Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung

Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh

Other

Carl-Zeiss-Smt Ag

Carl Zeiss Sms Ltd.

Carl Zeiss Semiconductor Manufacturing Technologies Ag

Amsl Netherlands B.v.

Carl Zeiss Vision Gmbh

Albrecht Hof

Adalbert Hanssen

Klaus Mehlkopp

Dietmar Neugebauer

Rolf Freimann

Michael Kuchel

Guenter Maul

Armin Bich

Erik Roelof Loopstra

Wilhelm Ulrich

Johannes Hubertus Josephina Moors

Antonius Johannes Josephus Van Dijsseldonk

Dominicus Jacobus Petrus Adrianus Franken

Matthias Manger

Bernd Doerband

Stefan Schulte

Michael Muehlbeyer

Josephus Jacobus Smits

Klaus-Peter Koch

Bernd Dörband

Lothar Gail

Lothar Rubl

Lothar Scheibl

Frank Riepenhausen

Michael M&uuml;hlbeyer

Eberhard Jost

G&uuml;nter Maul

Adalbert Hanßen

Wilfried Schierholz

Helmut Krause

Rainer Maul

Stefan Otto

Wolfgang Scherm

Monika Frey

Günter Maul

Helmut Issler

An apparatus for bearing a lithography mask with a reticle stage includes a resting support holder for the lithography mask. The resting support holder has bearing points which bear the lithography mask. Optionally, the resting support holder optionally has exactly four bearing points. An associated method adjusts the height of the fourth bearing point until all bearing points bear the same supporting force.

Apparatus and method for bearing a lithography mask

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.

Optical system, in particular in a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus

Measuring a shape of an optical surface () of a test object () includes: providing an interferometric measuring device () generating a measurement wave (); arranging the measuring device () and the test object () consecutively at different measurement positions relative to each other, such that different regions () of the optical surface () are illuminated by the measurement wave (); measuring positional coordinates of the measuring device () at the different measurement positions in relation to the test object (); obtaining surface region measurements by interferometrically measuring the wavefront of the measurement wave () after interaction with the respective region () of the optical surface () using the measuring device () in each of the measurement positions; and determining the actual shape of the optical surface () by computationally combining the surface region measurements based on the measured positional coordinates of the measuring device () at each of the measurement positions.

Method of measuring a shape of an optical surface based on computationally combined surface region measurements and interferometric measuring device

A device for measuring lithography masks is provided, comprising

Device and method for measuring lithography masks

A projection exposure apparatus is equipped with an illumination system, a reticle, a projection objective and an image plane. Interstitial spaces between the individual elements of the apparatus are open to the ambient space. A gas purge device which carries a stream of noble gas or nitrogen is arranged in at least one of the interstitial spaces. The gas purge device is of a shape and size so that one or more interstitial spaces are at least to a large extent sealed off from the ambient space surrounding the projection apparatus.

Device for sealing a projection exposure apparatus

An optical system, in particular an exposure lens for semiconductor lithography, with a plurality of optical elements has at least one load-dissipating structure. The load-dissipating structure diverts the forces originating from the optical elements. The optical system also has a measuring structure constructed independently of the at least one load-dissipating structure.

Optical system with isolated measuring structure

A lithographic projection apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention includes a projection system having a plurality of optical elements or sensors mounted on a frame. The frame includes support portions made of a material (e.g. a glass ceramic) having a coefficient of thermal expansion of less than or approximately equal to 0.1&times;10 K .

Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method

The present invention is a process by which optical surfaces of lenses, particularly plastic progressive lenses and molding shells for producing lenses are manufactured directly in a single step according to didicidual data. A blank from which an optical surface or a molding shell is to be manufactured is held at the workpiece carrier of a spindle axis (Z axis) of a shaping machine and is directly turned into its final form by a turning tool which can move relative to the blank (in the X axis), i.e., transversely to the direction of displacement of the tool. During each rotation of the spindle, the turning tool is incrementally adjusted towards or away from the blank depending on the characteristic surface data, which may be predetermined or calculated on-line.

Process for manufacturing optical surfaces and shaping machine for carrying out this process

A positioning device is provided with a spindle and a spindle nut cooperating therewith for the conversion of a rotary motion into a linear motion for a coarse adjustment, and a piezoelectric linear positioning element arranged in series with the spindle and spindle nut for fine adjustment. The piezoelectric linear positioning element is relieved of transverse forces and moments by a cardan joint that is arranged between an object seating and the spindle.

