A method for operating an EUV lithography apparatus (1) with at least one vacuum housing (27) for at least one reflective optical element (12) includes operating the EUV lithography apparatus in an exposure operating mode (B), in which EUV radiation (5) is radiated into the vacuum housing, wherein a reducing plasma is generated at a surface (12a) of the reflective optical element in response to an interaction of the EUV radiation with a residual gas present in the vacuum housing. After an exposure pause, in which no EUV radiation is radiated into the vacuum housing, and before renewed operation of the EUV lithography apparatus in the exposure operating mode (B), the EUV lithography apparatus is operated in a recovery operating mode, in which oxidized contaminants at the surface of the reflective optical element are reduced in order to recover a transmission of the EUV lithography apparatus before the exposure pause.

A method of generating a layout pattern includes disposing a photoresist layer of a resist material on a substrate and disposing a top layer over of the photoresist layer. The top layer is transparent for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and the top layer is opaque for deep ultraviolet (DUV) radiation. The method further includes irradiating the photoresist layer with radiation generated from an EUV radiation source. The radiation passes through the top layer to expose the photoresist layer.

A method for manufacturing a membrane assembly for EUV lithography, the method including: providing a stack having a planar substrate and at least one membrane layer, wherein the planar substrate includes an inner region and a border region around the inner region; and selectively removing the inner region of the planar substrate. The membrane assembly includes: a membrane formed from the at least one membrane layer; and a border holding the membrane, the border formed from the border region of the planar substrate. The stack is provided with a mechanical protection material configured to mechanically protect the border region during the selectively removing the inner region of the planar substrate.

A reflector comprising a hollow body having an interior surface defining a passage through the hollow body, the interior surface having at least one optical surface part configured to reflect radiation and a supporter surface part, wherein the optical surface part has a predetermined optical power and the supporter surface part does not have the predetermined optical power. The reflector is made by providing an axially symmetric mandrel; shaping a part of the circumferential surface of the mandrel to form at least one inverse optical surface part that is not rotationally symmetric about the axis of the mandrel; forming a reflector body around the mandrel; and releasing the reflector body from the mandrel whereby the reflector body has an optical surface defined by the inverse optical surface part and a supporter surface part defined by the rest of the outer surface of the mandrel.

A display for displaying a wide Field of View (FoV) scene including a holographic image within the scene, including a first Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) and an optical system for producing a first holographic image at a center of a displayed scene, and a second image display for producing at least a first additional image adjacent to the first holographic image. In some embodiments an augmented reality display is used for the displaying of the first holographic image at the center of a field of view and the second image adjacent to the first holographic image. In some embodiments a virtual reality display is used for the displaying of the first holographic image near the center of a field of view and the second image adjacent to the first holographic image. Related apparatus and methods are also described.

A coating is included on one or more components of a lithography system. The coating reduces surface roughness of the one or more surfaces, increases flatness of the one or more surfaces, and/or increases uniformity of the one or more surfaces. The coating may be formed on the one or more surfaces using one or more of the techniques described herein. The coating is configured to reduce adhesion of target material particles to the one or more surfaces, is configured to resist buildup of target material particles on the one or more surfaces, is configured to provide resistance against oxidation of the one or more surfaces, is configured to resist thermal damage of the one or more surfaces, and/or is configured to enable the lithography system to operate at higher operating temperatures, among other examples.

A method for in situ protection of a surface (7a) of an aluminum layer (7) of a VUV radiation reflecting coating (6) of an optical element (4), arranged in an interior of an optical arrangement, against the growth of an aluminum oxide layer (8), including carrying out an atomic layer etching process for layer-by-layer removal of the aluminum oxide layer from the surface. The etching process includes a surface modification step and a material detachment step. At least one boron halide is supplied as a surface modifying reactant to the interior in pulsed fashion during the surface modification step. A plasma is generated at a surface (8a) of the aluminum oxide layer, at least during the material detachment step. The atomic layer etching process is performed until the aluminum oxide layer reaches a given thickness (D), or the aluminum oxide layer is kept below that thickness (D) by the process.

A method of generating a layout pattern includes disposing a photoresist layer of a resist material on a substrate and disposing a top layer over of the photoresist layer. The top layer is transparent for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and the top layer is opaque for deep ultraviolet (DUV) radiation. The method further includes irradiating the photoresist layer with radiation generated from an EUV radiation source. The radiation passes through the top layer to expose the photoresist layer.

A multilayer mirror for reflecting Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and a method for producing the same are disclosed. In an embodiment a multilayer mirror includes a layer sequence having a plurality of alternating first layers and second layers, the first layers including lanthanum or a lanthanum compound and the second layers including boron, wherein the second layers are doped with carbon, and wherein a molar fraction of carbon in the second layers is 10% or less.

A mirror for extreme ultraviolet light includes: a substrate (41); a multilayer film (42) provided on the substrate and configured to reflect extreme ultraviolet light; and a capping layer (53) provided on the multilayer film, and the capping layer includes a first layer (61) containing an oxide of a metal, and a second layer (62) arranged between the first layer and the multilayer film and containing at least one of a boride of the metal and a nitride of the metal.