A method includes: producing a light beam made up of pulses having a wavelength in the deep ultraviolet range, each pulse having a first temporal coherence defined by a first temporal coherence length and each pulse being defined by a pulse duration; for one or more pulses, modulating the optical phase over the pulse duration of the pulse to produce a modified pulse having a second temporal coherence defined by a second temporal coherence length that is less than the first temporal coherence length of the pulse; forming a light beam of pulses at least from the modified pulses; and directing the formed light beam of pulses toward a substrate within a lithography exposure apparatus.

An extreme ultraviolet light condensation mirror includes a substrate, and a multi-layer reflective film provided on the substrate, formed by alternately stacking an amorphous silicon layer and a layer having a refractive index different from a refractive index of the amorphous silicon layer, and configured to reflect extreme ultraviolet light, a layer on a most surface side in the multi-layer reflective film being the amorphous silicon layer containing a silicon atom bonded with a cyano radical.

The present invention relates to a method for printing a three-dimensional light guiding structure (1) by curing droplets (7) of a printing material by light irradiation, wherein in a first step the droplets (7) of printing material are deposited by a nozzle (30) or a print head of an inkjet printer such that the droplets (7) of printing material form a layer (10) and in a second step light is directed from a light source to an array (5), wherein the array (5) comprises a plurality of mirror elements (6), wherein at least one mirror element (6) of the array (5) can be orientated such that the at least one mirror element (6) of the array (5) reflects in directly or directly light either onto a screen (3) or onto the layer (10) formed by the droplets (7) of printing material.

An illumination optical system is used with a reflective imaging optical system configured to form an image of a pattern arranged on a first plane onto a second plane, and is configured to illuminate an illumination area on the first plane with a light from a light source. The illumination optical system includes one or more reflecting mirrors configured to reflect the light from the light source to the first plane such that the reflected light reaches the first plane after crossing an optical path of a light which travels in the reflective imaging optical system.

An optical element for light concentration for a predefined wavelength range, includes a holding sleeve which is formed in such a way that a light passage volume is framed by at least one reflective partial surface of the holding sleeve, and a light transmission element, with which the light passage volume is at least partly filled and which is transmissive, at least for the predefined wavelength range. The light transmission element is at least partly formed from at least one medium that is diffuse for the predefined wavelength range, and has at least one first subregion having at least a first diffusivity and a second subregion having at least a second diffusivity differing from the first diffusivity. The disclosure further relates to a method for producing an optical element for light concentration.

A system and method of removing target material debris deposits simultaneously with generating EUV light includes generating hydrogen radicals in situ in the EUV vessel, proximate to the target material debris deposits and volatilizing the target material debris deposits and purging the volatilized target material debris deposits from the EUV vessel without the need of an oxygen containing species in the EUV vessel.

Techniques for reducing biofouling on optical equipment, using minimum power in a marine environment are provided. An example apparatus for reducing biofouling in a marine environment includes a housing including a cavity and a convex ultraviolet transparent window disposed over the cavity, an optical device disposed in the cavity and directed towards the convex ultraviolet transparent window, one or more ultraviolet light emitting diodes disposed in the cavity and directed toward the convex ultraviolet transparent window, and a controller operably coupled to the one or more ultraviolet light emitting diodes and configured to provide at least one lamp power function to the one or more ultraviolet light emitting diodes, wherein the at least one lamp power function is based on at least a flash power value, a flash duration, and a rest duration.

The present invention provides a local clean microenvironment near optical surfaces of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) optical assembly maintained in a vacuum process chamber and configured for EUV lithography, metrology, or inspection. The system includes one or more EUV optical assemblies including at least one optical element with an optical surface, a supply of cleaning gas stored remotely from the one or more optical assemblies and a gas delivery unit comprising: a plenum chamber, one or more gas delivery lines connecting the supply of gas to the plenum chamber, one or more delivery nozzles configured to direct cleaning gas from the plenum chamber to a portion of the EUV assembly, and one or more collection nozzles for removing gas from the EUV optical assembly and the vacuum process chamber.

An illumination optical unit for projection lithography illuminates an object field with illumination light along an illumination beam path. The arrangement of field facets of a field facet mirror and also of pupil facets of a pupil facet mirror is such that an illumination channel is guided over each of them. The field facet mirror images a light source image along in each case one illumination channel onto one of the pupil facets. The pupil facet mirror superimposedly images of the field facets into the object field. The illumination optical unit is designed for the settable specification of a spatial resolution of an illumination light illumination of an entrance pupil of a projection optical unit arranged downstream of the object field in the illumination light beam path. The result of this is an illumination optical unit with which illumination light can be used efficiently for high-contrast imaging of the structures to be projected.

A disinfection device includes: a container having a wall that defines a chamber for containing liquid therein; and a light source for transmitting disinfection light to the liquid. The light source is in a spatial relationship with the container so that a distance between the light source and the first light receiving surface of the liquid remains unchanged regardless of a volume of the liquid.