A mirror element, in particular for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. According to one aspect, the mirror element includes a substrate (111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 211, 212, 213, 311a-311m, 411, 412, 413) and a layer stack (121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 221, 222, 223, 321a-321m, 421, 422, 423) on the substrate. The layer stack has at least one reflection layer system, wherein a curvature of the mirror element is generated on the basis of a setpoint curvature for a predetermined operating temperature by a non-vanishing bending force exerted by the layer stack, wherein the generated curvature varies by no more than 10% over a temperature interval (T) of at least 10 K.

The present disclosure generally relates to lithography devices comprising an image projection system. The image projection system comprises a fiber bundle coupled to a first homogenizer and a second homogenizer. The first homogenizer is offset from the second homogenizer along a scan direction. The first homogenizer is optically aligned with a first digital micromirror device, and the second homogenizer is optically aligned with a second digital micromirror device. The first digital micromirror device is offset from the second digital micromirror device along the scan direction within an optical field of view of a projection lens. A scan field of the first digital micromirror device overlaps or aligns with a scan field of the second digital micromirror device to eliminate a gap between the scan field of the first digital micromirror device and the scan field of the second digital micromirror device.

A catoptric system having a reference axis and including a reflective pattern-source (carrying a substantially one-dimensional pattern) and a combination of two optical reflectors disposed sequentially to transfer EUV radiation incident onto the first optical component to the pattern-source the substantially one-dimensional pattern of which is disposed in a curved surface. In one case, such combination includes only two optical reflectors (each may contain multiple constituent components). The combination is disposed in a fixed spatial and optical relationship with respect to the pattern-source, and represents an illumination unit (IU) of a 1D EUV exposure tool that additionally includesincludes a projection optical sub-system configured to form an optical image of the pattern-source on an image plane with the use of only two beams of radiation. These only two beams of radiation originate at the pattern-source from the EUV radiation transferred onto the pattern-source.

A radiation alteration device includes a continuously undulating reflective surface, wherein the shape of the continuously undulating reflective surface follows a substantially periodic pattern.

An illumination optical system includes a first spatial light modulator having a plurality of optical elements into which the light from the light source comes, a polarizing member having a first polarizing element into which a first light of a light from the first spatial light modulator comes and a second polarizing element into which a second light of the light from the first spatial light modulator comes, so as to allow the first light traveled via the first polarizing element and the second light traveled via the second polarizing element to have polarizing states different from each other, the first and second lights traveling through positions relative to an optical axis of the illumination optical system different from each other, and a second spatial light modulator having a plurality of optical elements into which the first and second lights from the polarizing member come.

An illumination optical unit for EUV projection lithography serves for obliquely illuminating an illumination field, in which an object field of a downstream imaging catoptric optical unit and a reflective object to be imaged can be arranged. A pupil generating device of the illumination optical unit is embodied so that an illumination pupil results, which brings about a dependency of an imaging telecentricity against a structure variable of the object to be imaged. This dependency is such that a dependency of the imaging telecentricity against the structure variable of the object to be imaged on account of interaction of the oblique illumination with structures of the object to be imaged is at least partly compensated for. An optical system for EUV projection lithography also has an imaging catoptric optical unit alongside an illumination optical unit and can additionally have a wavefront manipulation device.

The present invention provides an illumination optical system that illuminates a surface to be illuminated by using a light beam from a light source, comprising: an optical element configured to transmit the light beam from the light source; and a member that has an incident surface on which the light beam transmitted through the optical element is incident, wherein the optical element has a first region including a central portion of the optical element, and a second region outside the first region, and wherein the optical element is formed so as to overlap a part of a light beam which is transmitted through the first region and a part of the light beam which is transmitted through the second region, on the incident surface.

The disclosure provides an illumination system of a microlithographic projection device having an image plane, in which a mask can be arranged, and a first object plane, which is optically conjugate to the image plane. A first illumination optical unit illuminates the first object plane with first projection light so that the first projection light has a first illumination angle distribution in the image plane. A second illumination optical unit illuminates a second object plane, which is optically conjugate to the image plane, with second projection light so that the second projection light has a second illumination angle distribution differing from the first illumination angle distribution in the image plane. An optical integrator is arranged exclusively in the light path of the first projection light.

An optical assembly guides an output beam of a free electron laser to a downstream illumination-optical assembly of an EUV projection exposure apparatus. The optical assembly has first and a second GI mirrors, each with a structured reflection surface to be impinged upon by the output beam. A first angle of incidence on the first GI mirror is between one mrd and 10 mrad. A maximum first scattering angle is produced, amounting to between 50% and 100% of the first angle of incidence. A second angle of incidence on the second GI mirror is at least twice as large as the first angle of incidence. A maximum second scattering angle of the output beam amounts to between 30% and 100% of the second angle of incidence. The two planes of incidence on the two GI mirrors include an angle with respect to one another that is greater than 45.

A method includes identifying a contamination region of a collector in a light source, positioning a subset of a plurality of movable light-blocking elements around a periphery of a circular aperture of the light source to compensate for the contamination region, and transmitting light from the light source through the circular aperture.