CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20160109814 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, POSITIONING SYSTEM FOR USE IN A LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND METHOD - A lithographic apparatus having a reference body and a positioning system, the positioning system including a main body; a reaction body; an actuator; and a controller. The main body is moveable relative to the reference body along a path in a first direction and a second opposite direction. The reaction body is moveable relative to the main body along a further path in the first and second directions and is moveably connected to the reference body to be moveable relative to the reference body in the first and second directions. The controller provides a first and a second signal to the actuator. The actuator is arranged between the main body and the reaction body to accelerate the main body in the first direction and to accelerate the reaction body in the second direction under control of the first signal, and to accelerate the main body in the second direction and to accelerate the reaction body in the first direction under control of the second signal. The controller determines when the reaction body moves in the second direction and to provide the second signal after the first signal to the actuator when the reaction body moves in the second direction along the further path. | 04-21-2016 |
20160026091 | Radiation Collector, Radiation Source and Lithographic Apparatus - A radiation collector comprising a first collector segment comprising a plurality of grazing incidence reflector shells configured to direct radiation to converge in a first location at a distance from the radiation collector, a second collector segment comprising a plurality of grazing incidence reflector shells configured to direct radiation to converge in a second location at said distance from the radiation collector, wherein the first location and the second location are separated from one another. | 01-28-2016 |
20160004170 | Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method - Lithography apparatus and device manufacturing methods are disclosed in which means are provided for reducing the extent to which vibrations propagate between a first element of a projection system and a second element of a projection system. Approaches disclosed include the use of plural resilient members in series as part of a vibration isolation system, plural isolation frames for separately supporting first and second projection system frames, and modified connection positions for the interaction between the first and second projection system frames and the isolation frame(s). | 01-07-2016 |
20150241792 | 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. | 08-27-2015 |
20150008215 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONNECTING AN OPTICAL ELEMENT TO A FRAME - A method and a device for the material-fit connection of an optical element to a frame are disclosed. | 01-08-2015 |
20140368933 | POSITIONING UNIT AND APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTMENT OF AN OPTICAL ELEMENT - The disclosure provides a positioning unit for an optical element in a microlithographic projection exposure installation having a first connecting area for connection to the optical element, and having a second connecting area for connection to an object in the vicinity of the optical element. | 12-18-2014 |
20140333912 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus has a mirror array having a base body and a plurality of mirror units. Each mirror unit includes a mirror and a solid-state articulation, which has at least one articulation part that connects the mirror to the base body. A control device makes it possible to modify the alignment of the respective mirror relative to the base body. Mutually opposing surfaces of the mirror and of the base body, or of a mirror support body connected to it, are designed as corresponding glide surfaces of a sliding bearing. | 11-13-2014 |
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 |
20140307308 | Reflective Optical Element for the EUV Wavelength Range, Method for Producing and for Correcting Such an Element, Projection Lens for Microlithography Comprising Such an Element, and Projection Exposure Apparatus for Microlithography Comprising Such a Projection Lens - A reflective optical element | 10-16-2014 |
20140293253 | LENS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF OPTICAL ELEMENT DISPOSED IN A HOUSING - The invention relates to a lens comprising several optical elements that are disposed in a lens housing. At least one sensor array encompassing at least one capacitive sensor unit and/or at least one inductive sensor unit is provided for determining the relative position between a first optical element and a second optical element or between a load-bearing structural element of the lens and a second optical element. | 10-02-2014 |
20140285783 | EUV-MIRROR ARRANGEMENT, OPTICAL SYSTEM WITH EUV-MIRROR ARRANGEMENT AND ASSOCIATED OPERATING METHOD - An EUV mirror arrangement ( | 09-25-2014 |
20140268381 | OPTICAL MODULE FOR A MICROLITHOGRAPHY OBJECTIVE HOLDING AND SUPPORTING DEVICES - Disclosed is an optical module for a lens, especially a microlithographic apparatus, comprising a first holding device with an inner circumference that extends in a first circumferential direction, and at least one first supporting device which is fastened to the inner circumference of said first holding device and is used for supporting a first optical element, an annular circumferential first assembly space being defined by displacing the first supporting device once in a revolving manner along the first circumferential direction. At least one second supporting device which is fixed to the inner circumference of the first holding device is provided for supporting a second optical element, an annular circumferential second assembly space being defined by displacing the second supporting device once in a revolving manner along the first circumferential direction. The first assembly space intersects the second assembly space. | 09-18-2014 |
20140254036 | OPTICAL MODULE FOR AN OBJECTIVE - Disclosed is an optical module for a lens, especially a microlithographic apparatus, comprising a first holding device with an inner circumference that extends in a first circumferential direction, and at least one first supporting device which is fastened to the inner circumference of said first holding device and is used for supporting a first optical element, an annular circumferential first assembly space being defined by displacing the first supporting device once in a revolving manner along the first circumferential direction. At least one second supporting device which is fixed to the inner circumference of the first holding device is provided for supporting a second optical element, an annular circumferential second assembly space being defined by displacing the second supporting device once in a revolving manner along the first circumferential direction. The first assembly space intersects the second assembly space. | 09-11-2014 |
20140247437 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes an optical raster element configured to produce a plurality of secondary light sources located in a system pupil surface. The optical raster element has a plurality of light entrance facets, each being associated with one of the secondary light sources. A beam deflecting device includes a beam deflection array of reflective or transparent beam deflecting elements, each being configured to illuminate a spot on one of the light entrance facets at a position that is variable by changing a deflection angle produced by the beam deflecting element. A control unit is configured to control the beam deflection elements such that variable light patterns assembled from the spots can be formed on at least one of the plurality of light entrance facets. | 09-04-2014 |
20140218709 | FIELD FACET MIRROR FOR AN ILLUMINATION OPTICS OF A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR EUV MICROLITHOGRAPHY - A field facet mirror for an illumination optics of a projection exposure apparatus for EUV microlithography transmits a structure of an object arranged in an object field into an image field. The field facet mirror has a plurality of field facets with reflection surfaces. The arrangement of the field facets next to one another spans a base plane. Projections of the reflection surfaces of at least two of the field facets onto the base plane differ with respect to at least one of the following parameters: size, shape, orientation. A field facet mirror results which can ensure a uniform object field illumination with a simultaneously high EUV throughput. | 08-07-2014 |
20140217257 | SUPPORT STRUCTURE AND RELATED ASSEMBLIES AND METHODS - A method is provided for producing a support structure including an at least partly reversibly deformable base body with a cut-out. A component can be held in the cut-out by friction. The method includes machining the base body in the braced state, wherein an opening is introduced into the base body and/or widened. The opening is deformed when the deformation force is removed such that the cut-out is formed. The opening is formed such that the application of a joining force makes it possible to deform the cut-out such that a component to be held can be introduced into the deformed cut-out with a clearance fit and an at least partial recovery of the deformed cut-out brings about a pressure contact between the held component and the cut-out in predefined circumferential regions. | 08-07-2014 |
20140211188 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A projection exposure apparatus for microlithography comprises illumination optics for illuminating object field points of an object field in an object plane is disclosed. The illumination optics have, for each object field point of the object field, an exit pupil associated with the object point, where sin(γ) is a greatest marginal angle value of the exit pupil. The illumination optics include a multi-mirror array that includes a plurality of mirrors to adjust an intensity distribution in exit pupils associated to the object field points. The illumination optics further contain at least one optical system to temporally stabilize the illumination of the multi-mirror array so that, for each object field point, the intensity distribution in the associated exit pupil deviates from a second adjusted intensity distribution in the associated exit pupil by less than 0.1 in at least one of an inner σ or an outer σ. | 07-31-2014 |
20140211187 | OPTICAL MODULE FOR GUIDING A RADIATION BEAM - An optical module includes a chamber capable of being evacuated and a mirror in the chamber. The mirror includes a plurality of individual mirrors. Each individual mirror includes: a mirror body including a reflection face; a support structure; and a thermally conductive portion that mechanically connects the support structure to the mirror body. For at least one individual mirror, the thermally conductive portion includes a plurality of thermally conductive strips arranged radially, adjacent thermally conductive strips being separated from each other, and each of the plurality of thermally conductive strips connecting the mirror body to the support structure. For at least one individual mirror, an actuator is associated with the mirror body, the actuator being configured to displace the mirror body relative to the support structure in at least one degree of freedom. | 07-31-2014 |
20140211179 | EUV MIRROR COMPRISING AN OXYNITRIDE CAPPING LAYER HAVING A STABLE COMPOSITION, EUV LITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS, AND OPERATING METHOD | 07-31-2014 |
20140211178 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A CAPPING LAYER COMPOSED OF SILICON OXIDE ON AN EUV MIRROR, EUV MIRROR, AND EUV LITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS - A method for producing a capping layer ( | 07-31-2014 |
20140199543 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL ELEMENT AND OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY - In order to reduce the negative influence of reactive hydrogen on the lifetime of a reflective optical element, particularly inside an EUV lithography device, there is proposed for the extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray wavelength region a reflective optical element ( | 07-17-2014 |
20140193591 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A REFLECTIVE OPTICAL ELEMENT FOR EUV-LITHOGRAPHY - A method aleviating blistering, cracking and chipping in topmost layers of a multilayer system exposed to reactive hydrogen, when producing a reflective optical element ( | 07-10-2014 |
20140192344 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE ABSORPTION IN A BLANK - A method for determining the absorption of a blank ( | 07-10-2014 |
20140190212 | MIRROR ELEMENTS FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY AND PRODUCTION METHODS THEREFOR - A method for the production of a mirror element ( | 07-10-2014 |
