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.

A system and method for providing a radiation source. In one arrangement, the radiation source includes an optical fiber that is hollow, and has an axial direction, a gas that fills the hollow of the optical fiber, and a plurality of temperature setting devices disposed at respective positions along the axial direction of the optical fiber, wherein the temperature setting devices are configured to control the temperature of the gas to locally control the density of the gas.

A method of patterning lithographic substrates, the method including using a free electron laser to generate EUV radiation and delivering the EUV radiation to a lithographic apparatus which projects the EUV radiation onto lithographic substrates, wherein the method further includes reducing fluctuations in the power of EUV radiation delivered to the lithographic substrates by using a feedback-based control loop to monitor the free electron laser and adjust operation of the free electron laser accordingly.

An exposure apparatus for transferring a pattern from a reticle to a workpiece, a pellicle being positioned near the reticle, includes a heat transfer frame, an illuminator, and a temperature controller. The heat transfer frame is configured to be positioned near the pellicle, the heat transfer frame defining a beam aperture. The illuminator directs a beam through the beam aperture and the pellicle at the reticle. The temperature controller controls the temperature of the heat transfer frame to control the temperature of the pellicle. The illuminator can direct the beam from a beam source, such as an EUV beam source. Additionally, the temperature controller can cryogenically cool the heat transfer frame.

A mounted hollow-core fiber arrangement includes a hollow-core fiber having a microstructure, and a mount arrangement including a plurality of mounting contacts configured to apply a force to an outer layer of the hollow-core fiber. A portion of the hollow-core fiber is located in a receiving region of the mount arrangement. The plurality of mounting contacts are positioned around the receiving region. The mounting contacts are distributed around the receiving region, the distribution of the mounting contacts corresponding to a distribution of features of the microstructure of the hollow-core fiber. The mounted hollow core fiber can be used in a radiation source apparatus for providing broadband radiation.

A method for forming a chemical guiding structure intended for self-assembly of a block copolymer by chemoepitaxy, where the method includes forming on a substrate a functionalisation layer made of a first polymer material having a first chemical affinity with respect to the block copolymer; forming on the substrate guiding patterns made of a second polymer material having a second chemical affinity with respect to the block copolymer, different from the first chemical affinity, and wherein the guiding to patterns have a critical dimension of less than 12.5 nm and are formed by means of a mask comprising spacers.

A system for generating broadband radiation is disclosed. The system includes a target material source configured to deliver one or more of a liquid or solid state target material to a plasma-forming region of a chamber. The system further includes a pump source configured to generate pump radiation to excite the target material in the plasma forming region of the chamber to generate broadband radiation. The system is further configured to transmit at least a portion of the broadband radiation generated in the plasma-forming region of the chamber out of the chamber through a windowless aperture.

A method for generating a radiation light in a lithography exposure system is provided. The method includes connecting a first nozzle assembly coupled to a support to an outlet of a storage member that receives a target fuel inside. The method further includes guiding the target fuel flowing through the first nozzle assembly and supplying a droplet of the target fuel into an excitation zone via the first nozzle assembly. The method also includes moving the support to connect a second nozzle assembly coupled to the support with the outlet. In addition, the method includes guiding the target fuel flowing through the second nozzle assembly and supplying a droplet of the target fuel into the excitation zone via the second nozzle assembly. The method further includes irradiating the droplet of the target fuel in the excitation zone with a laser pulse.

Embodiments described herein provide a system, a software application, and a method of a lithography process, to write full tone portions and grey tone portions in a single pass. One embodiment includes a controller configured to provide mask pattern data to a lithography system. The controller is configured to divide a plurality of spatial light modulator pixels spatially by at least a grey tone group and a full tone group of spatial light modulator pixels. When divided by the controller, the grey tone group of spatial light modulator pixels is operable to project a first number of the multiplicity of shots to the plurality of full tone exposure polygons and the plurality of grey tone exposure polygons, and the full tone group of spatial light modulator pixels is operable to project a second number of the multiplicity of shots to the plurality of full tone exposure polygons.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to an image projection system. The image projection system includes an active matrix solid state emitter (SSE) device. The active matrix solid state emitter includes a substrate, a silicon layer, and a emitter substrate. The silicon layer is deposited over the substrate having a plurality of transistors formed therein. The emitter substrate is positioned between the silicon layer and the substrate. The emitter substrate comprises a plurality of emitter arrays. Each emitter array defines a pixel, wherein one pixel comprises one or more transistors from the plurality of transistors. Each transistor is configured to receive a variable amount of current.