Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh

Ralf Winter

Vitaliy Shklover

Oliver Dier

Sebastian Strobel

Franz Sorg

Thomas Schicketanz

Eric Eva

Julian Kaller

Holger Kierey

Joern Weber

Karl-Stefan Weissenrieder

Christof Jalics

Christian Grasse

Robert Meier

Dirk Heinrich Ehm

Hartmut Enkisch

Kerstin Hild

Stefan-Wolfgang Schmidt

Hans-Jochen Paul

Moritz Becker

Stephan Six

Stefan Wiesner

Alexey Sergeevich Kuznetsov

Arno Schmittner

Irene Ament

Martin Hermann

Wolfgang Merkel

Christoph Nottbohm

Diana Urich

Jörn Weber

Treating a reflective optical element () for the EUV wavelength range that has a reflective coating on a substrate. The reflective optical element in a holder () is irradiated with at least one radiation pulse of a radiation source () having a duration of between 1 &#x3bc;s and 1 s. At least one radiation source () and the reflective optical element move relative to one another. Preferably, this is carried out directly after applying the reflective coating in a coating chamber (). Reflective optical elements of this type are suitable in particular for use in EUV lithography or in EUV inspection of masks or wafers, for example.

Method for treating a reflective optical element for the EUV wavelength range, method for producing same, and treating apparatus

An optical assembly includes: an optical element, which is transmissive or reflective to radiation at a used wavelength and has an optically used region; and a thermally conductive component, which is arranged outside the optically used region of the optical element. The thermally conductive component can include a material having a thermal conductivity of more than 500 W mK. Additionally or alternatively, the product of the thickness of the thermally conductive component in millimeters and the thermal conductivity of the material of the thermally conductive component is at least 1 W mm mK.

Optical assembly having a thermally conductive component

A cost-effective method for repairing reflective optical elements for EUV lithography. These optical elements () have a substrate () and a coating () that reflects at a working wavelength in the range between 5 nm and 20 nm and is damaged as a result of formation of hydrogen bubbles. The method includes: localizing a damaged area () in the coating () and covering the damaged area () with one or more materials having low hydrogen permeability by applying a cover element to the damaged area. The cover element is formed of a surface structure, a convex or concave surface, or a coating corresponding to the coating of the reflective optical element, or a combination thereof. The method is particularly suitable for collector mirrors () for EUV lithography. After the repair, the optical elements have cover elements ().

Method for repairing reflective optical elements for EUV lithography

In order to prevent delamination of a reflective coating from the substrate under the influence of reactive hydrogen, a reflective optical element () for EUV lithography is provided, which has a substrate () and a reflective coating () for reflecting radiation in the wavelength range of 5 nm to 20 nm. A functional layer () is arranged between the reflective coating () and the substrate (). With the functional layer, the concentration of hydrogen in atom % at the side of the substrate facing the reflective coating is reduced by at least a factor of 2.

Reflective optical element for EUV lithography

An EUV mirror has a multilayer arrangement applied on a substrate. The multilayer arrangement includes a first layer group having ten or more first layer pairs. Each first layer pair has a first layer composed of a high refractive index first layer material having a first layer thickness, has a second layer composed of a low refractive index second layer material having a second layer thickness and has a period thickness corresponding to the sum of the layer thicknesses of all the layers of a first layer pair. The layer thicknesses of one of the layer materials are defined, depending on the period number, by a simply monotonic first layer thickness profile function, e.g. by a linear, quadratic or exponential layer thickness profile function. The layer thicknesses of the other of the layer materials vary, depending on the period number, in accordance with a second layer thickness profile function.

EUV mirror and optical system comprising EUV mirror

A reflective optical element () having a substrate () and a multilayer system () that has a plurality of partial stacks (), each with a first layer () of a first material and a second layer () of a second material. The first material and the second material differ from one another in refractive index at an operating wavelength of the optical element. Each of the partial stacks has a thickness (D) and a layer thickness ratio (&#x393;), wherein the layer thickness ratio is the quotient of the thickness of the respective first layer and the partial stack thickness (D). In a first section of the multilayer system, for at least one of the two variables of partial stack thickness (D) and layer thickness ratio (&#x393;), the mean square deviation from the respective mean values therefor is at least 10% less than in a second section of the multilayer system.

Reflective optical element, and optical system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus

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Schwaebisch Gmuend, Germany

Ralf Winter