Did You Know...
...that Thomas Edison's patent application on his phonograph was approved by the Patent Office in just seven weeks? In contrast, it took Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser, 30 years to obtain his patent -- finally awarded in 1988!
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| Application No. | Application Title | Issue Date |
| 20120127440 | OPTICAL ASSEMBLY FOR PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY An optical assembly for projection lithography has an optical component to guide imaging or illumination light. The optical component has a reflective substrate that contains a fluorescent component. An excitation light source is used to produce fluorescence excitation ... | 05/24/2012 |
| 20120127446 | LIGHT EXPOSURE METHOD, AND LIGHT EXPOSURE APPARATUS There is provided an EUV exposure apparatus which restrains its optical systems or a mask used therein from being polluted by contaminations generated in its chamber. An energy beam generating source is arranged near a wafer stage set in the chamber of the EUV exposure ... | 05/24/2012 |
| 20120127445 | ISOLATION SYSTEM FOR AN OPTICAL ELEMENT OF AN EXPOSURE APPARATUS An optical isolation assembly (30) for reducing the transmission of vibration from an optical barrel (25) to an optical element assembly (28) includes an optical mover assembly (256), a first measurement system (258), a second measurem... | 05/24/2012 |
| 20120105817 | LEAF SPRING, STAGE SYSTEM, AND LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS A leaf spring to be mounted between two objects, the leaf spring configured to have a high stiffness in two orthogonal directions, and a relative low stiffness in other degrees of freedom, wherein the leaf spring has a substantially panel-shaped body, the leaf spring in... | 05/03/2012 |
| 20120105818 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND METHOD An illumination system having a plurality of reflective elements, the reflective elements being movable between different orientations which direct radiation towards different locations in a pupil plane, thereby forming different illumination modes. Each reflective elem... | 05/03/2012 |
| 20120081687 | INTERFERENCE PROJECTION EXPOSURE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF USING SAME An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides an interference projection exposure system comprising a beam-providing subsystem and an objective lens subsystem that can provide a plurality of light beams which intersect and interfere at an image plane to prod... | 04/05/2012 |
| 20120081686 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS ILLUMINATION OPTICS Optics, such as, for example, microlithographic projection exposure apparatus illumination optics, as well as related systems, methods, components and devices are disclosed.... | 04/05/2012 |
| 20120081684 | Object Inspection Systems and Methods Disclosed are systems and methods for object inspection, in particular for inspection of reticles used in a lithography process. The method includes interferometrically combining a reference radiation beam with a probe radiation beam, and storing their complex field ima... | 04/05/2012 |
| 20120081685 | MICROLITHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION EXPOSURE APPARATUS ILLUMINATION OPTICS Optics, such as, for example, microlithographic projection exposure apparatus illumination optics, as well as related systems, methods, components and devices are disclosed.... | 04/05/2012 |
| 20120081682 | MASKLESS EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND METHOD TO DETERMINE EXPOSURE START POSITION AND ORIENTATION IN MASKLESS LITHOGRAPHY According to an example embodiment, a method to determine an exposure start position and orientation includes loading a substrate on a moving table. The substrate includes at least one alignment mark of a first set of alignment marks of a first pattern layer patterned t... | 04/05/2012 |
| 20120081683 | Lithographic Apparatus And Detector Apparatus A detector including a layer of scintillation material, a layer of spacer material on the scintillation material, and a spectral purity filter layer on the spacer material. A method includes directing EUV radiation through a spectral purity filter layer, directing the E... | 04/05/2012 |
| 20120069312 | IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE INSTALLATION FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY WITH AN IMAGING OPTICAL SYSTEM OF THIS TYPE An imaging optical system has a plurality of mirrors which image an object field in an object plane in an image field in an image plane. The imaging optical system has a pupil obscuration. The last mirror in the beam path of the imaging light between the object field an... | 03/22/2012 |
| 20120069315 | IMAGING OPTICS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE INSTALLATION FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY WITH AN IMAGING OPTICS Imaging optics includes a first mirror in the imaging beam path after the object field, a last mirror in the imaging beam path before the image field, and a fourth to last mirror in the imaging beam path before the image field. In an unfolded imaging beam path between t... | 03/22/2012 |