20140185027 | ILLUMINATION OPTICS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination optics illuminates an object field of a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography. The illumination optics include a condenser group of optical components which guide a bundle of useful light. An objective group of bundle-guiding components is arranged downstream of the condenser group. At least one component of the condenser group and at least one component of the objective group are displaceable for compensation of deviations of the object field, which is in an actual illumination state, from a desired illumination state. | 07-03-2014 |
20140176930 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC ILLUMINATION SYSTEM - A microlithographic illumination system can include a light distribution device that can generate a two-dimensional intensity distribution in a first illumination plane. A first raster array of optical raster elements can generates a raster array of secondary light sources. A device with an additional optical effect can be disposed spatially adjacent to the two raster arrays. The device can be configured as an illumination angle variation device. The device can influence the intensity and/or the phase and/or the beam direction of the illumination light. The influence can be such that an intensity contribution of raster elements to the total illumination intensity can vary across the illumination field. This can enable the illumination intensity to be influenced across the illumination field in a defined manner with respect to the total illumination intensity and/or with respect to the intensity contributions from different directions of illumination. | 06-26-2014 |
20140176921 | OPTICAL ASSEMBLY WITH SUPPRESSION OF DEGRADATION - An optical assembly including: a beam generating system generating radiation ( | 06-26-2014 |
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 |
20140132941 | IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME - An imaging optical system has a plurality of mirrors. These image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. In the imaging optical system, the ratio of a maximum angle of incidence of imaging light) on reflection surfaces of the mirrors and an image-side numerical aperture of the imaging optical system is less than 33.8°. This can result in an imaging optical system which offers good conditions for a reflective coating of the mirror, with which a low reflection loss can be achieved for imaging light when passing through the imaging optical system, in particular even at wavelengths in the EUV range of less than 10 nm. | 05-15-2014 |
20140118714 | PROJECTION OPTICS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY - A projection optics for microlithography, which images an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane, where the projection optics include at least one curved mirror and including at least one refractive subunit, as well as related systems, components, methods and products prepared by such methods, are disclosed. | 05-01-2014 |
20140118712 | MEASURING SYSTEM - An objective for a projection exposure apparatus includes a metrology stage arranged on the frame of the objective. The objective includes at least one optical component, an objective mount for mounting the optical component, and a positioning device for holding at least one measuring device. The positioning device is connected to the objective mount and has at least one degree of freedom of displacement for displacing the measuring device. | 05-01-2014 |
20140104588 | 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 | 04-17-2014 |
20140102355 | PRODUCING POLARIZATION-MODULATING OPTICAL ELEMENT FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM - Methods of producing a polarization-modulating element that modulates a polarization state of incident light into a predetermined polarization state, the polarization-modulating element being used with an illumination optical apparatus, include preparing an optical material having optical activity, and providing the optical material with a circumferentially varying thickness profile and a central region that is an aperture having no optical activity. The thickness profile is set so that light in a linearly polarized state having a direction of polarization substantially along a single direction, is transformed into light in an azimuthal polarization state having a direction of polarization substantially along a circumferential direction or into light in a radially polarized state having a direction of polarization substantially along the radial direction. | 04-17-2014 |
20140098355 | CATOPTRIC OBJECTIVES AND SYSTEMS USING CATOPTRIC OBJECTIVES - In general, in one aspect, the invention features an objective arranged to image radiation from an object plane to an image plane, including a plurality of elements arranged to direct the radiation from the object plane to the image plane, wherein the objective has an image side numerical aperture of more than 0.55 and a maximum image side field dimension of more than 1 mm, and the objective is a catoptric objective. | 04-10-2014 |
20140098352 | DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING TEMPERATURE OF AN OPTICAL ELEMENT - A device serves for controlling temperature of an optical element provided in vacuum atmosphere. The device has a cooling apparatus having a radiational cooling part, arranged apart from the optical element, for cooling the optical element by radiation heat transfer. A controller serves for controlling temperature of the radiational cooling part. Further, the device comprises a heating part for heating the optical element. The heating part is connected to the controller for controlling the temperature of the heating part. The resulting device for controlling temperature in particular can be used with an optical element in a EUV microlithography tool leading to a stable performance of its optics. | 04-10-2014 |
20140078567 | CORRECTION OF OPTICAL ELEMENTS BY CORRECTION LIGHT IRRADIATED IN A FLAT MANNER - The disclosure relates to a correction light device for the irradiation of optical elements of an optical arrangement, in particular a lens, such a microlithography lens having a correction light, which include at least one correction light source and at least one mirror arrangement that deflects the light from the correction light source in the beam path to the optical element such that at least part of at least one surface of at least one optical element of the optical arrangement are irradiated in a locally and/or temporally variable fashion. The correction light strikes the surface of the optical element at a flat angle such that the obtuse angle between the optical axis of the optical arrangement at the location of the optical element and the correction light beam is less than or equal to 105°. | 03-20-2014 |
20140078513 | METHOD OF MEASURING A SHAPE OF AN OPTICAL SURFACE BASED ON COMPUTATIONALLY COMBINED SURFACE REGION MEASUREMENTS AND INTERFEROMETRIC MEASURING DEVICE - Measuring a shape of an optical surface ( | 03-20-2014 |
20140078484 | IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE INSTALLATION FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY WITH AN IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM OF THIS TYPE - An imaging optical system has a plurality of mirrors, which via a beam path for imaging light, image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. The imaging optical system has an exit pupil obscuration. At least one of the mirrors has no opening for passage of the imaging light. The fourth to last mirror in the beam path is concave, resulting in an imaging optical system having improved imaging properties without compromise in throughput. | 03-20-2014 |
20140078482 | LITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - Projection objectives, such as projection objectives of lithography projection exposure apparatuses, as well as related systems, components and methods, such as methods of revising and/or repairing such objectives, are disclosed. | 03-20-2014 |
20140078481 | METHOD FOR CORRECTING THE SURFACE FORM OF A MIRROR - A method for correcting a surface form of a mirror ( | 03-20-2014 |
20140071414 | MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION SYSTEM WITH AN ACCESSIBLE DIAPHRAGM OR APERTURE STOP - The invention relates to a microlithography projection lens for wavelengths <=248 nm<=, preferably <=193 mm, in particular EUV lithography for wavelengths ranging from 1-30 nm for imaging an object field in an object plane onto an image field in an image plane, the microlithography projection lens developed in such a manner that provision is made for an accessible diaphragm plane, into which for instance an iris diaphragm can be introduced. | 03-13-2014 |
20140064791 | OPTICAL ELEMENT UNIT - An optical element unit is provided comprising an optical element group for projecting light along an optical axis of the optical element group and a housing having an inner housing part partly defining a first space and a light passageway between the inner housing part and a second space. The inner housing part receives the optical element group. The optical element group comprises an ultimate optical element located in the region of the light passageway. A load-relieving device is provided adjacent to the ultimate optical element, the load relieving device partly defining the first space and the second space and at least partly relieving the ultimate optical element from loads resulting from pressure differences between the first space. | 03-06-2014 |
20140063628 | DEVICE FOR THE LOW-DEFORMATION REPLACEABLE MOUNTING OF AN OPTICAL ELEMENT - The invention relates to a device for the low-deformation replaceable mounting of an optical element, in particular a closure plate of an objective of a projection exposure system for microlithography for the production of semiconductor components, in a mount. The optical element is connected to the mount at least partly via an adhesive connection. This is located between the adjacent circumferential walls of mount and optical element. The mount is provided with at least three support feet distributed over the circumference, by means of which the optical element is mounted laterally and axially. The mount is connected to the housing of the objective in an at least approximately deformation-decoupled manner via three mount bearing points. | 03-06-2014 |
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 |
20140036246 | IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY - An imaging optical system includes a plurality of mirrors that image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. At least one of the mirrors is obscured, and thus has an opening for imaging light to pass through. The fourth-last mirror in the light path before the image field is not obscured and provides, with an outer edge of the optically effective reflection surface thereof, a central shadowing in a pupil plane of the imaging optical system. The distance between the fourth-last mirror and the last mirror along the optical axis is at least 10% of the distance between the object field and the image field. An intermediate image, which is closest to the image plane, is arranged between the last mirror and the image plane. The imaging optical system can have a numerical aperture of 0.9. These measures, not all of which must be effected simultaneously, lead to an imaging optical system with improved imaging properties and/or reduced production costs. | 02-06-2014 |
20140023835 | OPTICAL DEVICE - A device including an imaging optical unit ( | 01-23-2014 |
20140022525 | Deflection Mirror and Projection Exposure Apparatus for Microlithography Comprising Such a Deflection Mirror - A deflection mirror ( | 01-23-2014 |
20140022524 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR THE OPTICAL MEASUREMENT OF AN OPTICAL SYSTEM BY USING AN IMMERSION FLUID - A device for the optical measurement of an optical system, in particular an optical imaging system, is provided. The device includes at least one test optics component arranged on an object side or an image side of the optical system. An immersion fluid is adjacent to at least one of the test optics components. A container for use in this device, a microlithography projection exposure machine equipped with this device, and a method which can be carried out with the aid of this device are also provided. The device and method provide for optical measurement of microlithography projection objectives with high numerical apertures by using wavefront detection with shearing or point diffraction interferometry, or a Moiré measuring technique. | 01-23-2014 |
