A facet mirror, such as for use as an optical component in a projection exposure apparatus for EUV microlithography, includes at least two mirror modules having individual mirrors and mirror module surfaces and at least on one side a non-reflective edge region and a module edge. Adjacent individual mirrors in the mirror modules are a distance from each other that is less than half the width of the non-reflective edge region. The at least two adjacent module edges of adjacent mirror modules are offset with respect to each other by a height h along the surface normal of one of the two mirror module surfaces.

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 gamma ray generator includes a rotational shaft, a plurality of holders and a plurality of gamma ray sources. The holders are connected to the rotational shaft. The gamma ray sources are disposed in the holders respectively, wherein the holders respectively have an upper portion and a lower portion connecting to the upper portion, and the gamma ray source is placed at an interface between the upper portion and the lower portion.

An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises an optical integrator having a plurality of light entrance facets and a beam deflection array of reflective or transparent beam deflecting elements. Each beam deflecting element is configured to illuminate a spot on the optical integrator at a position that is variable by changing a deflection angle produced by the beam deflecting element. The illumination system further comprises a control unit which is configured to control the beam deflection elements in such a manner that a light pattern assembled from the spots on at least one of the light entrance facets is varied in response to an input command that a field dependency of the angular irradiance distribution in a mask plane shall be modified.

An optical component comprising a mirror array having a multiplicity of mirror elements, which each have at least one degree of freedom of displacement, and which are each connected to at least one actuator for displacement, has a multiplicity of local regulating devices for damping oscillations of the mirror elements, wherein each of the regulating devices in each case has at least one capacitive sensor having at least one moveable electrode and at least one electrode arranged rigidly relative to the carrying structure.

An illumination device comprises a laser source, a beam expander, a micromirror array having a first control system, a fast steering mirror having a second control system, a diaphragm array, a microlens array, an illumination lens group, and a reflection mirror sequentially along the propagation direction of the laser beam. The first control system comprises a first computer controlling each micromirror on the micro-mirror array through the micromirror array controller to rotate in two-dimensional directions so expanded beam forms desired intensity patterns on the diaphragm array after reflected by the micromirror array and fast reflection mirror and a micromirror array controller; the second control system comprises a second computer controlling the reflection mirror of the fast steering mirror to rotate through fast steering mirror controller so created intensity pattern moves relative to the diaphragm array and a fast steering mirror controller. Method for using the illumination device is provided.

A measurement illumination optical unit guides illumination light into an object field of a projection exposure apparatus for EUV lithography. The illumination optical unit has a field facet mirror with a plurality of field facets and a pupil facet mirror with a plurality of pupil facets. The latter serve for overlaid imaging in the object field of field facet images of the field facets. A field facet imaging channel of the illumination light is guided via any one field facet and any one pupil facet. A field stop specifies a field boundary of an illumination field in the object plane. The illumination field has a greater extent along one field dimension than any one of the field facet images. At least some of the field facets include tilt actuators which help guide the illumination light into the illumination field via various field facets and one and the same pupil facet.

Extreme ultra-violet (EUV) lithography ruling engine specifically configured to print one-dimensional lines on a target workpiece includes source of EUV radiation; a pattern-source defining 1D pattern: an illumination unit (IU) configured to irradiate the pattern-source; and projection optics (PO) configured to optically image, with a reduction factor N>1, the 1D pattern on image surface that is optically-conjugate to the 1D pattern. Irradiation of the pattern-source can be on-axis or off-axis. While 1D pattern has first spatial frequency, its optical image has second spatial frequency that is at least twice the first spatial frequency. The pattern-source can be flat or curved. The IU may include a relay reflector. A PO's reflector may include multiple spatially-distinct reflecting elements aggregately forming such reflector. The engine is configured to not allow formation of optical image of any 2D pattern that has spatial resolution substantially equal to a pitch of the 1D pattern of the pattern-source.

A mirror array having a total surface extending perpendicularly to a surface normal, comprises a multiplicity of mirror elements each having a reflection surface and at least one degree of freedom of displacement, wherein the totality of the mirror elements form a parqueting of a total reflection surface of the mirror array, and wherein the mirror array is embodied modularly as a tile element in such a way that the parqueting of the total reflection surface can be extended by a tiling of a plurality of such mirror arrays.

An assembly for a projection exposure apparatus for EUV projection lithography has an illumination optical unit for guiding illumination light to an illumination field, in which a lithography mask can be arranged. The illumination optical unit comprises a first facet mirror, which comprises a plurality of mirror arrays with respectively a plurality of individual mirrors. The individual mirrors provide individual mirror illumination channels for guiding illumination light partial beams to the illumination field. The mirror arrays of the first facet mirror are arranged in an array superstructure. Gaps extend along at least one main direction (HRα) between neighboring ones of the mirror arrays. Furthermore, the illumination optical unit comprises a second facet mirror, which comprises a plurality of facets, which respectively contribute to imaging a group of the individual mirrors of the field facet mirror into the illumination field via a group mirror illumination channel.