Microscope imaging system and method for emulating a high aperture imaging system, particularly for mask inspection

US7286284B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. · IL

Inventors

• Michael Totzeck · Schwäbisch Gmünd, DE
• Heiko Feldmann · Aalen, DE
• Toralf Gruner · Hennef (Sieg), DE
• Karl-Heinz Schuster · Oberkochen, DE
• Joern Greif-Wuestenbecker · Marburg, DE
• Thomas Scheruebl · Jena, DE
• Wolfgang Harnisch · Lehesten, DE
• Norbert Rosenkranz · Reichenbach, DE
• Ulrich Stroessner · Jena, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 13, 2004
• Grant date: Oct 23, 2007
• Expiry date: Jul 28, 2025

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S359/90
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An optical imaging system for inspection microscopes with which lithography masks can be checked for defects particularly through emulation of high-aperture scanner systems. The microscope imaging system for emulating high-aperture imaging systems comprises imaging optics, a detector and an evaluating unit, wherein polarizing optical elements are selectively arranged in the illumination beam path for generating different polarization states of the illumination beam and/or in the imaging beam path for selecting different polarization components of the imaging beam, an optical element with a polarization-dependent intensity attenuation function can be introduced into the imaging beam path, images of the mask and/or sample are received by the detector for differently polarized beam components and are conveyed to the evaluating unit for further processing.