Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090021748 | Method and system for wavefront measurements of an optical system - A wavefront measurement system includes a source of electromagnetic radiation. An illumination system delivers the electromagnetic radiation to an object plane. A source of a diffraction pattern is in the object plane. A projection optical system projects the diffraction pattern onto an image plane, which includes a mechanism (e.g., a shearing grating) to introduce the lateral shear. A detector is located optically conjugate with the pupil of the projection optical system, and receives an instant fringe pattern, resulting from the interference between sheared wavefronts, from the image plane. The diffraction pattern is dynamically scanned across a pupil of the projection optical system, and the resulting time-integrated interferogram obtained from the detector is used to measure the wavefront aberration across the entire pupil. | 01-22-2009 |
20090122289 | Thin Film Continuous Spatially Modulated Grey Attenuators and Filters - A system and method for use of a lithography apparatus having a substrate and an absorbing film formed on the substrate. A thickness of the absorbing film is spatially modulated across at least a part of the substrate to reduce a non-uniform intensity of a radiation beam transmitted through the substrate. | 05-14-2009 |
20090251786 | Optical System for Transforming Numerical Aperture - A system is provided to form illumination light beams having desirable divergence and directivity. For instance, the system can include an optical element and a relay. The optical element can include a pupil defining element. Further, the relay can have a first and second lens array arranged in series and configured to receive the plurality of beams and to re-image the plurality of beams into a corresponding plurality of beams in an image plane. Each of the plurality of corresponding beams can have a numerical aperture less than a numerical aperture of each of the plurality of beams. | 10-08-2009 |
20100002221 | Systems and Methods for Minimizing Scattered Light in Multi-SLM Maskless Lithography - A lithography method is provided. The method includes generating a beam of radiation, patterning portions of the beam of radiation, projecting the patterned beam of radiation towards a substrate, and blocking scattered light from the beam of radiation from the substrate. | 01-07-2010 |
20100045955 | Particle Detection on an Object Surface - Systems and methods are provided for inspecting an object surface. An illumination source illuminates the object surface. An optic intercepts scattered light from the illuminated object surface and projects a real image of an area of the object surface. A sensor receives the projected real image. A computer system, coupled to the sensor, stores and analyzes the real image. The real image is processed to detect particles located on the object surface. This arrangement is particularly useful for detecting contaminants or defects on a reticle of a lithography device. | 02-25-2010 |
20110019173 | Diffraction Elements for Alignment Targets - A patterning device, including alignment targets having alignment features formed from a plurality of diffractive elements, each diffractive element including an absorber stack and a multi-layered reflector stack is provided. The diffractive elements are configured to enhance a pre-determined diffraction order used for pre-alignment and to diffract light in a pre-determined direction of a pre-alignment system when illuminated with light of a wavelength used for the pre-alignment. The diffractive elements may occupy at least half of an area of each alignment feature. The diffractive elements may be configured to enhance first or higher order diffractions, while substantially reducing zero | 01-27-2011 |
20110279805 | OPTICAL SYSTEM, INSPECTION SYSTEM AND MANUFACTURING METHOD - Systems and methods for inspection are provided utilizing a wide angle optical system. The optical system includes a wide angle input lens group and an output lens group. The wide angle input lens group is configured to receive wide-angle radiation, e.g., having an angular spread of 60 degrees or more, from an object surface, and produce imageable radiation. The wide angle input lens group is arranged such that no intermediate focused image is formed within or after the wide angle input lens group. The output lens group is configured to receive the imageable radiation from the wide angle input lens group and focus the imageable radiation onto an image plane to image at least part of the object surface. A detector receives the image of the at least part of the object surface and, based on the received image, detects, for example, contamination on the object surface. | 11-17-2011 |
20110317136 | Inspection Apparatus Employing Wide Angle Objective Lens With Optical Window - An optical window is used to facilitate best performance for imaging an object placed in a separate ambiance. The window can be in a particle detection system, comprising a separator between first and second environments. The separator comprises an opening and an optical element located within the opening. An object is located in the second environment. An objective lens is located in the first environment and a detector is located in the second environment and is configured to detect particles on a surface of the object. | 12-29-2011 |
20120081684 | Object Inspection Systems and Methods - Disclosed are systems and methods for object inspection, in particular for inspection of reticles used in a lithography process. The method includes interferometrically combining a reference radiation beam with a probe radiation beam, and storing their complex field images. The complex field image of one object is then compared with that of a reference object to determine the differences. The systems and methods have particular utility in the inspection of a reticle for defects. | 04-05-2012 |
20120086800 | Surface Inspection System with Advanced Illumination - Disclosed are apparatuses, methods, and lithographic systems for surface (e.g., mask) inspection. A surface inspection system can include a plurality of illumination sources, an optical system, and an image sensor. The plurality of illumination sources can be a standalone illumination system or integrated into the lithographic system, where the plurality of illumination sources can be configured to illuminate radiation onto a target portion of a surface. The optical system can be configured to receive at least a portion of reflected radiation from the target portion of the surface. Further, the image sensor can be configured to detect an aerial image corresponding to the portion of the reflected radiation. The surface inspection system can also include an analysis device configured to analyze the aerial image for defects. | 04-12-2012 |
20140098356 | OPTICAL SYSTEM, INSPECTION SYSTEM AND MANUFACTURING METHOD - Systems and methods for inspection are provided utilizing a wide angle optical system. The optical system includes a wide angle input lens group and an output lens group. The wide angle input lens group is configured to receive wide-angle radiation, e.g., having an angular spread of 60 degrees or more, from an object surface, and produce imageable radiation. The wide angle input lens group is arranged such that no intermediate focused image is formed within or after the wide angle input lens group. The output lens group is configured to receive the imageable radiation from the wide angle input lens group and focus the imageable radiation onto an image plane to image at least part of the object surface. A detector receives the image of the at least part of the object surface and, based on the received image, detects, for example, contamination on the object surface. | 04-10-2014 |
20140264054 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An apparatus and a method to detect a defect or particle on a surface that involves combining an object radiation beam redirected by the surface with a reference radiation beam having a plurality of intensities lower than the object radiation beam, to produce a plurality of patterns detected by a detector in order to detect the defect or particle on the surface from the patterns. | 09-18-2014 |
20150085291 | Compact Self-Contained Holographic and Interferometric Apparatus - A compact, self-contained holographic and interferometric apparatus and methods for eliminating vibration, including methods for eliminating relative displacement and vibration errors present in object and reference beam paths, are disclosed. The self-contained apparatus ( | 03-26-2015 |