| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 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 |
| 20100110534 | Wavelength conversion element, wavelength conversion method, phase matching method, and light source device - A wavelength conversion element is provided as one including a monocrystalline nonlinear optical crystal. The nonlinear optical crystal has: a plurality of first regions having a polarity direction along a predetermined direction; a plurality of second regions having a polarity direction opposite to the predetermined direction; an entrance face into which a fundamental incident wave having a wavelength λ and a frequency ω is incident in a direction substantially perpendicular to the predetermined direction; and an exit face from which a second harmonic with a frequency 2ω generated in the crystal emerges. The plurality of first and second regions are formed as alternately arranged in a period substantially equal to d expressed by a predetermined expression, between the entrance face and the exit face. | 05-06-2010 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
