The light source device of the present invention has a light source unit having a plurality of LED elements; a first optical system that collimates each of light emitted from the light source unit; and a second optical system that collects a plurality of light emitted from the first optical system. At least one of the light source unit and the first optical system is provided with an adjustment mechanism for adjusting a positional relationship between the light source unit and the first optical system relative to each other.

Systems and methods for fabricating parabolic LEDs are provided. The parabolic shape of the LEDs is precisely-controlled and highly-uniform across a substrate. By precisely controlling the shape, and providing a high-uniformity across the substrate, the luminance and process yield of the LEDs is enhanced. The precise-control and high-uniformity of the shape is enabled via a precisely-shaped and highly-uniform mask formed on the substrate. The ability to precisely-control both the shape and uniformity the mask is achieved by forming the mask utilizing three-dimensional (3D) patterning and/or machining methods. The mask includes a precisely-shaped boss with the same shape as the LED, and a cylindrical protrusion extending beyond the boss. The combination of the boss and cylindrical protrusion allows for the mask to be over-etched, without significantly effecting the shape of the LED. Thus, any non-uniformities etching process do not decrease the luminance, nor uniformity, of the LEDs.

Described is a telecentric illuminator that can be used, for example, in a mask aligner system for semiconductor wafer processing or as part of a solar simulator system for characterization of solar cells. The telecentric illuminator includes a tapered optic, a lens group having a plurality of lenses and an aperture stop, and a hybrid Fresnel lens. The Fresnel lens is disposed at a position along the optical axis of the telecentric illuminator to generate a telecentric image of the aperture stop at an illumination plane. The Fresnel lens may have a curved central portion and the aperture stop may be apodized to achieve desired illumination characteristics and improve the resolution of a mask aligner system.

This invention relates to the field of lithography and particularly to a lithographic method, a lithographic product and a lithographic material. The invention provides a lithographic method including the steps of: 1) providing first light and second light to the lithographic material, wherein at least part of molecules for generating effector molecules controllable by a molecular switch in a turned-on state generate effector molecules, thereby changing physical and/or chemical properties of the lithographic material in an area where the molecular switch is turned on; and 2) removing either the lithographic material that has changed in physical or chemical properties or the lithographic material that has not changed. The novel lithographic method provided by the invention can effectively break through the diffraction limit of light, thereby further improving lithography precision.

Disclosed is a metrology apparatus for use in a lithographic manufacturing process. The metrology apparatus comprises a radiation source comprising a drive laser having an output split into a plurality of optical paths, each comprising a respective broadband light generator. The metrology apparatus further comprises illumination optics for illuminating a structure, at least one detection system for detecting scattered radiation, having been scattered by the structure and a processor for determining a parameter of interest of the structure from the scattered radiation.

An efficient source of EUV or SXR flux uses multiple e-beams from multiple cathodes to impact a wide anode target with a flux-generating surface to generate flux over a wide area. The conversion efficiency of e-beam power to flux power may be improved by the direction of the e-beams towards the anode target at shallow or grazing incidence angles or the use of mirrored anode surfaces which reflect EUV or SXR. The source is enclosed in a vacuum chamber and performs work such as the penetration of photoresist on a semiconductor wafer in vacuum.

An apparatus comprises an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs), each LED in the array having an asymmetric optical characteristic. The asymmetric optical characteristic of a first subset of LEDs in the array is oriented at an angle of 90, 180, or 270 with respect to the asymmetrical optical characteristic of a second subset of LEDs in the array. The apparatus may be the array of LEDs or an illumination system comprising a light source comprising the array of LEDs. Methods of manufacturing the apparatus are also provided.

The invention provides a light generating method and system, the method including: generating first light, the first light being capable of forming a first area, a second area, and a third area, and intensity of the first light in the first area being higher than that in the second area and the third area, respectively; generating second light, the second light being capable of simultaneously irradiating the first area and the second area; generating third light, the third light being capable of simultaneously irradiating the first area and the third area; and controlling intensity of the second light and the third light, respectively. The light generating method and system provided by the invention can not only generate light having a super-resolution that may approach infinitesimal in theory but also employ light output by a laser as the only original light source, featuring extremely low costs and freedom from the diffraction limit of the light source, showing a great prospect of applications in the field of lithography.

A light intensity distribution on an irradiation target plane is adjusted to a desired distribution using a light source device that includes a light-emitting diode (LED) array. A light source device that includes an LED array in which a plurality of LED chips is arranged and forms on a predetermined plane a light intensity distribution obtained by superimposing light intensity distributions of light from the plurality of LED chips includes a pair of lens arrays including a plurality of lenses configured to collect light from the plurality of LED chips, wherein a distance between the pair of lens arrays is changed, thereby changing the light intensity distribution to be formed on the predetermined plane.

The invention concerns a method and a device for calibrating at least one scanning system (4, 5, 17) when producing an object (8) by additive manufacturing, wherein the coordinates of one or several reference positions are measured in the relative coordinate system of each scanning system (4, 5, 17), after which the calibration of each of the scanning systems is adapted starting from the measured coordinates of the reference positions.