Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.

Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Nikon Corporation

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Tokyo Keiso Kabushiki-kaisha

Other

Nec Corporation

Olympus Corporation

Nec Electronics Corporation

Yokogawa Electric Corporation

Essilor International (compagnie Generale D'optique)

Taiyo Yudenco., Ltd.

Toru Fujii

Emiko Hamada

Yuji Tomizawa

Ryou Negishi

Toshiaki Tajima

Shunji Watanabe

Hiroshi Takase

Kazuo Ikari

Masaki Imaizumi

Tatsushi Nomura

Takamitsu Fujiu

Yoshinori Sango

Tetsuo Hattori

Akira Takiba

Fumi Hara

Yuji Arai

Tamotsu Kobayashi

Yoshikazu Takagishi

Yosikazu Takagisi

Masashi Satoh

Isao Okitsu

Kunikazu Shigeta

Sachiko Ishibashi

Kunihiko Ootaguro

Tetsuyo Shigehiro

Nobuo Saida

Toshihiro Imai

Masanori Kinugasa

Masatoshi Suzuki

Isao Matsuda

Yasushi Mizuno

Shin-ichi Mihara

Fuyuhiko Inoue

Takuo Kodaira

Atsuo Shimizu

Hideaki Ohkubo

Masaru Mizuta

Tetsuji Onuki

Mamoru Uchida

Hiroyuki Matsushiro

Koji Kaise

Ichizo Itoh

Juping Yang

Alain Goulet

Masahiko Hirano

Hiroshi Owada

Takumi Tsukazaki

Kunihiro Otaguro

Satoshi Nagaya

Mitsue Sakaino

According to one embodiment, an illumination optical apparatus comprises: a light splitting device which splits the beam into a plurality of beams with respective polarization states different from each other; a spatial light modulation device which is arranged on at least one of a first optical path in which a first beam out of the plurality of beams travels and a second optical path in which a second beam out of the plurality of beams travels, and which has a plurality of optical elements arranged two-dimensionally and driven individually; and a control device which controls the spatial modulation device to combine the first beam and the second beam at least in part.

Illumination optical device, illumination method, and exposure method and device

A refractive Fresnel lens used for an optical system including an image plane, which includes a plurality of zone lens surfaces disposed concentrically and a plurality of side wall surfaces each formed between adjacent zone lens surfaces, is characterized in that the side wall surfaces are modulated so as to spatially spread in the image plane noise light due to reflection and/or refraction at the side wall surfaces.

Fresnel lens and optical device

An illumination optical apparatus includes a light splitting device which splits the beam into a plurality of beams with respective polarization states different from each other, a spatial light modulation device which is arranged on at least one of a first optical path in which a first beam out of the plurality of beams travels and a second optical path in which a second beam out of the plurality of beams travels, and which has a plurality of optical elements arranged two-dimensionally and driven individually and a control device which controls the spatial modulation device to combine the first beam and the second beam at least in part.

There is provided a new medium structure to record a bar code for copyright protection or the like in an optical information recording medium capable of recording and reproducing information by a laser with respect to a dye. When a laser beamis irradiated and an optical discis rotation in the direction of an arrow F, the dye of a recording layer is decomposed, a mark piece MA of a bar codeis formed, and a substrate is deformed by heat generated by the dye decomposition. Next, the position of the laser beamis shifted to a position where a part overlaps with the mark piece MA, and when the optical disc is similarly rotated in the direction of the arrow F, a mark piece MB is formed to overlap with the mark piece MA. The above processing is repeated, so that the length of a bar is sequentially lengthened, and the bar code with a length along the standard is formed.

Optical information recording medium and manufacturing method of the same

An optical information recording medium comprises at least a substrate on which a groove is formed in a recording area, a recording layer comprising an organic dye, and a reflective layer. The recording area has a preformat area and a data area, and the groove in the preformat area is narrower or shallower than that in the data area.

Optical information recording medium and mold apparatus for manufacturing the same

An optical property measurement apparatus is equipped with an optical system unit that selectively places an opening section for passing illumination light, a microlens array for measuring wavefront aberration, and a polarization detection system for measuring a polarization state of the illumination light on an optical path of the illumination light. Accordingly an illumination shape and a size of an illumination optical system, wavefront aberration of a projection optical system and a polarization state of the illumination light can be measured together. Therefore, for example, even when exposure is performed with polarized illumination that is a type of modified illumination, highly-accurate exposure can be achieved by adjusting various optical systems based on the measurement results.

Optical property measurement apparatus and optical property measurement method, exposure apparatus and exposure method, and device manufacturing method

An optical information recording medium has light interference layers including a recording layer on a substrate. The recording layer includes an organic dye and a photostabilizer which is, for example, the compound of formula 1 wherein at least one of Rto Rrepresents a substituted alkyl group having a terminal cyano group, with the others represent other substituents; Y represents a monovalent or divalent cation; and Xrepresents a monovalent or divalent anion.