20140016108 | OPTICAL IMAGING DEVICE WITH IMAGE DEFECT DETERMINATION - An optical imaging device, including an imaging unit and a measuring device. The imaging unit includes a first optical element group having at least one first optical element, which contributes to the imaging. The measuring device determines an imaging error, which occurs during the imaging, using a capturing signal. The measuring device includes a measurement light source, a second optical element group and a capturing unit. The measurement light source emits at least one measurement light bundle, The second optical element group includes an optical reference element and a second optical element, which guide the measurement light bundle onto the capturing unit, to generate the capturing signal. Each second optical element has a defined spatial relationship with a respective one of the first optical elements, The second optical elements differ from the first optical elements. The measuring device determines the imaging error with the capturing signal. | 01-16-2014 |
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 |
20130335552 | METHOD FOR MASK INSPECTION, AND MASK INSPECTION INSTALLATION - The invention relates to a method for mask inspection and to a mask inspection installation. A method according to the invention involves a lighting system lighting a mask with a lighting beam pencil, and said mask being observed with an observation beam pencil which is directed onto a sensor arrangement, wherein the light hitting the sensor arrangement is evaluated in order to check the mapping effect of the mask. The lighting system produces a spot of light with limited refraction on the mask, and during the evaluation of the light hitting the sensor arrangement a finite component of the light setting out from the mask to produce the observation beam pencil is disregarded. | 12-19-2013 |
20130334426 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR THE LOCALLY RESOLVED MEASUREMENT OF A RADIATION DISTRIBUTION PRODUCED USING A LITHOGRAPHY MASK - A method for locally resolved measurement of a radiation distribution ( | 12-19-2013 |
20130286471 | MIRROR, PROJECTION OBJECTIVE WITH SUCH MIRROR, AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY WITH SUCH PROJECTION OBJECTIVE | 10-31-2013 |
20130258303 | METHOD FOR OPERATING AN ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A method of operating an illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus is provided. A set of illumination parameters that describe properties of a light bundle which converges at a point on a mask to be illuminated by the illumination system is first determined. Optical elements whose optical effect on the illumination parameters can be modified as a function of control commands are furthermore determined, as well as sensitivities with which the illumination parameters react to an adjustment of the optical elements, induced by the control commands. The control commands are then determined while taking the previously determined sensitivities into account, such that deviations of the illumination parameters from predetermined target illumination parameters satisfy a predetermined minimisation criterion. These control commands are applied to the optical elements, before the mask is illuminated. | 10-03-2013 |
20130252146 | Projection Exposure Tool for Microlithography and Method for Microlithographic Imaging - A projection exposure tool for microlithography for imaging mask structures of an image-providing substrate onto a substrate to be structured includes a measuring apparatus configured to determine a relative position of measurement structures disposed on a surface of one of the substrates in relation to one another in at least one lateral direction with respect to the substrate surface and to thereby simultaneously measure a number of measurement structures disposed laterally offset in relation to one another. | 09-26-2013 |
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 |
20130250264 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM FOR ILLUMINATING A MASK IN A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a micro-lithographic projection exposure apparatus is provided, which is configured to illuminate a mask positioned in a mask plane. The system includes a pupil shaping optical subsystem and illuminator optics that illuminate a beam deflecting component. For determining a property of the beam deflecting component, an intensity distribution in a system pupil surface of the illumination system is determined. Then the property of the beam deflecting component is determined such that the intensity distribution produced by the pupil shaping subsystem in the system pupil surface approximates the intensity distribution determined before. At least one of the following aberrations are taken into account in this determination: (i) an aberration produced by the illuminator optics; (ii) an aberration produced by the pupil shaping optical subsystem; (iii) an aberration produced by an optical element arranged between the system pupil surface and the mask plane. | 09-26-2013 |
20130250261 | OPTICAL SYSTEM AND METHOD OF USE - A method for improving imaging properties of an optical system and an optical system of this type having improved imaging properties are described. The optical system can have a plurality of optical elements. In some embodiments, an optical element is positioned and/or deformed by mechanical force action and by thermal action. In certain embodiments, one optical element is positioned and/or deformed by mechanical force action and another optical element is deformed by thermal action. | 09-26-2013 |
20130248728 | BEAM REGULATING APPARATUS FOR AN EUV ILLUMINATION BEAM - A beam regulating apparatus for an EUV illumination beam has a position sensor device and a control/regulating device, which is signal-connected to the position sensor device. Furthermore, at least one beam regulating component which influences the beam path of the illumination beam is signal-connected to the control/regulating device. The position sensor device has at least one diffraction grating for generating at least two reference partial beams from the illumination beam. Furthermore, the position sensor device has a respective position sensor assigned to one of the reference partial beams, for detecting the assigned reference partial beam. This results in a beam regulating apparatus which enables well-controllable illumination in conjunction with a simple construction. | 09-26-2013 |
20130242282 | POSITION MANIPULATOR FOR AN OPTICAL COMPONENT - A device for adjustably positioning an optical component includes a holding unit, which is which at least partly composed of a magnetostrictive material, and a mechanism for generating a magnetic field having a predetermined directional and amplitude distribution in the region of the holding unit. The holding unit has, in a predefined direction, an expansion which can be varied by a specific absolute value by the effect of the magnetic field. | 09-19-2013 |
20130242279 | CATADIOPTRIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - Catadioptric projection objective ( | 09-19-2013 |
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 |
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 |
20130222778 | ILLUMINATION APPARATUS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION SYSTEM INCLUDING 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. | 08-29-2013 |
20130201464 | CHROMATICALLY CORRECTED OBJECTIVE WITH SPECIFICALLY STRUCTURED AND ARRANGED DIOPTRIC OPTICAL ELEMENTS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME - An objective having a plurality of optical elements arranged to image a pattern from an object field to an image field at an image-side numerical aperture NA>0.8 with electromagnetic radiation from a wavelength band around a wavelength λ includes a number N of dioptric optical elements, each dioptric optical element i made from a transparent material having a normalized optical dispersion | 08-08-2013 |
20130194559 | METHOD FOR SETTING AN ILLUMINATION GEOMETRY FOR AN ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT FOR EUV PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY - A method for setting an illumination geometry for an illumination optical unit for EUV projection lithography is disclosed. The method includes defining a desired illumination geometry, followed by varying tilting angles of individual mirrors of the a facet mirror within one and the same individual-mirror group. In a first tilting position, the individual mirrors are assigned via a first group-mirror illumination channel to a first facet of a second facet mirror. In at least one further tilting position, the individual mirrors are assigned either via a further illumination channel to a further facet of the second facet mirror or to a switch-off illumination channel. The tilting angle variation is carried out until an actual illumination geometry corresponds to the desired illumination geometry within predefined tolerances. | 08-01-2013 |
20130188246 | Imaging Optical System for Microlithography - An imaging optical system, in particular a projection objective, for microlithography, includes optical elements to guide electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength in a path to image an object field into an image plane. The imaging optical system includes a pupil, having coordinates (p, q), which, together with the image field, having coordinates (x, y) of the optical system, spans an extended 4-dimensional pupil space, having coordinates (x, y, p, q), as a function of which a wavefront W(x, y, p, q) of the radiation passing through the optical system is defined. The wavefront W can therefore be defined in the pupil plane as a function of an extended 4-dimensional pupil space spanned by the image field (x, y) and the pupil (p, q) as W(x, y, p, q)=W(t), with t=(x, y, p, q). | 07-25-2013 |
20130188163 | Mirror and Related EUV Systems and Methods - A mirror for EUV radiation includes a mirror body, which has at least one EUV radiation-reflecting region and at least two EUV radiation-permeable regions. A spatial separation of the illumination and imaging beam paths is possible with small angles of incidence and a large object-side numerical aperture. | 07-25-2013 |
20130188162 | Method for Operating a Projection Exposure Tool and Control Apparatus - A method for operating a projection exposure tool for microlithography is provided. The projection exposure tool includes an optical system which includes a number of optical elements which, during an imaging process, convey electromagnetic radiation. All of the surfaces of the optical elements interact with the electromagnetic radiation during the imaging process to form an overall optical surface of the optical system. The method includes: determining respective individual thermal expansion coefficients at at least two different locations of the overall optical surface; calculating a change to an optical property of the optical system brought about by heat emission of the electromagnetic radiation (during the imaging process upon the basis of the thermal expansion coefficients; and imaging mask structures into an image plane via the projection exposure tool with adaptation of the imaging characteristics of the projection exposure tool so that the calculated change to the optical property is at least partially compensated. | 07-25-2013 |
20130188160 | Optical System of a Microlithographic Projection Exposure Apparatus and Method of Reducing Image Placement Errors - A method of reducing image placement errors in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes providing a mask, a light sensitive layer and a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus which images features of the mask onto the light sensitive surface using projection light. Subsequently, image placement errors associated with an image of the features formed on the light sensitive surface are determined either by simulation or metrologically. Then an input state of polarization of the projection light is changed to an elliptical output state of polarization which is selected such that the image placement errors are reduced. | 07-25-2013 |
20130187046 | Particle-Optical Systems and Arrangements and Particle-Optical Components for such Systems and Arrangements - The present invention concerns a charged-particle multi-beamlet system that comprises a source of charged particles ( | 07-25-2013 |
20130186430 | METHOD FOR REMOVING A CONTAMINATION LAYER FROM AN OPTICAL SURFACE AND ARRANGEMENT THEREFOR - The invention is directed to a method for at least partially removing a contamination layer ( | 07-25-2013 |
20130182344 | SYSTEMS FOR ALIGNING AN OPTICAL ELEMENT AND METHOD FOR SAME - A hexapod system is provided for aligning an optical element in semiconductor clean rooms or in a vacuum, particularly in an illumination device for a microlithographic EUV projection exposure apparatus. The system includes six hexapod supporting structures. Using a set of at least two replaceable spacer elements having a different extent in at least one direction, at least one of the six supporting structures can be adjusted. The latter is adapted so that a spacer element can be removed or a spacer element can be added while the coupling of the first coupling end to the carrying structure and the coupling of the second coupling end to the optical element are maintained. A method for aligning an optical element in semiconductor clean rooms or in a vacuum including using a hexapod system is provided. | 07-18-2013 |