Positioning device

A spectacle lens has a spherical or rotationally symmetrical, aspheric front side and a back side prescription surface. All individual requirements of the prescription for spectacles, consisting of spherical, astigmatic and prismatic power and their distribution on the x and y axes on the spectacle lens surface, are fulfilled by the prescription surface. The back surface of the spectacle lens is a multifocal surface without point symmetry and/or axial symmetry. A process that produces spectacle lenses with multifocal power starts with variants of a first or of a few spectacle lens(es) that originate according to prior art design considerations. The semi-finished lenses have spherical or aspheric, rotationally symmetrical, convex front surfaces, with about 10 different radii. The whole matching of individual required dioptric power takes place on a free-form back surface of the spectacle lens facing the eye of the wearer. The shape of this back surface follows from an individual optimization calculation using the design of the predefined starting surface as the start of the optimization.

Spectacle lens with spherical front side and multifocal back side and

In a process and apparatus for measuring object topographies by means of projected fringe patterns, to enlarge the region of certainty, different periodicities are evaluated. Calibration of the measurement apparatus is carried out in at least two parallel planes, situated in the forward and in the rearward regions of the measurement volume. Corrected phase values are first calculated from the phase measurement values of the measurement object. By combination of the phase measurement values relating to the pattern of long periodicity and of the pattern of short periodicity, the fringe order of the phase values relating to short periodicity is calculated. By interpolation of the correction values between the two planes in which the reference measurements were carried out, the measurement process and a corresponding measurment apparatus provide highly accurate measurement values, with simultaneously reduced requirements on the accuracy of mechanical and/or optical adjustment.

Process and apparatus for the measurement of object topographies by

The present invention relates to a method for evaluating fringe images, in particular, for topographic measurements. During a first step, several phase-displaced patterns are recorded sequentially in time, and the respective phase relations of these patterns are determined by evaluation in the spatial domain (14a, 14b, 15). During a second step, after the phase shifts have been determined accurately in this manner based on the video images themselves, a pixel-by-pixel evaluation of the phase-displaced pattern is performed in the time domain. The invention also includes computer hardware for performing the evaluation of the strip images in video real time.

Method for analyzing periodic brightness patterns

A single projector is used to project a grating pattern on the surface of the object being measured, and the grating pattern is recorded simultaneously by two cameras from two different directions relative to the direction of projection. Both cameras record images of the same object areas. The fringe phases of the image patterns recorded by each of the two cameras are computed separately; and the object coordinates, which are computed from the combination of the computed fringe phases of both cameras, are unambiguous within a large measured range.

Method and apparatus for three-dimensional optical measurement of object

Several bar patterns are projected in sequence on the object (O) to be measured by time-division multiplexing, and images of the bar patterns are recorded by a camera (K). The phases of each bar pattern, as distorted by the object, are calculated for preselected image points by a computer connected with the camera. For each image point, the calculated phases for one of said bar patterns are compared to the phases calculated for at least one other of said bar patterns, thereby producing a beat frequency which can be used to determine height measurements in the direction of the camera axis (z). In order to increase the range of the height measurements, at least two beat frequencies of quite different effective wavelengths are generated and evaluated. Different systems are disclosed for generating the different beat frequencies. In one embodiment, the bar patterns are projected by three different projectors (P.sub.1, P.sub.2, P.sub.3) which are inclined at different angles relative to each other (.alpha..sub.1, .alpha..sub.2). In a second embodiment, only two projectors are used, but each projector has two gratings, the respective periods of which differ from each other only slightly.

Method and apparatus for non-contact measuring of object surfaces

The invention is directed to a coordinate measuring apparatus having an optical sensing head. The optical sensing head is held on the measuring arm of the coordinate measuring apparatus. The optical sensing head includes a holder and a plurality of detachable front optic units which can be exchanged as required. Each of the front optic units has its own objective and its own illuminating optic arrangement adapted to the objective. The illuminating optic is supplied via light conductors with the light conductors being guided over a change interface where the front optic unit is attached to the holder of the sensing head in a reproducible manner. The light conducting ends for the illumination are coupled in the change interface by means of a coupling device which achieves this coupling with low losses. This device includes, for example, self-centering sleeves which enable flexible supply light conductors to be centrally seated on the end faces of half-rigid plastic light conductors. Interface losses are avoided in this manner.

Growing community of inventors

Aalen, Germany

Albrecht Hof