| 20120069314 | IMAGING OPTICS AND PROJECTION EXPOSURE INSTALLATION FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY WITH AN IMAGING OPTICS OF THIS TYPE An imaging optics has a plurality of mirrors which image an object field in an object plane in an image field in an image plane. A pupil plane is arranged in the imaging beam path between the object field and the image field. A stop is arranged in the pupil plane. The p... | 03/22/2012 |
| 20120069313 | EUV MICROLITHOGRAPHY ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM AND EUV ATTENUATOR FOR SAME An illumination optical system for EUV microlithography is used to direct an illumination light beam from a radiation source to an object field. At least one EUV mirror has a reflective face with a nonplanar mirror topography for forming the illumination light beam. The... | 03/22/2012 |
| 20120050709 | STAGE APPARATUS, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND METHOD OF POSITIONING AN OBJECT TABLE A measurement system configured to measure a position dependent signal of an object table, the measurement system including at least one sensor mountable on the object table and a sensor target object mountable on a substantially stationary frame, and a mounting device ... | 03/01/2012 |
| 20120044474 | OPTICAL MODULE FOR GUIDING A RADIATION BEAM An optical module is used to guide an EUV radiation beam. The optical module has a chamber that can be evacuated and at least one mirror accommodated in the chamber. The mirror has a plurality of individual mirrors, the reflection faces of which complement one another t... | 02/23/2012 |
| 20120044473 | OPTICAL ELEMENT FOR UV OR EUV LITHOGRAPHY To reduce deformations which may be caused by a functional coating on a substrate in an optical element for UV or EUV lithography, an optical element is suggested comprising a functional coating (46) on a first surface (42) of a substrate (41), wher... | 02/23/2012 |
| 20120038897 | Optical Element With An Antireflection Coating, Projection Objective, And Exposure Apparatus Comprising Such An Element An optical element (14) transparent for radiation with a wavelength λ in the ultraviolet wavelength range below 250 nm, in particular at 193 nm, comprises a substrate (17) with a refractive index ns larger than 1.6, and an antireflection coatin... | 02/16/2012 |
| 20120038895 | LENS HEATING COMPENSATION IN PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY Photolithographic apparatus and methods are disclosed. One such apparatus includes an optical path configured to provide a first diffraction pattern in a portion of an optical system and to provide a second diffraction pattern to the portion of the optical system after ... | 02/16/2012 |
| 20120038896 | Maskless Vortex Phase Shift Optical Direct Write Lithography The present invention provides methods and apparatus for accomplishing optical direct write phase shift lithography. A lithography system and method are provided wherein a mirror array is configured to generate vortex phase shift optical patterns that are directed onto ... | 02/16/2012 |
| 20120033193 | Inspection Apparatus and Method, Lithographic Apparatus and Lithographic Processing Cell An inspection apparatus measures a property of a substrate including a periodic structure. An illumination system provides a beam of radiation with an illumination profile including a plurality of illuminated portions. A radiation projector projects the beam of radiatio... | 02/09/2012 |
| 20120026480 | Image-Compensating Addressable Electrostatic Chuck System An electrostatic chuck including a substrate, a support layer to support an object, an electrode layer comprising an electrode and being disposed between the substrate and the support layer configured to apply an electrostatic attraction force on the object upon energiz... | 02/02/2012 |
| 20120028197 | TRANSMISSION OPTICAL SYSTEM, ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD According to one embodiment, a transmission optical system which guides light in a nearly parallel beam state emitted from an optical outlet port of a light source, to an optical inlet port of an exposure apparatus body and which injects the light in the nearly parallel... | 02/02/2012 |
| 20120019797 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL ELEMENT FOR EUV LITHOGRAPHY A stress-reduced reflective optical element for a working wavelength in the soft X-ray and extreme ultraviolet wavelength range includes a first multilayer system (4) of at least two alternating materials (41, 42) having different real parts of the refract... | 01/26/2012 |
| 20120019794 | Variable Reluctance Device, Stage Apparatus, Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method A variable reluctance device includes first and second magnetic members, a coil, a measurement coil, and a control unit. The first and second magnetic members are displaceable relative to each other to provide a magnetic circuit having a variable reluctance. The coil fo... | 01/26/2012 |