20130182264 | Projection Exposure Tool for Microlithography and Method for Microlithographic Exposure - A projection exposure tool for microlithography for exposing a substrate is disclosed. The tool includes a projection objective. The tool also includes an optical measuring apparatus for determining a surface topography of the substrate before the substrate is exposed. The measuring apparatus has a measuring beam path which extends outside of the projection objective. The measuring apparatus is a wavefront measuring apparatus configured to determine topography measurement values simultaneously at a number of points on the substrate surface. | 07-18-2013 |
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 |
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 |
20130176545 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A projection exposure apparatus for semiconductor lithography includes optical elements, wherein at least one of the optical elements includes a mechanism for contactlessly producing electric currents in the optical element to heat the at least one optical element at least in regions. | 07-11-2013 |
20130176544 | Arrangement for mirror temperature measurement and/or thermal actuation of a mirror in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus - The disclosure concerns an arrangement for mirror temperature measurement and/or thermal actuation of a mirror in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. The mirror has an optical effective surface and at least one access passage extending from a surface of the mirror, that does not correspond to the optical effective surface, in the direction of the effective surface. The arrangement is designed for mirror temperature measurement and/or thermal actuation of the mirror via electromagnetic radiation which is propagated along the access passage. The electromagnetic radiation is reflected a plurality of times within the access passage. | 07-11-2013 |
20130170056 | SUBSTRATE FOR MIRRORS FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY - Substrates suitable for mirrors which are used at wavelengths in the EUV wavelength range have a main body ( | 07-04-2013 |
20130155509 | LENS MODULE COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE EXCHANGEABLE OPTICAL ELEMENT - An optical system has a housing with a mount and an opening to a receiving region, the receiving region being located within the housing and including the mount. At least one optical element is inserted into and removed from the receiving region through the opening, and at least one gas supply device provides a flow of gas in the receiving region. Alternatively or in addition, the optical system has a gas lock that receives the optical element. The opening interconnects the gas lock and the receiving region of the housing, and accommodates passage of the optical element between the gas lock and the receiving region. | 06-20-2013 |
20130148200 | OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT, IN PARTICULAR PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY, AS WELL AS REFLECTIVE OPTICAL ELEMENT WITH REDUCED CONTAMINATION - An optical arrangement, e.g. a projection exposure apparatus ( | 06-13-2013 |
20130148105 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR QUALIFYING OPTICS OF A PROJECTION EXPOSURE TOOL FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY - A method for qualifying optics ( | 06-13-2013 |
20130148092 | 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. | 06-13-2013 |
20130141707 | EUV Exposure Apparatus - A projection lens of an EUV-lithographic projection exposure system with at least two reflective optical elements each comprising a body and a reflective surface for projecting an object field on a reticle onto an image field on a substrate if the projection lens is exposed with an exposure power of EUV light, wherein the bodies of at least two reflective optical elements comprise a material with a temperature dependent coefficient of thermal expansion which is zero at respective zero cross temperatures, and wherein the absolute value of the difference between the zero cross temperatures is more than 6K. | 06-06-2013 |
20130135760 | POSITIONING UNIT AND ALIGNMENT DEVICE FOR AN OPTICAL ELEMENT - The disclosure provides a positioning unit for an optical element in a microlithographic projection exposure installation having a first connecting area for connection to the optical element, and having a second connecting area for connection to an object in the vicinity of the optical element. | 05-30-2013 |
20130132037 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus has a measuring device, by which a sequence of measurement values can be generated, and a processing unit for processing the measurement values. The processing unit has a processing chain which includes a plurality of digital signal processors. The first digital signal processor in the processing chain is connected to the measuring device to receive the sequence of measurement values. Each subsequent digital signal processor in the processing chain is connected to a respectively preceding digital signal processor in the processing chain. The digital signal processors are programmed so that each digital signal processor processes only a fraction of the measurement values and generates processing results therefrom, and forwards the remaining fraction of the measurement values to the respective next digital signal processor in the processing chain for processing. | 05-23-2013 |
20130128252 | MULTI FACET MIRROR OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A multi facet mirror of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a plurality of mirror facet units. Each unit includes a mirror member with a body, a reflective coating provided at one end of the body and an actuating surface provided at an opposite end. The unit further includes a rest member on which the actuating surface rests while the mirror member is not moving, and an actuator that tilts the mirror member about a tilting axis. The actuator has a contact surface and a lifting member which moves the actuating surface along a lifting direction. In a first operating state of the lifting member the actuating surface rests on the rest member and in a second operating state on the contact surface. A displacement member displaces the contact surface along a lateral direction only while the lifting member is in the second operating state. | 05-23-2013 |
20130128251 | IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM - An imaging optical system for a projection exposure system has at least one anamorphically imaging optical element. This allows a complete illumination of an image field in a first direction with a large object-side numerical aperture in this direction, without the extent of the reticle to be imaged having to be enlarged and without a reduction in the throughput of the projection exposure system occurring. | 05-23-2013 |
20130120863 | SUBSTRATES FOR MIRRORS FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY AND THEIR PRODUCTION - For the production of mirrors for EUV lithography, substrates are suggested having a mean relative thermal longitudinal expansion of no more than 10 ppb across a temperature difference ΔT of 15° C. and a zero-crossing temperature in the range between 20° C. and 40° C. For this purpose, at least one first and one second material having low thermal expansion coefficients and opposite gradients of the relative thermal expansion as a function of temperature are selected and a substrate is produced by mixing and bonding these materials. | 05-16-2013 |
20130120820 | BEAM CONTROL APPARATUS FOR AN ILLUMINATION BEAM AND METROLOGY SYSTEM COMPRISING AN OPTICAL SYSTEM CONTAINING SUCH A BEAM CONTROL APPARATUS - A beam control apparatus for an illumination beam includes an imaging illumination optical unit assembly for imaging an intermediate focus of the illumination beam onto an object field to be illuminated. A control component that influences a beam path of the illumination beam is displaceable in at least one degree of freedom by at least one displacement actuator. A position sensor device of the beam control apparatus detects a position of the intermediate focus. A control device of the beam control apparatus is signal-connected to the position sensor device and the displacement actuator. From an intermediate focus position signal received from the position sensor device, the control device calculates control signals for the displacement actuator and forwards the latter to the displacement actuator for controlling the position of the intermediate focus. This results in a beam control apparatus which makes well-controllable illumination possible together with a simple construction. | 05-16-2013 |
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 |
20130120728 | CATADIOPTRIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE WITH MIRROR GROUP - A catadioptric projection objective for imaging an off-axis object field arranged in an object surface of the projection objective onto an off-axis image field arranged in an image surface of the projection objective has a front lens group, a mirror group comprising four mirrors and having an object side mirror group entry, an image side mirror group exit, and a mirror group plane aligned transversely to the optical axis and arranged geometrically between the mirror group entry and the mirror group exit; and a rear lens group. | 05-16-2013 |
20130120726 | METHOD OF STRUCTURING A PHOTOSENSITIVE MATERIAL - A method of structuring a photosensitive material is disclosed. The method includes illuminating a first object structure and projecting a pattern of the first object structure onto a photosensitive material such that the projected pattern of the first object structure is focussed at a first focus position with respect to the photosensitive material. The method also includes illuminating a second object structure and projecting a pattern of the second object structure onto the photosensitive material such that the projected pattern of the second object structure is focussed at a second focus position with respect to the photosensitive material. The respective patterns are projected in the same projection direction. | 05-16-2013 |
20130120723 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND MEASURING DEVICE FOR A PROJECTION LENS - A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a projection lens that is configured for immersion operation. For this purpose an immersion liquid is introduced into an immersion space that is located between a last lens of the projection lens on the image side and a photosensitive layer to be exposed. To reduce fluctuations of refractive index resulting from temperature gradients occurring within the immersion liquid, the projection exposure apparatus includes heat transfer elements that heat or cool partial volumes of the immersion liquid so as to achieve an at least substantially homogenous or at least substantially rotationally symmetric temperature distribution within the immersion liquid. | 05-16-2013 |
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 |
20130114057 | OPTICAL IMAGING DEVICE WITH THERMAL ATTENUATION - An optical imaging device, in particular for use in microlithography, includes a mask device for receiving a mask having a projection pattern, a projection device with an optical element group, a substrate device for receiving a substrate and an immersion zone. The optical element group is adapted to project the projection pattern onto the substrate and includes a plurality of optical elements with an immersion element to which the substrate is at least temporarily located adjacent to during operation. During operation, the immersion zone is located between the immersion element and the substrate and is at least temporarily filled with an immersion medium. A thermal attenuation device is provided, the thermal attenuation device being adapted to reduce fluctuations within the temperature distribution of the immersion element induced by the immersion medium. | 05-09-2013 |
20130114056 | METHOD FOR IMPROVING AN OPTICAL IMAGING PROPERTY OF A PROJECTION OBJECTIVE OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A method is disclosed for improving an optical imaging property, for example spherical aberration or the focal length, of a projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. First, an immersion liquid is introduced into an interspace between a photosensitive surface and an end face of the projection objective. Then an imaging property of the projection objective is determined, for example using an interferometer or a CCD sensor arranged in an image plane of the projection objective. This imaging property is compared with a target imaging property. Finally, the temperature of the immersion liquid is changed until the determined imaging property is as close as possible to the target imaging property. | 05-09-2013 |