Optical information recording medium

For improving the humidity resistance reliability and the jitter property of an optical disk, the adhesive layer used for bonding a bonding type optical information recording medium is defined such that the glass transition temperature is 100&#xb0; C. or higher at 200&#xb0; C. or lower, the modulus of elasticity at 25 to 80&#xb0; C. is 1000 MPa or more, the adhesion strength thereof is 4 N or more, the reflective layer is defined such that the hardness is 60 mgf/&#x3bc;mor more as the nano indentation hardness, and the dye recording layer is defined such that the water solubility of the dye as light absorption is 0.2 or less.

For improving the jitter property and ensuring the high reliability of an optical disk, a metal film containing phosphorus is disposed in a reflective layer. The layer has a hardness of 60 mgf/&#x3bc;mor more as nano indentation hardness, and an adhesive layer used for bonding has a glass transition temperature of 100&#xb0; C. or higher but 200&#xb0; C. or lower, an elastic modulus at 25 to 80&#xb0; C. of 1000 MPa or more, and an adhesion strength of 4N or more. The dye for the dye recording layer has a water solubility of 20% or less as measured as light absorbance of hot water in which the dye recording layer is soaked.

An optical information medium comprises a pair of discs which are bonded to each other, an optical recording layer provided on at least one of the discs, and a reflecting layer formed on an upper side of the optical recording layer. The optical information medium further includes an adhesive for bonding the pair of discs provided on the reflecting layer, wherein the adhesive has a thickness ranging from 10 to 80 &#x3bc;m. A protecting layer is provided on the upper side of the reflecting layer wherein the pair of discs may be bonded by the protecting layer. The optical recording layer, reflecting layer and protecting layer may be directly sequentially provided on the disc but another substrate layer may be inserted between these layers. There is employed, as the adhesive, those including a reactive curing resin or a hot melt material, and it is preferable that the shrinkage rate of the adhesive be less than 15%.

Optical information medium

A signal-level converter is provided between a first terminal and a second terminal. The first terminal is connected to a first logic circuit operating at a first supply voltage higher than a given reference voltage. The second terminal is connected to a second logic circuit operating at a second supply voltage higher than the first supply voltage. The signal-level converter has a switching transistor that forms a current passage between the first and the second terminals in response to a control signal supplied to a gate of the switching transistor and a bus-hold circuitry, provided between the switching transistor and either the first or the second terminal as the output terminal, the other being the input terminal, and configured to convert a voltage level of a signal transferred via the switching transistor into another voltage level at the output terminal. The bus-hold circuitry may have two bus-hold circuits between the input and the output terminals, for two-way signal transfer. The bus-hold circuitry may have one bus-hold circuit between the switching transistor and the output terminal, for one-way signal transfer. These circuit arrangements offer reduced chip size and simplified control operations for accurate output-terminal voltages. Moreover, the arrangements omit one direction-switching terminal in two-way signal transfer.

Signal-level converter

An image of a design pattern of wallpaper stored in a data base (DB) is viewed by a user computer of a user who is a general consumer or a contractor from a server computer provided in a head office of a wallpaper manufacturer through the Internet. Further, upon accepting an order of wallpaper from the user who saw the image by the user computer, the server computer fetches the image of the design pattern from the DB. A wallpaper printer then prints the image on a wallpaper sheet, thereby manufacturing the wallpaper desired by the user. The produced wallpaper is delivered to the user who gave out the order by, for example, a door-to-door delivery service.

Wallpaper manufacturing method, wallpaper manufacturing apparatus, and program for causing computer to function as wallpaper manufacturing apparatus

An optical information medium made up of a transparent substrate capable of allowing a recording laser beam to penetrate therethrough; a recording layer formed on the transparent substrate; and a reflective layer formed on the recording layer and reflecting a reproducing laser beam thereupon. A numerical aperture of an objective lens of an optical pickup for irradiating the recording laser beam on the recording layer is approximately 0.65, and the numerical aperture of an objective lens of the optical pickup for irradiating the recording laser beam on the reflection layer is approximately 0.60. An inclination angle &thgr; at both edges of the groove for tracking, being formed spirally on the surface of the transparent substrate on which the recording layer is formed, with respect to the main surface of the transparent substrate, is selected to be from 55&deg; to 75&deg;. An index &prop;, expressed by 1&minus;Dr/Ds when assuming that the depth of the groove on the transparent substrate is Ds and the depth of the recording layer at the position of said groove is Dr, is selected to be from 0.2 to 0.4. Further, the full width at half maximum of the groove on the transparent substrate is selected to be from one-third (&frac13;) to a half (&frac12;) of the pitch p of the groove. With this optical information medium, it is possible to record high density signals as signals that are readable optically, as well as to record them with stability.

Optical information medium and recording method therefor

Correlation values between a plurality of templates prepared beforehand and a picture-element data distribution as a pick-up result of an image are calculated, and the position of a maximum template whose correlation value is the maximum of the calculated correlation values is obtained. Subsequently, a curved surface function is calculated which fits the distribution of calculated correlation-values in positions near the maximum template's position, and the position of the picked-up image is calculated based on the curved surface function. As a result, the number of templates prepared beforehand to achieve desired accuracy in detecting a position and the number of times of calculating correlation-values can be reduced, and the image position can be quickly and accurately detected.

Position detecting method and unit, optical characteristic measuring method and unit, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method

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Tokyo, Japan

Toru Fujii