An attenuation filter is configured to define attenuation of the intensity of ultraviolet radiation with a specified working wavelength from a wavelength range of 150-370 nm according to a specifiable local distribution in a projection lens of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. The attenuation filter has a substrate and an absorption layer on the substrate. The substrate is sufficiently transparent at the working wavelength. The absorption absorbs incident ultraviolet radiation of the working wavelength according to the specifiable local distribution at different locations of a used area to varying degrees. The attenuation filter reduces or avoids a thermally induced wavefront variation error in the ultraviolet radiation which has passed through the attenuation filter owing to locally varying heating of the substrate, which is caused by the absorption of the ultraviolet radiation that varies locally over the substrate. A thickness of the substrate is less than 100 m.

The disclosure provides an optical system, having a first optical control loop, which is set up to regulate a position and/or spatial orientation of a first optical element relative to a first module sensor frame, and a first module control loop, which is set up to regulate a position and/or spatial orientation of the first module sensor frame relative to a base sensor frame. Related components and methods are also provided.

The present invention provides a calculation method of calculating optical characteristics of a projection optical system that change due to heat during exposure of a substrate, the method comprising measuring image point positions at different measurement times for a plurality of measurement points on an object plane of the projection optical system; and calculating the optical characteristics based on the image point position measured in the measuring for each of the plurality of measurement points and measurement time for each of the plurality of measurement points.

According to an embodiment, focus sensitivity information in which focus sensitivity expressing a relation between an aberration correction value set in an exposure device and a best focus when a pattern is formed on a first substrate by exposure of the exposure device using the aberration correction value, and the pattern are correlated is input. Moreover, on the basis of the focus sensitivity information and a surface height difference of a second substrate, the aberration correction value in which best focuses for a pattern group to be formed on the second substrate by exposure satisfy a first condition is calculated. In addition, the second substrate is exposed by the exposure device using the aberration correction value satisfying the first condition.

An attenuation filter is configured to define attenuation of the intensity of ultraviolet radiation with a specified working wavelength from a wavelength range of 150-370 nm according to a specifiable local distribution in a projection lens of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus. The attenuation filter has a substrate and an absorption layer on the substrate. The substrate is sufficiently transparent at the working wavelength. The absorption absorbs incident ultraviolet radiation of the working wavelength according to the specifiable local distribution at different locations of a used area to varying degrees. The attenuation filter reduces or avoids a thermally induced wavefront variation error in the ultraviolet radiation which has passed through the attenuation filter owing to locally varying heating of the substrate, which is caused by the absorption of the ultraviolet radiation that varies locally over the substrate. A thickness of the substrate is less than 100 um.

An adjustment apparatus which is an optical system having an incident face and a light exit face that is parallel to the incident face. The optical system is disposed in an exposure device. The adjustment apparatus includes at least one wedge lens and a plurality of optical lenses configured such that at least one of focal plane adjustment, magnification adjustment and position adjustment for a field of view corresponding to the exposure device is made possible through changing relative positions of at least one pair of neighboring ones of the lenses. An adjustment method corresponding to the adjustment apparatus is also provided for the focal plane adjustment, magnification adjustment and position adjustment for the field of view corresponding to the exposure device.

A projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus contains a plurality of optical elements arranged in N>2 successive sections A.sub.1 to A.sub.N of the projection objective which are separated from one another by pupil planes or intermediate image planes. According to the invention, in order to correct a wavefront deformation, at least two optical elements each have an optically active surface locally reprocessed aspherically. A first optical element is in this case arranged in one section A.sub.j, j=1 . . . N and a second optical element is arranged in another section A.sub.k, k=1 . . . N, the magnitude difference |kj| being an odd number.

A lithographic apparatus comprises a substrate table for holding a substrate and a projection system for projecting a radiation beam onto a target region of the substrate so as to form an image on the substrate. The projection system comprises a lens element arrangement having a first lens element. A first pressure sensor is arranged to measure at least one pressure value adjacent the first lens element. A controller determines a first change in a pressure difference over the first lens element and/or a further lens element based on a signal received from the pressure sensor, determines adjustments to a position of one of the substrate table and projection system based upon the determined first change, and causes actuators to make adjustments to the substrate table or the projection system.

An objective having a plurality of optical elements arranged to image a pattern from an object field to an image field at an image-side numerical aperture NA>0.8 with electromagnetic radiation from a wavelength band around a wavelength includes a number N of dioptric optical elements, each dioptric optical element i made from a transparent material having a normalized optical dispersion
n.sub.i=n.sub.i(.sub.0)n.sub.i(.sub.0+1 pm)
for a wavelength variation of 1 pm from a wavelength .sub.0. The objective satisfies the relation $\frac{.Math.\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{.Math.}}{n}_i\left(s_i-d_i\right).Math.}{{}_0{\mathrm{NA}}^4}A$
for any ray of an axial ray bundle originating from a field point on an optical axis in the object field, where s.sub.i is a geometrical path length of a ray in an ith dioptric optical element having axial thickness d.sub.i and the sum extends on all dioptric optical elements of the objective. Where A=0.2 or below, spherochromatism is sufficiently corrected.

An optical system for field imaging and/or pupil imaging has an optical axis, a stop plane and an image plane. The optical system includes a lens element system that has three lens element groups, each including at least one lens element. The lens element groups are spaced apart from each other along the optical axis between the stop plane and the image plane. The three lens element groups have a first lens element material and/or a second lens element material that differs from the first lens element material.