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.

Date of Patent:
Jan. 13, 2009

Filed:

Oct. 24, 2005
Applicants:

Jean-noel Fehr, Pully, CH;

Hans-juergen Mann, Oberkochen, DE;

Johannes Zellner, Oberkochen, DE;

Inventors:

Jean-Noel Fehr, Pully, CH;

Hans-Juergen Mann, Oberkochen, DE;

Johannes Zellner, Oberkochen, DE;

Assignee:

Carl Zeiss SMT AG, Oberkochen, DE;

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G03B 27/54 (2006.01); G03B 27/52 (2006.01); G02B 7/02 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract

A projection exposure apparatus for transferring an image of a patterned reticle onto a substrate comprises an illumination optical system for generating and directing an exposure beam onto the reticle, and a projection optical system provided between the reticle and the substrate. The projection optical system has a plurality of imaging mirrors each having a mirror support made of a support material. The support materials are subject to thermal expansion during projection that induces imaging aberrations at substrate level. The support materials are selected such that an aberration merit function, which is indicative of the overall amount of at least one type of the thermally induced aberrations, is minimized by mutual compensation of contributions of the mirrors to the one type of thermally induced aberrations. As a result, the mirror supports will then generally be different and have, when heated during exposure, different coefficients of thermal expansion.


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