| 20120019798 | POSITIONING UNIT AND ALIGNMENT DEVICE FOR AN OPTICAL ELEMENT The disclosure provides a positioning unit for an optical element in a microlithographic projection exposure installation having a first connecting area for connection to the optical element, and having a second connecting area for connection to an object in the vicinit... | 01/26/2012 |
| 20120019795 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD Disclosed is a device manufacturing method and associated apparatus, the method comprising transferring a pattern from a patterning device onto a substrate. The method relates to the alignment of said patterning device and said substrate, and comprises imparting a radia... | 01/26/2012 |
| 20120019796 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM FOR MICROLITHOGRAPHY An illumination system for microlithography serves to illuminate an illumination field with illumination light of a primary light source. A first raster arrangement has bundle-forming first raster elements which are arranged in a first plane of the illumination system o... | 01/26/2012 |
| 20120019799 | OPTICAL ASSEMBLY An optical assembly has at least one mirror with a mirror body. The latter is carried by a support body, which has a first support body portion and a second support body portion. An at least thermally separating region is arranged between the two support body portions. ... | 01/26/2012 |
| 20120019800 | LITHOGRAPHY PROJECTION OBJECTIVE, AND A METHOD FOR CORRECTING IMAGE DEFECTS OF THE SAME A lithography projection objective for imaging a pattern to be arranged in an object plane of the projection objective onto a substrate to be arranged in an image plane of the projection objective comprises a multiplicity of optical elements that are arranged along an o... | 01/26/2012 |
| 20120013884 | Metrology Systems and Methods for Lithography Processes Metrology systems and methods for lithography processes are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes providing a mask having a plurality of corner rounding test patterns formed thereon. A first semiconductor device is provi... | 01/19/2012 |
| 20120013879 | LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD The invention provides a level sensor configured to determine a height level of a surface of a substrate supported on a movable substrate support, the level sensor including multiple projection units, multiple detection units, and a processing unit to calculate a height... | 01/19/2012 |
| 20120013883 | Method of Reducing Noise in an Original Signal, and Signal Processing Device Therefor In a method and apparatus for reducing noise in an original signal which contains a linear time varying signal and the noise, the original signal is differentiated to obtain a differentiated original signal. The differentiated original signal is Fourier transformed to o... | 01/19/2012 |
| 20120013880 | OPTICAL DEVICE AND EXPOSURE APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME An optical device for splitting a single beam to a plurality of beams and an exposure apparatus including the optical device are disclosed. The optical device includes a first DOE lens array including a plurality of first diffractive optical element (DOE) lenses that ar... | 01/19/2012 |
| 20120013881 | Method and Apparatus for Determining an Overlay Error A method of determining an overlay error. Measuring an overlay target having process-induced asymmetry. Constructing a model of the target. Modifying the model, e.g., by moving one of the structures to compensate for the asymmetry. Calculating an asymmetry-induced overl... | 01/19/2012 |
| 20120013876 | EXPOSURE APPARATUS AND EXPOSURE METHOD USING THE SAME Provided are an exposure apparatus and an exposure method using the same. The exposure apparatus includes: a light source unit configured to emit light; a substrate stage supporting a substrate, the substrate comprising an exposure area and a non-exposure area; and a pr... | 01/19/2012 |
| 20120013878 | Projection Exposure System, Beam Delivery System and Method of Generating a Beam of Light A beam delivery system of a projection exposure system comprises a laser generating a beam of laser light from a plurality of longitudinal laser modes in a cavity, wherein light generated by a single longitudinal laser mode has an average line width λlat, wh... | 01/19/2012 |
| 20120013877 | ILLUMINATION OPTICAL SYSTEM, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD According to one embodiment, an illumination optical system comprises an optical integrator which forms a secondary light source on an illumination pupil plane in an illumination optical path of the illumination optical system with incidence of exposure light from a lig... | 01/19/2012 |
| 20120013882 | ILLUMINATION SYSTEM, LITHOGRAPHIC APPARATUS AND METHOD OF FORMING AN ILLUMINATION MODE An illumination system of a lithographic apparatus includes a plurality of reflective elements arranged to receive radiation from a radiation source, the reflective elements being movable between different orientations. In the different orientations, the reflective elem... | 01/19/2012 |