20130107239 | OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING SUCH AN OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT | 05-02-2013 |
20130105698 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR THE LOCALLY RESOLVED MEASUREMENT OF A RADIATION DISTRIBUTION PRODUCED USING A LITHOGRAPHY MASK | 05-02-2013 |
20130100547 | OPTICAL ELEMENT MODULE WITH MINIMIZED PARASITIC LOADS - An optical element module includes an optical element unit and a support structure. The optical element module includes an optical element. The support structure includes a support device and a contact device connected to the support device. A surface of the contact device contacts a surface of the optical element unit and exerts a holding force on the optical element unit along a holding force direction. | 04-25-2013 |
20130100429 | OPTICAL SYSTEM AND MULTI FACET MIRROR OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a multi facet mirror having a support plate and a plurality of mirror facets. Each mirror facet includes a mirror substrate and a reflective coating applied thereon, and is attached to the support plate. Actuators are provided that induce a deformation of the support plate. The deformation changes the orientation and/or position, but not the shape, of at least two mirror facets. In this way aberrations can be corrected. | 04-25-2013 |
20130100428 | MASK FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY, EUV LITHOGRAPHY SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMISING THE IMAGING OF A MASK | 04-25-2013 |
20130100426 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING FACET MIRRORS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The disclosure relates to methods for producing mirrors, in particular facet mirrors, and projection exposure apparatuses equipped with the mirrors. | 04-25-2013 |
20130099132 | OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY WITH A CHARGED-PARTICLE SOURCE - To prevent reflective optical elements ( | 04-25-2013 |
20130094010 | LITHOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES OF MAKING AND USING SAME - A lithographic system includes a projection system for projecting an object field through a projection system's pupil onto an image field. The projection system includes an optical element located at the projection system's pupil. The projection system's pupil is manipulable with respect to normalized pupil heights by the optical element. Related processes are also disclosed. | 04-18-2013 |
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 |
20130088698 | METHODS AND DEVICES FOR DRIVING MICROMIRRORS - A micromirror of a micromirror array in an illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus can be tilted through a respective tilt angle about two tilt axes. The micromirror is assigned three actuators which can respectively be driven by control signals in order to tilt the micromirror about the two tilt axes. Two control variables are specified, each of which is assigned to one tilt axis and which are both assigned to unperturbed tilt angles. For any desired combinations of the two control variables, as a function of the two control variables, one of the three actuators is selected and its control signal is set to a constant value, in particular zero. The control signals are determined so that, when the control signals are applied to the other two actuators, the micromirror adopts the unperturbed tilt angles as a function of the two control variables. | 04-11-2013 |
20130088695 | DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING TEMPERATURE OF AN OPTICAL ELEMENT - A device serves for controlling temperature of an optical element provided in vacuum atmosphere. The device has a cooling apparatus having a radiational cooling part, arranged apart from the optical element, for cooling the optical element by radiation heat transfer. A controller serves for controlling temperature of the radiational cooling part. Further, the device comprises a heating part for heating the optical element. The heating part is connected to the controller for controlling the temperature of the heating part. The resulting device for controlling temperature in particular can be used with an optical element in a EUV microlithography tool leading to a stable performance of its optics. | 04-11-2013 |
20130083308 | SUBSTRATE HOLDER - A substrate holder for receiving a substrate is provided, the substrate holder comprising a base element, at least three contact elements that are connected to the base element and arranged in a plane, wherein the substrate upon being received by the substrate holder can lie on the at least three contact elements, and wherein the contact element is connected to the base element in such a way that forces acting on the substrate in a direction of the plane are minimized by at least one contact element. Furthermore, a position measuring device for determining a positioning error of a structure element on a mask is provided, the position measuring device having a substrate holder that minimizes the forces acting on a substrate. | 04-04-2013 |
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 |
20130077076 | MICROLITHOGRAPHY ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM AND MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS INCLUDING SAME - A microlithography illumination optical system is used to guide illumination light from a primary light source to an object field. A mirror array of the illumination optical system has a plurality of individual mirrors, which can be tilted independently of one another by actuators and are connected to associated tilting actuators. A controller is used to activate the actuators. A raster module of the illumination optical system has a plurality of raster elements to produce a spatially distributed arrangement of secondary light sources. | 03-28-2013 |
20130077074 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a projection light source. The apparatus also includes a heating light source for generating heating light which is at least partly absorbed by an optical element. An illumination optical unit directs the heating light onto the optical element such that the heating light has a predefined intensity distribution on an optical surface of the optical element. The illumination optical unit includes a deflection element which is a diffractive optical element or a refractive freeform element. The deflection element simultaneously directs the heating light impinging thereon in different directions. | 03-28-2013 |
20130070227 | IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM - An imaging optical system for EUV projection lithography has a plurality of mirrors for imaging an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. An image-side numerical aperture of the imaging optical system is at least 0.3. The imaging optical system has a pupil obscuration which is greater than 0.40 and an image filed size of at least 1 mm×10 mm. The imaging optical system can provide high quality imaging of the object. | 03-21-2013 |
20130070224 | PROJECTION LENS SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE INSTALLATION - A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises a projection objective which images an object onto an image plane and has a lens with a curved surface. In the projection objective there is a liquid or solid medium which directly adjoins the curved surface over a region which is usable for imaging the object. The projection exposure apparatus also has an adjustable manipulator for reducing an image field curvature which is caused by heating of the medium during the projection operation. | 03-21-2013 |
20130070221 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a projection light source, a heating light source, a catoptric projection lens and a reflecting switching element, which can be arranged outside of the projection lens and can be displaced between a first position and a second position via a drive. Only the projection light can enter the projection lens in the first position of the switching element, and only the heating light can enter the projection lens in the second position of the switching element. | 03-21-2013 |
20130063710 | CATOPTRIC OBJECTIVES AND SYSTEMS USING CATOPTRIC OBJECTIVES - In general, in one aspect, the invention features an objective arranged to image radiation from an object plane to an image plane, including a plurality of elements arranged to direct the radiation from the object plane to the image plane, wherein the objective has an image side numerical aperture of more than 0.55 and a maximum image side field dimension of more than 1 mm, and the objective is a catoptric objective. | 03-14-2013 |
20130062501 | Autofocus Device and Autofocussing Method For An Imaging Device - There is provided an autofocus device for an imaging device which has an imaging lens system with a first focal plane, an object stage for holding an object, and a first movement module for the relative movement of object stage and imaging lens system. The autofocus device comprises an image-recording module with a second focal plane, a second movement module for the relative movement of object stage and image-recording module, and a control module which controls the image-recording module for focusing the imaging device. The control module controls the first movement module such that evaluated change in distance between the object stage and the imaging lens system is carried out, and controls the second movement module such that, during the first exposure time for recording the first two-dimensional image, the object stage is moved relative to the image-recording module in a plane parallel to the second focal plane. | 03-14-2013 |
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 |
20130050672 | APPARATUS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE AND APPARATUS FOR INSPECTING A SURFACE OF A SUBSTRATE - An apparatus ( | 02-28-2013 |
20130050671 | IMAGING OPTICSIIMAGING OPTICS, MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS HAVING SAME AND RELATED METHODS - An imaging optics has a plurality of mirrors to image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. The imaging optics includes a first partial objective to image the object field onto an intermediate image, and the imaging optics includes a second partial objective to image the intermediate image onto the image field. The second partial objective includes a penultimate mirror in the beam path of imaging light between the object field and the image field, and the second partial objective includes a last mirror in the beam path. The penultimate mirror images the intermediate image onto a further intermediate image, and the last mirror images the further intermediate image onto the image field. | 02-28-2013 |
20130044304 | OPTICAL PROJECTION SYSTEM - An optical projection unit comprising a first optical element module and at least one second optical element module is provided. The first optical element module comprises a first housing unit and at least a first optical element, the first optical element being received within the first housing unit and having an optically used first region defining a first optical axis. The at least one second optical element module is located adjacent to the first optical element module and comprises at least one second optical element, the second optical element defining a second optical axis of the optical projection unit. The first housing unit has a central first housing axis and an outer wall extending in a circumferential direction about the first housing axis. The first optical axis is at least one of laterally offset and inclined with respect to the first housing axis. Furthermore, the first housing axis is substantially collinear with the second optical axis. | 02-21-2013 |
20130044303 | 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. | 02-21-2013 |
20130038929 | MIRROR FOR THE EUV WAVELENGTH RANGE, SUBSTRATE FOR SUCH A MIRROR, PROJECTION OBJECTIVE FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY COMPRISING SUCH A MIRROR OR SUCH A SUBSTRATE, AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY COMPRISING SUCH A PROJECTION OBJECTIVE | 02-14-2013 |
20130038850 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND PROJECTION OBJECTIVE OF A MASK INSPECTION APPARATUS - An illumination system and a projection objective of a mask inspection apparatus are provided. During operation of the mask inspection apparatus, the illumination system illuminates a mask with an illumination bundle of rays having a centroid ray that has a direction dependent on the location of the incidence of the illumination bundle of rays on the mask. | 02-14-2013 |
20130038849 | OPTICAL COMPONENT COMPRISING RADIATION PROTECTIVE LAYER - An optical component for transmitting radiation includes a radiation protective layer, which includes at least one oxide material selected from germanium dioxide (GeO | 02-14-2013 |
