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:
Nov. 22, 2016
Filed:
Dec. 30, 2013
Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh, Oberkochen, DE;
Ingo Saenger, Heidenheim, DE;
Joerg Zimmermann, Aalen, DE;
Johannes Ruoff, Aalen, DE;
Martin Meier, Heidenheim, DE;
Frank Schlesener, Oberkochen, DE;
Christoph Hennerkes, Huettlingen, DE;
Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH, Oberkochen, DE;
Abstract
The disclosure relates to optical systems of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, and to a microlithographic exposure method. According to an aspect of the disclosure, an optical system has a light source, a ray-splitting optical element, which splits a light ray incident on this element when the projection exposure apparatus is in operation into a first partial ray and a second partial ray, with the first and the second partial ray having mutually orthogonal polarization directions, and at least one ray-deflecting optical element for generating a desired polarized illumination setting from the first partial ray and the second partial ray, wherein the ray-splitting optical element is arranged such that light incident on this ray-splitting optical element when the projection exposure apparatus is in operation has a degree of polarization of less than one.