Methods are disclosed for assigning a pupil facet of a pupil facet mirror of an illumination optical unit of a projection exposure apparatus to a field facet of a field facet mirror of the illumination optical unit for the definition of an illumination channel for a partial beam of illumination light.

An illumination apparatus includes a plurality of LED chips arranged to form an LED array, light from the plurality of LED chips superimpose to project a light intensity distribution projected on the predetermined plane; a pair of lens arrays each including a plurality of lenses and configured to collect light from the LED arrays; a driving unit configured to adjust a distance between the pair of lens arrays and change the light intensity distribution projected on the predetermined plane; and a control unit for individually controlling the output of the first and second LED arrays.

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.

A mirror device includes at least one electrically conductive shielding element, which forms a mechanism for producing an electric field in a region adjacent to at least one side surface and/or a rear side of a mirror body.

An illumination optical unit for EUV projection lithography serves to illuminate an object field with illumination light. A transmission optical unit images field facets in a manner superposed on one another into the object field via illumination channels, which each have assigned to them one of the field facets and one pupil facet of a pupil facet mirror. The superposition optical unit has at least two mirrors for grazing incidence, downstream of the pupil facet mirror. The mirrors for grazing incidence produce an illumination angle bandwidth of an illumination light overall beam, composed of the illumination channels, in the object field. The bandwith is smaller for a plane of incidence parallel to the object displacement direction than for a plane perpendicular thereto. The result can be an illumination optical unit, by which a projection optical unit can be adapted to a configuration of an EUV light source for the illumination light.

A beam homogenizer for homogenizing a beam of radiation and an illumination system and metrology apparatus comprising such a beam homogenizer as provided. The beam homogenizer comprises a filter system having a controllable radial absorption profile and configured to output a filtered beam and an optical mixing element configured to homogenize the filtered beam. The filter system may be configured to homogenize the angular beam profile radially and said optical mixing element may be configured to homogenize the angular beam profile azimuthally.

An illumination optical unit for projection lithography serves for illuminating an object field, in which an object to be imaged can be arranged, with illumination light. The illumination optical unit has a field facet mirror having a plurality of field facets. Furthermore, the illumination optical unit has a pupil facet mirror having a plurality of pupil facets. The field facets are imaged into the object field by a transfer optical unit. The illumination optical unit additionally has a deflection facet mirror having a plurality of deflection facets, which is arranged in the illumination beam path between the field facet mirror and the pupil facet mirror. This results in an illumination optical unit in which the illumination of the object to be imaged can be configured flexibly and can be adapted well to predefined values.

An illumination optical device for illuminating a plane to be illuminated using light from a light source, includes: an optical integrator configured to cause an optical intensity distribution to be uniform on an emission end surface by reflecting light incident from an incident end surface in an inside surface a plurality of times; and a light flux forming unit configured to convert a light flux from a focal position where a condensing mirror condenses light from the light source at a first angle with respect to an optical axis directed from the light source to the plane to be illuminated to a light flux to be incident on the incident end surface of the optical integrator at a second angle greater than the first angle with respect to the optical axis, wherein the plane to be illuminated is illuminated with light from the optical integrator.

An illumination optical unit for microlithography illuminates an object field with illumination light. The unit includes a first facet mirror that has a plurality of first facets, and a second facet mirror that has a plurality of second facets. The unit has facet pairs which include respectively a facet of the first facet mirror and a facet of the second facet mirror which predefine a plurality of illumination channels for illuminating the object field. At least some of the illumination channels have in each case an assigned polarization element for predefining an individual polarization state of the illumination light guided in the respective illumination channel.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to apparatuses and systems for performing photolithography processes. More particularly, compact apparatuses for projecting an image onto a substrate are provided. In one embodiment, an image projection apparatus includes a light pipe coupled to a first mounting plate, and a frustrated prism assembly, one or more digital micro-mirror devices, one or more beamsplitters, and one or more projection optics, which are coupled to a second mounting plate. The first and second mounting plates are coplanar, such that the image projection apparatus is compact and may be aligned in a system having a plurality of image projection apparatuses, each of which is easily removable and replaceable.