20130038848 | OPTICAL DEVICES HAVING KINEMATIC COMPONENTS - Optical devices that have at least one optical element and a plurality of kinematic components are disclosed. The number m of the kinematic components of one type exceed the number n of degrees of freedom in which the optical element can be manipulated. At least one of the n degrees of freedom can be x-displacement, y-displacement, z-displacement or tilt. | 02-14-2013 |
20130027681 | EUV COLLECTOR - A collector transfers an emission of an EUV radiation source to a main intensity spot. The collector has at least one collector subunit including at least one grazing incidence mirror. The grazing incidence mirror transfers EUV radiation from the radiation source to an intensity spot. At least one ellipsoid mirror of the collector has an ellipsoidal mirror surface. The ellipsoidal mirror surface is impinged by an angle of incidence above a critical grazing incidence angle. No more than one collector subunit is arranged in the beam path of an EUV radiation source between a position of the EUV radiation source and the intensity spot. At least some of the EUV rays are only reflected in a grazing manner. | 01-31-2013 |
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 |
20130021591 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a spatial light modulator which varies an intensity distribution in a pupil surface. The modulator includes an array of mirrors that reflect impinging projection light into directions that depend on control signals applied to the mirrors. A prism, which directs the projection light towards the spatial light modulator, has a double pass surface on which the projection light impinges twice, namely a first time when leaving the prism and before it is reflected by the mirrors, and a second time when entering the prism and after it has been reflected by the mirrors. A pupil perturbation suppressing mechanism is provided that reduces reflections of projection light when it impinges the first time on the double pass surface, and/or prevents that light portions being a result of such reflections contribute to the intensity distribution in the pupil surface. | 01-24-2013 |
20130016331 | OPTICAL SYSTEM OF MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CORRECTING WAVEFRONT DEFORMATION IN SAME - An optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a wavefront correction device which has a plurality of fluid outlet apertures. The apertures are arranged so that fluid flows emerging from the outlet apertures enter a space through which projection light propagates during operation of the apparatus. A temperature controller sets the temperature of the fluid flows individually for each fluid flow. The temperature distribution is determined such that optical path length differences caused by the temperature distribution correct wavefront deformations. | 01-17-2013 |
20130010352 | PROJECTION OBJECTIVE HAVING MIRROR ELEMENTS WITH REFLECTIVE COATINGS - An optical system is disclosed that includes a plurality of elements arranged to image radiation at a wavelength λ from an object field in an object surface to an image field in an image surface. The elements include mirror elements have a reflective surface formed by a reflective coating positioned at a path of radiation. At least one of the mirror elements has a rotationally asymmetrical reflective surface deviating from a best-fit rotationally symmetric reflective surface by about λ or more at one or more locations. The elements include an apodization correction element effective to correct a spatial intensity distribution in an exit pupil of the optical system relative to the optical system without the apodization correcting element. The apodization correction element can be effective to increase symmetry of the spatial intensity distribution in the exit pupil relative to the optical system without the apodization correcting element. | 01-10-2013 |
20120330609 | METHOD OF MEASURING A DEVIATION OF AN OPTICAL SURFACE FROM A TARGET SHAPE - A method of measuring a deviation of an optical surface from a target shape and a method of manufacturing an optical element. The method of measuring the deviation includes:—performing a first interferometric measurement using a first diffractive measurement structure, which is arranged to cover a first area of the optical surface, to provide a first interferometric measurement result,—performing a second interferometric measurement using a second diffractive measurement structure, which is arranged to cover a second area of the optical surface different from the first area, to provide a second interferometric measurement result, and—determining a deviation of the optical surface from the target shape. | 12-27-2012 |
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 |
20120327384 | MIRROR ELEMENTS FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY AND PRODUCTION METHODS THEREFOR - A method for the production of a mirror element ( | 12-27-2012 |
20120320358 | METHOD FOR OPERATING A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS WITH CORRECTION OF IMAGING ABERRATIONS INDUCED BY THE MASK - The disclosure relates to a method for adapting a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography to a mask having structures with different pitches and/or different structure widths in different structure directions. Wavefront aberrations induced by the mask are reduced by a manipulator of the projection exposure apparatus for microlithography. | 12-20-2012 |
20120320353 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND OPTICAL SYSTEM - The disclosure relates to a projection exposure apparatus and an optical system, such as a projection objective or an illumination system in a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography, that includes at least one optical element and at least one manipulator having a drive device for the optical element. The drive device can have at least one movable partial element and at least one stationary partial element movable relative to one another in at least one direction of movement. | 12-20-2012 |
20120320348 | REFLECTIVE MASK FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY - To improve the mask of an EUV lithography apparatus in view of its high reflectivity, a reflective mask is suggested for EUV lithography having a reflective multilayer system on a substrate configured for a working wavelength in the EUV range and having stacks with layers of at least two materials with different real parts of the refractive index at the working wavelength, wherein the multilayer system (V) is configured such that, as it is irradiated with EUV radiation at a fixed wavelength and an angle interval between the smallest and the largest angle of incidence of up to 21°, the apodization is less than 30%. | 12-20-2012 |
20120314910 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETERMINING THE POSITION OF A FIRST STRUCTURE RELATIVE TO A SECOND STRUCTURE OR A PART THEREOF - The position of a first structure relative to a second structure can be determined by a) providing a reference image containing the first structure, b) providing a measurement image containing the second structure, in which the measurement image is recorded with an image sensor with a plurality of sensor pixels and the image sensor has at least one known faulty sensor pixel, c) producing a masked measurement image with a masked region that corresponds to the second structure, and forming an optimization function of the shift of the masked measurement image and the reference image relative to each other, d) determining the extreme value of the optimization function and determining the optimum value of the shift based on the extreme value, and e) determining the position of the first structure relative to the second structure on the basis of the optimum shift value. | 12-13-2012 |
20120314281 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL ELEMENT AND METHOD FOR PRODUCTION OF SUCH AN OPTICAL ELEMENT - In order to produce stress-reduced reflective optical elements ( | 12-13-2012 |
20120300195 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SETTING AN ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT - A method for setting an illumination optical unit involves determining an actual value of an intensity-weighted illumination parameter of the illumination optical unit for multiple field points and for multiple illumination angles. The influence of a deformation of at least one of the optical surfaces of the illumination optical unit on the at least one illumination parameter is then determined. A desired value of the illumination parameter is then predefined. A desired form of the at least one optical surface is determined so that the actual value of the illumination parameter corresponds to the desired value of the illumination parameter within predefined limits. Finally, the optical surface is deformed with the aid of at least one actuator so that an actual form of the optical surface corresponds to the desired form. | 11-29-2012 |
20120300185 | 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. | 11-29-2012 |
20120300184 | SURFACE CORRECTION ON COATED MIRRORS | 11-29-2012 |
20120300183 | OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT IN A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - The disclosure relates to optical arrangements in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. In accordance with one aspect, an optical arrangement has at least one mirror segment arrangement including a plurality of separate mirror segments. The mirror segments are connected to a carrying structure of the projection exposure apparatus via mounting elements. At least one of the mounting elements, which is assigned to a first one of the mirror segments, extends, on the opposite side to the optically active surface of the mirror segment arrangement, at least partly into the region of a second mirror segment of the mirror segment arrangement. The second mirror segment is adjacent to the first mirror segment. | 11-29-2012 |
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 |
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 |
20120293784 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MONITORING MULTIPLE MIRROR ARRAYS IN AN ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - Microlithographic illumination system includes individually drivable elements to variably illuminate a pupil surface of the system. Each element deviates an incident light beam based on a control signal applied to the element. The system also includes an instrument to provide a measurement signal, and a model-based state estimator configured to compute, for each element, an estimated state vector based on the measurement signal. The estimated state vector represents: a deviation of a light beam caused by the element; and a time derivative of the deviation. The illumination system further includes a regulator configured to receive, for each element: a) the estimated state vector; and b) target values for: i) the deviation of the light beam caused by the deviating element; and ii) the time derivative of the deviation. | 11-22-2012 |
20120287414 | FACET MIRROR FOR USE IN MICROLITHOGRAPHY - A facet mirror ( | 11-15-2012 |
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 |
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 |
20120274919 | CATADIOPTRIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - A reflection mirror assembly for use in a catadioptric imaging optical system includes two curved reflection mirrors, each including a reflection surface expressed by equation (a), where y represents height in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis, z represents distance (sag amount) along the optical axis from a tangent plane at a vertex of the reflection surface to a position on the reflection surface at height y, r represents a vertex curvature radius, and R represents a conical coefficient; | 11-01-2012 |
20120274918 | CATADIOPTRIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - A catadioptric projection objective for imaging a pattern onto an image plane includes: a first objective part for imaging the pattern into a first intermediate image; a second objective part for imaging the first intermediate image into a second intermediate image; and a third objective part for imaging the second intermediate image onto the image plane. A first concave mirror having a continuous mirror surface and a second concave mirror having a continuous mirror surface are upstream of the second intermediate image. A pupil surface is formed between the object plane and the first intermediate image, between the first and the second intermediate image, and between the second intermediate image and the image plane. A plate having essentially parallel plate surfaces is positioned in the first objective part near the pupil surface. At least one plate surface is aspherized to correct for aberrations. | 11-01-2012 |
