The disclosure relates to an optical module with first and second components, a supporting structure and an anticollision device. The first component is supported by the supporting structure and is arranged adjacent to and at a distance from the second component to form a gap. The supporting structure defines a path of relative movement, on which the first and second components move in relation to one another under the influence of a disturbance, a collision between collision regions of the first and second components occurring if the anticollision device is inactive. The anticollision device includes a first anticollision unit on the first component, which produces a first field, and a second anticollision unit on the second component, which is assigned to the first anticollision unit and produces a second field.

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.

A Koehler integrator device includes a collimating lens for collimating a light field from an incoherent or partially coherent light source, planar first and second micro-lens arrays for relaying portions of the collimated light field along separate imaging channels, wherein all the micro-lenses have equal focal length and pitch and the arrays are arranged with a mutual distance equal to the focal length, and a collecting Fourier lens having a Fourier lens diameter and focal length defining front and back focal planes, wherein the Fourier lens is for superimposing light from all imaging channels in the front focal plane and wherein the second micro-lens array is in the back focal plane, wherein a third micro-lens array is in the front focal plane for creating a wavelength independent array of illumination spots. Furthermore, a confocal microscope apparatus, including the device, and a method of using the apparatus are described.

The invention relates to an arrangement for actuating an element in an optical system, in particular an optical system of a projection exposure apparatus, wherein the optical element is tiltable about at least one tilting axis via at least one joint having a joint stiffness, comprising at least one actuator for exerting a force on the optical element, wherein the actuator has an actuator stiffness which at least partly compensates for the joint stiffness.

Disclosed are an optical system for conditioning a beam of radiation, and an illumination system and metrology apparatus comprising such an optical system. The optical system comprises one or more optical mixing elements in an optical system. The optical system defines at least a first optical mixing stage, at least a second optical mixing stage, and at least one transformation stage, configured such that radiation entering the second optical mixing stage includes a transformed version of radiation exiting the first optical mixing stage. The first and second optical mixing stages can be provided using separate optical mixing elements, or by multiple passes through the same optical mixing element. The transformation stage can be a Fourier transformation stage. Both spatial distribution and angular distribution of illumination can be homogenized as desired.

A metrology system is used for measuring a spectral feature of a pulsed light beam. The metrology system includes: a beam homogenizer in the path of the pulsed light beam, the beam homogenizer having an array of wavefront modification cells, with each cell having a surface area that matches a size of at least one of the spatial modes of the light beam; an optical frequency separation apparatus in the path of the pulsed light beam exiting the beam homogenizer, wherein the optical frequency separation apparatus is configured to interact with the pulsed light beam and to output a plurality of spatial components that correspond to the spectral components of the pulsed light beam; and at least one sensor that receives and senses the output spatial components.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure relates a lithographic substrate marking tool. The lithographic substrate marking tool has a first lithographic exposure tool arranged within a shared housing and configured to generate a first type of electromagnetic radiation during a plurality of exposures. A mobile reticle has a plurality of different reticle fields respectively configured to block a portion of the first type of electromagnetic radiation to expose a substrate identification mark within a photosensitive material overlying a semiconductor substrate. A transversal element is configured to move the mobile reticle so that separate ones of the plurality of reticle fields are exposed onto the photosensitive material during separate ones of the plurality of exposures. The mobile reticle therefore allows for different strings of substrate identification marks to be formed within the photoresistive material using a same reticle, thereby economically providing the benefits of lithographic substrate marking.

The present disclosure relates a method of forming substrate identification marks. In some embodiments, the method may be performed by forming a photosensitive material over a substrate. A first type of electromagnetic radiation is selectively provided to the photosensitive material to expose a plurality of substrate identification marks within the photosensitive material, and a second type of electromagnetic radiation is selectively provided to the photosensitive material to expose one or more alignment marks within the photosensitive material. Exposed portions of the photosensitive material are removed to form a patterned photosensitive material. The substrate is etched according to the patterned photosensitive material to form recesses within the substrate that are defined by the plurality of substrate identification marks and the one or more alignment marks.

An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes first and second optical raster plates. An irradiance distribution of projection light on the first and second optical raster plates determines an angular light distribution of the projection light exclusively at a first portion and a second portion, respectively, of an illuminated field. The second portion is distinct from and arranged adjacent to the first portion. It is possible to produce different illumination settings in different adjacent portions on the mask. First and second Fourier optics establish a Fourier relationship between the first and second optical raster plates one the one hand and the first and second portion on the other hand. The first and second Fourier optics have a first and second focal length, respectively, that are variable in response to a focal length change command signal from a control unit.

A microlithography illumination system includes a first light source configured to generate pulses of light, a second light source configured to generate further pulses of light offset temporally relative to the pulses of light generated by the first light source, an array of optical elements digitally switchable between first and second switching positions, and a control device to drive the optical elements so that during use the switching position of the optical elements is unchanged while any of the first and second light sources generates a light pulse. In the first switching position of the optical elements, the array couples light pulses generated by the first light source into a common beam path of the illumination system. In the second switching position of the optical elements, the array couples light pulses generated by the second light source into a common beam path of the illumination system.