Patent application number | Description | Published |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
20140111785 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT FOR PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY - An illumination optical unit for projection lithography has a first polarization mirror device to reflect and polarize of illumination light. A second mirror device, which is disposed downstream of the polarization mirror device reflects an illumination light beam. At least one drive device is operatively connected to at least one of the two mirror devices. The two mirror devices are displaceable relative to one another via the drive device between a first relative position, which leads to a first beam geometry of the illumination light beam after reflection at the second mirror device, and a second relative position, which leads to a second beam geometry of the illumination light beam after reflection at the second mirror device, which is different from the first beam geometry. This results in a flexible predefinition of different illumination geometries, in particular of different illumination geometries with rotationally symmetrical illumination. | 04-24-2014 |
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 |
20140168739 | OPTICAL SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The invention relates to an optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, comprising a mirror arrangement having a plurality of mirror elements which are adjustable independently of one another for the purpose of changing an angular distribution of the light reflected by the mirror arrangement, a polarization-influencing optical arrangement having at least one polarization-influencing component, wherein, by displacing the polarization-influencing component, a degree of overlap between the polarization-influencing component and the mirror arrangement can be set in a variable manner, and a deflection device having a respective reflection surface upstream and downstream of the mirror arrangement relative to the light propagation direction. | 06-19-2014 |
20140192339 | COLLECTOR - A collector for a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography comprises a plurality of reflective sections which are embodied and arranged in such a way that they can be impinged upon during the focusing of radiation from a first focus into a second focus with angles of impingement in a predefined angular spectrum. | 07-10-2014 |
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 |
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 |
20140313498 | POLARIZATION-INFLUENCING OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT, IN PARTICULAR IN A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A polarization-influencing optical arrangement comprises a first retardation element and a second retardation element. | 10-23-2014 |
20140347646 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPENSATING AT LEAST ONE DEFECT OF AN OPTICAL SYSTEM - The invention relates to a method for compensating at least one defect of an optical system which comprises introducing an arrangement of local persistent modifications in at least one optical element of the optical system, which does not have pattern elements on one of its optical surfaces, so that the at least one defect is at least partially compensated. | 11-27-2014 |
20140362360 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT FOR A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination optical unit for a projection exposure apparatus serves for guiding illumination light toward an illumination field, in which a lithography mask can be arranged. A first facet mirror has a plurality of individual mirrors that provide illumination channels for guiding illumination light partial beams toward the illumination field. The individual mirrors each bear a multilayer reflective coating. A second facet mirror is disposed downstream of the first facet mirror in the beam path of the illumination light. A respective facet of the second facet mirror with at least one of the individual mirrors of the first facet mirror completes the illumination channel for guiding the illumination light partial beam toward the illumination field. | 12-11-2014 |
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 |
20150017589 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COMPENSATING A DEFECT OF A CHANNEL OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM - The invention relates to an illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprising (a) a plurality of channels, each channel guiding a partial beam and at least one channel comprising at least one defect, and (b) at least one optical element arranged within the at least one channel having the at least one defect, the optical element being adapted to at least partially compensate the at least one defect of the partial beam of the channel. | 01-15-2015 |
20150029480 | OPTICAL SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises at least one mirror arrangement, having a plurality of mirror elements which are adjustable independently of one another for varying an angular distribution of the light reflected by the mirror arrangement, a polarization-influencing optical arrangement, by which, for a light beam passing through during the operation of the projection exposure apparatus, different polarization states can be set via the light beam cross section, and a retarder arrangement, which is arranged upstream of the polarization-influencing optical arrangement in the light propagation direction and at least partly compensates for a disturbance of the polarization distribution that is present elsewhere in the projection exposure apparatus, wherein the polarization-influencing optical arrangement has optical components which are adjustable in their relative position with respect to one another, wherein different output polarization distributions can be produced by this adjustment in conjunction with the mirror arrangement. | 01-29-2015 |
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 |
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 |