20120274917 | IMAGING OPTICS - An imaging optics is provided for lithographic projection exposure for guiding a bundle of imaging light with a wavelength shorter than 193 nm via a plurality of mirrors for beam-splitter-free imaging of a reflective object in an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. An object field point has a central ray angle which is smaller than 3°. At least one of the mirrors is a near-field mirror. The imaging optics which can allow for high-quality imaging of a reflective object. | 11-01-2012 |
20120250144 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL ELEMENT AND METHOD FOR OPERATING AN EUV LITHOGRAPHY APPARATUS - In order to reduce the adverse influence of contamination composed of silicon dioxide, hydrocarbons and/or metals within an EUV lithography apparatus on the reflectivity, a reflective optical element ( | 10-04-2012 |
20120249988 | OPTICAL BEAM DEFLECTING ELEMENT, ILLUMINATION SYSTEM INCLUDING SAME, AND RELATED METHOD - An optical beam deflecting element may be used effectively as an energy distribution manipulator in an illumination system to vary the energy distribution within a given spatial intensity distribution in a pupil plane of the illumination system substantially without changing the shape and size and position of illuminated areas in the pupil plane. | 10-04-2012 |
20120249985 | MEASUREMENT OF AN IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM BY SUPERPOSITION OF PATTERNS - A device for measuring an imaging optical system, including: a first grating pattern ( | 10-04-2012 |
20120242996 | OPTICAL SCATTERING DISK, USE THEREOF, AND WAVEFRONT MEASURING APPARATUS - Immersion objective arrangement including an objective, an immersion medium and an optical scattering disk, and associated method. The optical scattering disk includes a transparent substrate ( | 09-27-2012 |
20120242968 | METHOD FOR ADJUSTING AN ILLUMINATION SYSTEM OF A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY - A method includes moving a correction device into a neutral position; subsequently ascertaining, for a given arrangement of imaging light channels in the illumination optical unit of the projection exposure apparatus, intensity distributions of at least some of the individual imaging light partial beams along a transverse coordinate transverse to a displacement direction of an object to be imaged; subsequently ascertaining, in dependence on the transverse coordinate, an actual variation of actual values of structure image sizes of object structures in an image field, onto which the object is imaged; and subsequently specifying a predetermined variation of the structure image sizes over the transverse coordinate and displacing correction elements of the correction device, starting from the neutral position, such that the actual variation matches the predetermined variation within a tolerance bandwidth. The method can provide improved imaging results as compared to known uniformity adjustment. | 09-27-2012 |
20120241268 | ARRANGEMENT FOR THE VIBRATION ISOLATION OF A PAY LOAD - The disclosure relates to arrangements and methods for vibration isolation of a payload from a body. An arrangement for vibration isolation of a payload from a body having vibrations includes a sensor for measuring vibrations, and an actuator for generating a compensation force on the payload, at least on the basis of the measurement of the sensor. At least one balancing mass is arranged in the reaction path of a reaction force associated with the compensation force, and the sensor is mounted on the body. | 09-27-2012 |
20120236316 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING A SHAPE OF AN OPTICAL TEST SURFACE - A method of determining a shape of an optical test surface ( | 09-20-2012 |
20120236282 | 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 im-aging optical systems, methods of using such projection exposure installa-tions, and components made by such methods. | 09-20-2012 |
20120236277 | CATADIOPTRIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE COMPRISING DEFLECTION MIRRORS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE METHOD - A catadioptric projection objective has a multiplicity of lenses and at least one concave mirror, and also two deflection mirrors in order to separate a partial beam path running from the object field to the concave mirror from the partial beam path running from the concave mirror to the image field. The deflection mirrors are tilted relative to the optical axis of the projection objective about tilting axes running parallel to a first direction (x-direction). The first deflection mirror is arranged in optical proximity to a first field plane and the second deflection mirror is arranged in optical proximity to a second field plane, which is optically conjugate with respect to the first field plane. A displacement device for the synchronous displacement of the deflection mirrors is provided. The deflection mirrors have different local distributions of their reflection properties in first and second reflection regions, respectively. | 09-20-2012 |
20120236272 | COMBINATION STOP FOR CATOPTRIC PROJECTION ARRANGEMENT - The disclosure relates to an optical projection arrangement that can be used to image a reticle onto a substrate. The projection arrangement includes reflective elements, by which a ray path is defined. A combination stop is in a pupil of the ray path. The combination stop has a first opening (aperture opening) for use as an aperture stop. The combination stop also has a second opening for allowing passage of a ray bundle of the ray path, such that the combination stop acts as a combined aperture stop and stray light stop. In addition, the disclosure relates to a corresponding combination stop for optical arrangements, as well as related systems, components and methods. | 09-20-2012 |
20120229814 | METHOD OF MEASURING A SHAPE OF AN OPTICAL SURFACE AND INTERFEROMETRIC MEASURING DEVICE - Measuring a shape of an optical surface ( | 09-13-2012 |
20120229784 | MIRROR FOR USE IN A MICROLITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A mirror including a substrate and a reflective coating that includes a first group of layers and a second group of layers arranged between the substrate and the first group of layers. Both the first and second groups of layers include a plurality of alternating first material layers and second material layers, arranged one above another. The refractive index of the first material for radiation in the range of 5-30 nm is greater than the refractive index of the second material in that wavelength range. The first group of layers is configured to have a number of layers that is greater than 20, such that, upon irradiation with radiation having a wavelength in the range of 5-30 nm, less than 20% of the radiation reaches the second group of layers, which has a layer thickness variation for correcting the surface form of the mirror. | 09-13-2012 |
20120224186 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A MIRROR HAVING AT LEAST TWO MIRROR SURFACES, MIRROR OF A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY, AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A mirror (M) of a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography configured for structured exposure of a light-sensitive material and a method for producing a mirror (M). The mirror (M) has a substrate body (B), a first mirror surface (S) and a second mirror surface (S′). The first mirror surface (S) is formed on a first side (VS) of the substrate body (B). The second mirror surface (S′) is formed on a second side (RS) of the substrate body (B), the second side being different from the first side of the substrate body (B). The mirror (M) may be embodied, in particular, such that the substrate body (B) is produced from a glass ceramic material. | 09-06-2012 |
20120224160 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL IMAGING SYSTEM - An optical imaging system serving for imaging a pattern arranged in an object plane of the imaging system into an image plane of the imaging system with the aid of electromagnetic radiation from a wavelength range around a main wavelength λ | 09-06-2012 |
20120224153 | OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT, IN PARTICULAR IN A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY - An optical arrangement, in particular in a projection exposure apparatus for EUV lithography. In an aspect an optical arrangement has a housing ( | 09-06-2012 |
20120218643 | LENS BLANK AND LENS ELEMENTS AS WELL AS METHOD FOR THEIR PRODUCTION - A method for manufacturing a preferably asymmetrical lens element ( | 08-30-2012 |
20120218536 | CATADIOPTRIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE INCLUDING A REFLECTIVE OPTICAL COMPONENT AND A MEASURING DEVICE - A catadioptric projection objective for images an object field onto an image field via imaging radiation. The projection objective includes at least one reflective optical component and a measuring device. The reflective optical component, during the operation of the projection objective, reflects a first part of the imaging radiation and transmits a second part of the imaging radiation. The reflected, first part of the imaging radiation at least partly contributes to the imaging of the object field. The transmitted, second part of the imaging radiation is at least partly fed to a measuring device. This allows a simultaneous exposure of the photosensitive layer at the location of the image field with the imaging radiation and monitoring of the imaging radiation with the aid of the measuring device. | 08-30-2012 |
20120212810 | MIRROR FOR THE EUV WAVELENGTH RANGE, PROJECTION OBJECTIVE FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY CROMPRISING SUCH A MIRROR, AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY COMPRISING SUCH A PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - EUV-mirror having a substrate (S) and a layer arrangement that includes plural layer subsystems (P″, P′″) each consisting of a periodic sequence of at least two periods (P | 08-23-2012 |
20120212721 | SUBSTRATES AND MIRRORS FOR EUV MICROLITHOGRAPHY, AND METHODS FOR PRODUCING THEM - Mirrors having a reflecting coating for the EUV wavelength region and a substrate. A surface region of the substrate extends uniformly below the reflecting coating along this coating and, seen from the surface of the substrate, has a depth of down to 5 μm. Here, this surface region has a 2% higher density than the remaining substrate. Also disclosed are substrates that likewise have such surface regions and methods for producing such mirrors and substrates having such surface regions by irradiation using ions or electrons. | 08-23-2012 |
20120212720 | DEVICE FOR GUIDING ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION INTO A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - A device for guiding electromagnetic radiation into a projection exposure apparatus for semiconductor lithography includes an optical fibre and an actuator for the mechanical manipulation of a section of the fibre as a result of which a temporally averaged homogenization of an intensity profile of electromagnetic radiation emerging at an exit end of the fibre can be achieved. A projection exposure apparatus for semiconductor lithography is equipped with the abovementioned device. | 08-23-2012 |
20120208115 | IMAGING OPTICS - An imaging optics includes a plurality of mirrors which reflect imaging light to image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. A mirror body of at least one of the mirrors has a through-opening for the imaging light to pass through. The through-opening has an internal region of a smallest opening width in the mirror body. The through-opening expands from the internal region towards both edge regions of the mirror body. A disturbing influence of unused light portions is reduced or eliminated completely. | 08-16-2012 |
20120206704 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL UNIT FOR PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY - An illumination optical unit for projection lithography for illuminating an object field, in which an object to be imaged can be arranged, with illumination light has a field facet mirror having a plurality of field facets. A pupil facet mirror of the illumination optical unit has a plurality of pupil facets. The pupil facets serve for imaging the field facets respectively assigned individually to the pupil facets into the object field. An individual mirror array of the illumination optical unit has individual mirrors that can be tilted in driven fashion individually. The individual mirror array is arranged in an illumination light beam path upstream of the field facet mirror. This can result in flexibly configurable illumination by the illumination optical unit, this illumination being readily adaptable to predetermined values. | 08-16-2012 |
