV radiation reflected by the first facet mirror onto an illumination field. At least one of the facet elements of the first facet mirror or of the second facet mirror is designed as a diffractive optical element for diffracting the EUV radiation. In particular, at least one of the facet elements of the second facet mirror is designed as a diffractive optical element for illuminating only a part of the illumination field. The invention also relates to an EUV lithography device comprising such an illumination system, and to a facet mirror comprising at least one diffractive facet element. | 01-07-2016 |
20160026092 | FABRICATION OF HIGH EFFICIENCY, HIGH QUALITY, LARGE AREA DIFFRACTIVE WAVEPLATES AND ARRAYS - The objective of the present invention is providing a method for fabricating high quality diffractive waveplates and their arrays that exhibit high diffraction efficiency over large area, the method being capable of inexpensive large volume production. The method uses a polarization converter for converting the polarization of generally non-monochromatic and partially coherent input light beam into a pattern of periodic spatial modulation at the output of said polarization converter. A substrate carrying a photoalignment layer is exposed to said polarization modulation pattern and is coated subsequently with a liquid crystalline material. The high quality diffractive waveplates of the present invention are obtained when the exposure time of said photoalignment layer exceeds by generally an order of magnitude the time period that would be sufficient for producing homogeneous orientation of liquid crystalline materials brought in contact with said photoalignment layer. Compared to holographic techniques, the method is robust with respect to mechanical noises, ambient conditions, and allows inexpensive production via printing while also allowing to double the spatial frequency of optical axis modulation of diffractive waveplates. | 01-28-2016 |
20160033873 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS WITH AT LEAST ONE MANIPULATOR - A projection exposure apparatus for microlithography includes a projection lens which includes a plurality of optical elements for imaging mask structures onto a substrate during an exposure process. The projection exposure apparatus also includes at least one manipulator configured to change, as part of a manipulator actuation, the optical effects of at least one of the optical elements within the projection lens by changing a state variable of the optical element along a predetermined travel. The projection exposure apparatus further includes an algorithm generator configured to generate a travel generating optimization algorithm, adapted to at least one predetermined imaging parameter, on the basis of the at least one predetermined imaging parameter. | 02-04-2016 |
20160041476 | LIGHT IRRADIATION APPARATUS, DRAWING APPARATUS, AND PHASE DIFFERENCE GENERATOR - Laser light from a light source part is guided to an irradiation plane by an irradiation optical system. In the irradiation optical system, element lenses are arrayed, and light fluxes that have passed through the element lenses respectively enter transparent elements. Irradiation regions of the light from the element lenses are superimposed on the irradiation plane. When each pair of adjacent target element lenses out of three target element lenses arrayed sequentially is regarded as a target element lens pair, the optical path lengths of three transparent elements corresponding to the three target element lenses are determined such that a peak position of light intensity on the irradiation plane resulting from the interference between the light fluxes through one target element lens pair is different from that corresponding to the other pair. This suppresses variations in light intensity caused by interference between the light fluxes on the irradiation plane. | 02-11-2016 |
20160062245 | METHOD FOR STRESS-ADJUSTED OPERATION OF A PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM AND CORRESPONDING PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM - A projection exposure system and a method for operating a projection exposure system for microlithography with an illumination system are disclosed. The illumination system includes at least one variably adjustable pupil-defining element. The illumination stress of at least one optical element of the projection exposure system is determined automatically in the case of an adjustment of the at least one variably adjustable pupil-defining element. From the automatically determined illumination stress, the maximum radiant power of the light source is set or determined and/or in which an illumination system is provided with which different illumination settings can be made. Usage of the projection exposure system is recorded and, from the history of the usage, at least one state parameter of at least one optical element of the projection exposure system is determined. | 03-03-2016 |
20160070176 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes an optical integrator that includes an array of optical raster elements. A condenser superimposes the light beams associated with the optical raster elements in a common field plane. A modulator modifies a field dependency of an angular irradiance distribution in an illuminated field. Units of the modulator are associated with one of the light beams and are arranged at a position in front of the condenser such that only the associated light beam impinges on a single modulator unit. The units are configured to variably redistribute, without blocking any light, a spatial and/or an angular irradiance distribution of the associated light beams. A control device controls the modulator units if it receives an input command that the field dependency of the angular irradiance distribution in the mask plane shall be modified. | 03-10-2016 |
20160077441 | EUV IMAGING APPARATUS - An EUV imaging apparatus is provided, which includes a reference structure and a first optical element, which is actuatable relative to the reference structure with the aid of a first actuator. The first actuator is a self-holding actuator. The apparatus includes a second optical element, which is actuatable relative to the reference structure a second actuator. The second actuator is a non-self-holding actuator. | 03-17-2016 |
20160077446 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - Illumination systems for microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, as well as related systems, components and methods are disclosed. In some embodiments, an illumination system includes one or more scattering structures and an optical integrator that produces a plurality of secondary light sources. | 03-17-2016 |
20160085158 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL DEVICE, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING ARTICLE - An illumination optical device for illuminating a plane to be illuminated using light from a light source, includes: an optical integrator configured to cause an optical intensity distribution to be uniform on an emission end surface by reflecting light incident from an incident end surface in an inside surface a plurality of times; and a light flux forming unit configured to convert a light flux from a focal position where a condensing mirror condenses light from the light source at a first angle with respect to an optical axis directed from the light source to the plane to be illuminated to a light flux to be incident on the incident end surface of the optical integrator at a second angle greater than the first angle with respect to the optical axis, wherein the plane to be illuminated is illuminated with light from the optical integrator. | 03-24-2016 |
20160103394 | APPARATUS AND METHOD OF DIRECT WRITING WITH PHOTONS BEYOND THE DIFFRACTION LIMIT USING TWO-COLOR RESIST - Methods of and apparatus for performing direct-write lithography in a two-color photoresist layer are disclosed. The method includes exposing the two-color photoresist layer with transducer and inhibition images that respectively define bright spots and dark spots. The transducer image generates excited-state photo-molecules while the inhibition image converts the exited-state photo-molecules to an unexcited state that is not susceptible to conversion to an irreversible exposed state. The dark spots and bright spots are aligned, with the dark spots being smaller than the bright spots so that a portion of the excited-state photo-molecules adjacent the periphery of the bright spots absorb the inhibition radiation and transition to the unexcited state while a portion of the excited photo-molecules at the center of bright spots are not exposed to the inhibition light and transition to an irreversible exposed state. This forms in the two-color photoresist layer a pattern of sub-resolution photoresist pixels. | 04-14-2016 |
20160170308 | FACET MIRROR FOR A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS | 06-16-2016 |
20160195648 | EUV MIRROR AND OPTICAL SYSTEM COMPRISING EUV MIRROR | 07-07-2016 |
20160195816 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT FOR EUV PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY | 07-07-2016 |
20160195817 | PROJECTION OBJECTIVE OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS | 07-07-2016 |
20160195818 | EUV EXPOSURE APPARATUS WITH REFLECTIVE ELEMENTS HAVING REDUCED INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE VARIATION | 07-07-2016 |
20160195820 | MICROLITHOGRAPHY ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND MICROLITHOGRAPHY ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT | 07-07-2016 |
20160252821 | RADIATION SOURCE DEVICE, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD | 09-01-2016 |
20180024438 | SUPPORT ELEMENTS FOR AN OPTICAL ELEMENT | 01-25-2018 |
20180024440 | Method For Adjusting A Projection Objective | 01-25-2018 |
20180024441 | TWISTED KALEIDO | 01-25-2018 |
20190146354 | SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING DEVICE | 05-16-2019 |