The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 12, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 15, 2000
Andrew M. Hawryluk, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
David G. Stites, Los Altos, CA (US);
Boris Grek, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Ultratech Stepper, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A light tunnel apparatus ( or ) having an output end ( or ), for uniformizing light (L) that travels through a light tunnel ( or ). The apparatus comprises a light tunnel having first and second sides ( or ), and one or more AO modulators ( or ) respectively arranged on at least one of the first and second sides. The AO modulators are arranged such that activating the one or more of them causes at least one of the first and second sides to be displaced. This displacement changes the path of light traveling through the light tunnel by an amount sufficient to reduce illumination non-uniformities at the output end. The light tunnel may be a hollow light tunnel ( ) with reflective inner surfaces, or a solid light tunnel ( ) with a refractive index. A method of uniformizing illumination using a light tunnel is also disclosed.