20120200913 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL ELEMENT AND METHOD OF PRODUCING IT - In order to limit the negative effect of metal contamination on reflectivity within an EUV lithography device, a reflective optical element is proposed for the extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray wavelength range with a reflective surface with an uppermost layer, in which the uppermost layer comprises one or more organic silicon compounds with a carbon-silicon and/or silicon-oxygen bond. | 08-09-2012 |
20120194795 | OPTICAL ELEMENT - An optical element has at least one additional element fitted thereon which dissipates the vibrational energy of the optical element by friction. | 08-02-2012 |
20120194793 | OPTICAL APPARATUS FOR USE IN PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY - An optical apparatus includes an interchange mechanism and an optical assembly of an illumination system or a projection objective. At least one of the plurality of optical elements of the optical assembly is selected from among a plurality of ones selectable from the interchange mechanism which facilitates exchange of one for another in the beam path. To reduce transmission of vibration from the interchange mechanism to the optical assembly, the interchange mechanism is mounted on a structure which is substantially dynamically decoupled from the housing, and a selected selectable optical element is located at an operating position at which it is separate from the interchange mechanism. | 08-02-2012 |
20120188636 | METHOD FOR CORRECTING A LITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION OBJECTIVE, AND SUCH A PROJECTION OBJECTIVE - A method for correcting at least one image defect of a projection objective of a lithography projection exposure machine, the projection objective comprising an optical arrangement composed of a plurality of lenses and at least one mirror, the at least one mirror having an optically operative surface that can be defective and is thus responsible for the at least one image defect, comprises the steps of: at least approximately determining a ratio VM of principal ray height h | 07-26-2012 |
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 |
20120188525 | CATOPTRIC OBJECTIVES AND SYSTEMS USING CATOPTRIC OBJECTIVES - In general, in a first aspect, the invention features a system that includes a microlithography projection optical system. The microlithography projection optical system includes a plurality of elements arranged so that during operation the plurality of elements image radiation at a wavelength λ from an object plane to an image plane. At least one of the elements is a reflective element that has a rotationally-asymmetric surface positioned in a path of the radiation. The rotationally-asymmetric surface deviates from a rotationally-symmetric reference surface by a distance of about λ or more at one or more locations of the rotationally-asymmetric surface. | 07-26-2012 |
20120188524 | PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS WITH OPTIMIZED ADJUSTMENT POSSIBILITY - A microlithography projection objective includes an optical element, a manipulator configured to manipulate the optical element, and a control unit configured to control the manipulator. The control unit includes a first device configured to control movement of the manipulator, a memory comprising an upper bound for a range of movement of the manipulator, and a second device configured to generate a merit function based on a square of a root mean square (RMS) of at least one error and configured to minimize the merit function subordinate to the upper bound for the range of movement of the manipulator. | 07-26-2012 |
20120188523 | OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT IN A PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY - An optical arrangement includes a multiplicity of optical elements and a carrier structure which carries the optical elements. The carrier structure is composed of at least two releasably interconnected modules. Each module is composed of at least one carrier structure subelement. A subhousing is produced by a multiplicity of carrier structure subelements and/or modules. The subhousing has a geometry that varies, at least in regions, in correspondence to a usable beam path in the projection exposure apparatus, the usable beam path being defined as an envelope of all light bundles which can propagate from all field points in a field plane to an image plane of the projection exposure apparatus. A projection exposure apparatus for EUV lithography includes such an optical arrangement. | 07-26-2012 |
20120182606 | MICROMIRROR ARRANGEMENT HAVING A COATING AND METHOD FOR THE PRODUCTION THEREOF - A micromirror arrangement ( | 07-19-2012 |
20120182533 | OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT AND MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS INCLUDING SAME - An optical arrangement includes at least one optical element and a support element for the optical element. The optical element and the support element are connected together by way of at least three decoupling elements. The decoupling elements are formed monolithically with the optical element and with the support element. | 07-19-2012 |
20120176670 | IMAGING MICROOPTICS FOR MEASURING THE POSITION OF AN AERIAL IMAGE - An imaging microoptics, which is compact and robust, includes at least one aspherical member and has a folded beam path. The imaging microoptics provides a magnification |β′| of >800 by magnitude. Furthermore, a system for positioning a wafer with respect to a projection optics includes the imaging microoptics, an image sensor positionable in the image plane of the imaging microoptics, for measuring a position of an aerial image of the projection optics, and a wafer stage with an actuator and a controller for positioning the wafer in dependence of an output signal of the image sensor. | 07-12-2012 |
20120176591 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE CORRECTION OF IMAGING DEFECTS - The disclosure relates to a microlithography projection exposure system having optical corrective elements configured to modify the imaging characteristics, as well as related systems and component. | 07-12-2012 |
20120164061 | Production of Radiation-Resistant Fluoride Crystals, in Particular Calcium Fluoride Crystals - A process for producing fluoride crystals, in particular calcium fluoride crystals, having high radiation resistance to ultraviolet radiation, which includes: provisioning of a crystal powder ( | 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 |
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 |
20120162625 | CATADIOPTRIC PROJECTION OBJECTIVE WITH INTERMEDIATE IMAGES - A catadioptric projection objective has a first objective part, defining a first part of the optical axis and imaging an object field to form a first real intermediate image. It also has a second, catadioptric objective part forming a second real intermediate image using the radiation from the first objective part. The second objective part has a concave mirror and defines a second part of the optical axis. A third objective part images the second real intermediate image into the image plane and defines a third part of the optical axis. Folding mirrors deflect the radiation from the object plane towards the concave mirror; and deflect the radiation from the concave mirror towards the image plane. The first part of the optical axis defined by the first objective part is laterally offset from and aligned parallel with the third part of the optical axis. | 06-28-2012 |
20120154935 | HOLDING ARRANGEMENT FOR AN OPTICAL ELEMENT - A holding arrangement for an optical element, in particular for a cylindrical lens, includes a basic structure surrounding an optical element and a mounting device by which the optical element is supported on the basic structure. The mounting device has two degrees of freedom so that the optical element can be supported by the mounting device in a manner that allows the optical element to rotate about both about an optical axis and an axis perpendicular to the optical axis. If the optical element is a cylindrical lens, the axis perpendicular to the optical axis can be an axis perpendicular to an axial direction of the cylindrical lens. The disclosure further relates to a manipulator unit for an optical system which includes a holding arrangement. | 06-21-2012 |
20120154774 | Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method - Lithography apparatus and device manufacturing methods are disclosed in which means are provided for reducing the extent to which vibrations propagate between a first element of a projection system and a second element of a projection system. Approaches disclosed include the use of plural resilient members in series as part of a vibration isolation system, plural isolation frames for separately supporting first and second projection system frames, and modified connection positions for the interaction between the first and second projection system frames and the isolation frame(s). | 06-21-2012 |
20120154772 | OPTICAL ARRANGEMENT IN AN OPTICAL SYSTEM, IN PARTICULAR IN A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An optical arrangement in an optical system, such as a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, includes: at least one heat-emitting subsystem which emits heat during the operation of the optical system; a first heat shield which is arranged such that it at least partly absorbs the heat emitted by the heat-emitting subsystem; a first cooling device which is in mechanical contact with the first heat shield and is designed to dissipate heat from the first heat shield; and a second heat shield which at least partly absorbs heat emitted by the first heat shield. The second heat shield is in mechanical contact with a cooling device that dissipates heat from the second heat shield. | 06-21-2012 |
20120147347 | IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM AND ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM - 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. A reflection face of at least one of the mirrors is configured as a free form face which cannot be described by a rotationally symmetrical function. The object field has an aspect ratio greater than 1. A ratio of a minimal and a maximal transverse dimension of the object field can be less than 0.9. | 06-14-2012 |
20120147344 | 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. | 06-14-2012 |
20120140454 | MAGNIFYING IMAGING OPTICAL UNIT AND METROLOGY SYSTEM INCLUDING SAME - A magnifying imaging optical unit has at least four mirrors to image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. An absolute value of the Petzval radius of the image field is greater than 500 mm. The imaging optical unit can be used to inspect with sufficient imaging quality relatively large mask sections of lithography masks used during projection exposure to produce large scale integrated semiconductor components. | 06-07-2012 |
20120140351 | MAGNIFYING IMAGING OPTICAL UNIT AND METROLOGY SYSTEM INCLUDING SAME - An imaging optical unit includes at least four mirrors to image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. The ratio of the structural length of the imaging optical unit to the imaging scale of the imaging optical unit is less than 4.9 mm. The imaging optical unit provides improved handling properties, such as, for example, when used in a metrology system. | 06-07-2012 |
20120140341 | HOLDING ARRANGEMENT FOR AN OPTICAL ELEMENT - A holding arrangement for an optical element includes a basic structure surrounding an optical element and a mounting device by which the optical element can be supported on the basic structure with two degrees of freedom for a rotational movement about an optical axis and a translational movement along a first axis which extends perpendicularly to the optical axis and intersects the optical axis in a center. The mounting device includes four joint locations arranged point-symmetrically with respect to the center and at least one parallel rocker which is displaceable parallel to the first axis. A manipulator unit includes a holding arrangement. | 06-07-2012 |
20120140241 | OPTICAL SYSTEM, IN PARTICULAR IN A MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS - An optical system, such as a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, includes a first optical component, a second optical component, and a measurement arrangement for determining the relative position of the first optical component and the second optical component in six degrees of freedom. The measurement arrangement is adapted to determine the relative position of the first optical component and the second optical component over six different length measurement sections. The length measurement sections extend directly between the first optical component and the second optical component. | 06-07-2012 |
20120138401 | DAMPING DEVICE - A hexapod system for aligning an optical element in semiconductor clean rooms or in a vacuum, particularly in an illumination device for a microlithographic EUV projection exposure apparatus, comprises six hexapod supporting structures ( | 06-07-2012 |