Patent · US Active

Projection exposure method, projection exposure apparatus, laser radiation source and bandwidth narrowing module for a laser radiation source

US8896816B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by
3References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateAug 12, 2011
Grant dateNov 25, 2014
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 10, 2033

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01S3/225
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

In a projection exposure method for the exposure of a radiation-sensitive substrate arranged in the region of an image surface of a projection objective with at least one image of a pattern of a mask arranged in the region of an object surface of the projection objective, laser radiation having a spectral intensity distribution I(ω) dependent on the angular frequency ω is used. The laser radiation is characterized by an aberration parameter α in accordance with:and a coherence time τ in accordance with:The laser radiation is introduced into an illumination system for generating an illumination radiation directed onto the mask, and the pattern is imaged onto the substrate with the aid of a projection objective. The spectral intensity distribution is set so that ατ2≦0.3. The influence of temporally varying speckles on image generation can be reduced by comparison with conventional methods, without simultaneously increasing the influence of chromatic aberrations on image generation.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.