Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh

Ralf Stuetzle

Martin Endres

Jens Ossmann

Damian Fiolka

Udo Dinger

Michael Layh

Markus Hauf

Joachim Hartjes

Paul Graeupner

Olaf Conradi

Berndt Warm

Severin Waldis

Joerg Zimmermann

Ralf Scharnweber

Marc Kirch

Holger Weigand

Christian Steigerwald

Method for setting an illumination setting in an illumination optical unit comprising at least one controllable correction device, which includes a multiplicity of adjustable correction elements for influencing the transmission, wherein the illumination setting is varied for adapting a predetermined imaging parameter in the region of an image field.

Method for adjusting an illumination setting

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.

Catoptric illumination system for microlithography tool

A component for setting a scan-integrated illumination energy in an object plane of a microlithography projection exposure apparatus is disclosed. The component includes a plurality of diaphragms which are arranged alongside one another with respect to a direction perpendicular to the scan movement and which differ in their form and the position of which can be altered approximately in the scan direction so that a portion of the illumination energy can be vignetted by at least one diaphragm. The form of the individual diaphragm is specifically adapted to the form of the illumination in a diaphragm plane in which the component is arranged. This has the effect that at least parts of the delimiting edges of two diaphragms always differ in the case of an arbitrary displacement of the diaphragms.

Component for setting a scan-integrated illumination energy in an object plane of a microlithography projection exposure apparatus

An illumination system for EUV microlithography includes an EUV light source which generates EUV illumination light with an etendue that is higher than 0.01 mm. The EUV light source generates a sequence of EUV light pulses having a pulse sequence frequency. An illumination optics of the illumination system is used to guide the illumination light from the light source to an object field. At least one optical modulation component of the illumination system is preferably modulatable synchronously with the pulse sequence frequency. The result is an illumination system where a homogeneity of an object field illumination is improved.

Illumination system for EUV 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.

Illumination optical unit for microlithography

An illumination optical system for projection lithography has an optical assembly for guiding illumination light to an object field to be illuminated in an object plane. The illumination optical system divides a bundle of the illumination light into a plurality of part bundles, which are allocated to various illumination directions of the object field illumination. The illumination optical system is configured in such a way that at least some of the part bundles are superimposed on one another in a first superimposition plane according to a first superimposition specification and in a second superimposition plane, which is spaced apart from the first superimposition plane, according to a second superimposition specification. The result is an illumination optical system, in which an influencing and/or a monitoring of an illumination intensity distribution over the object field is made possible, as far as possible without influencing an illumination angle distribution.

Illumination optical system for projection lithography

An illumination optics for microlithography includes an optical assembly for guiding illumination light to an object field to be illuminated in an object plane. The illumination optics can divide an illumination light radiation bundle into a plurality of radiation sub-bundles which are assigned to different illumination angles of the object field illumination. The illumination optics is configured so that at least some of the radiation sub-bundles are superimposed in a superposition plane which is spaced from the object plane and which is not imaged into the object plane in which superposition takes place. This superposition is such that edges of the superimposed radiation sub-bundles coincide at least partially. In some embodiments, a field intensity setting device includes a plurality of adjacent individual diaphragms which at least attenuate illumination light when exposed thereon. These individual diaphragms are insertable into an illumination light radiation bundle in a direction parallel to an object displacement direction. All individual diaphragms of the field intensity setting device are insertable into the illumination light radiation bundle from one and the same side.

Illumination optics for microlithography

Illumination optics for EUV microlithography guide an illumination light bundle from a radiation source to an object field with an extension ratio between a longer field dimension and a shorter field dimension, where the ratio is considerably greater than 1.

Illumination optics for EUV microlithography and related system and apparatus

An adjusting device used to align two components of a microlithography projection exposure installation relative to each other. The adjusting device has an autocollimating device with a light source and a reflector. The light source and the reflector are each rigidly connected to one of the optical components. In one embodiment, the adjusting device has a laser light source which is different from the radiation source. A beam-splitter is downstream from the laser light source and carries useful adjustment light along a first optical path. A reflector can be rigidly connected to a reference component of an illuminating optics system or to a radiation source so that when an actual position of the reference component relative to the radiation source coincides with a desired position, the useful adjustment light is reflected back on itself. A bundle-sensitive component is sensitive to the direction and position of useful adjustment light in the optical path between bundle-sensitive component and reflector. The bundle-sensitive component can be rigidly mounted relative to the radiation source or the reflector. A light sensor is downstream from the beam-splitter in a second optical path for the useful adjustment light which is reflected back by the reflector. This results in an adjusting device which makes it possible to achieve high adjustment accuracy with relatively low construction expense.

Adjusting device with a laser light source and a reflector for aligning a microlithography projection exposure installation

The disclosure provides an illumination optical system for microlithography that is designed so that, even with a change of illumination setting (e.g., a change in the given illumination conditions in the object field), variation of illumination parameters over the object field is confined within predetermined tolerances.

Illumination optical system for microlithography

Collectors with mirror shells arranged inside each other, illumination systems equipped with such collectors, projection exposure apparatuses equipped with such illumination systems, methods of manufacturing microelectronic components with such projection exposure apparatuses, and related systems, components and methods are disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Aalen, Germany

Ralf Stuetzle