Optical Projection System and Method for Photolithography. A lithographic immersion projection system and method for projecting an image at high resolution over a wide field of view. The projection system and method include a final lens which decreases the marginal ray angle of the optical path before light passes into the immersion liquid to impinge on the image plane.

Projection optical system and method for photolithography and exposure apparatus and method using same

A lithographic apparatus configured to project a patterned beam of radiation onto a target portion of a substrate is disclosed. The apparatus includes a first radiation dose detector and a second radiation dose detector, each detector comprising a secondary electron emission surface configured to receive a radiation flux and to emit secondary electrons due to the receipt of the radiation flux, the first radiation dose detector located upstream with respect to the second radiation dose detector viewed with respect to a direction of radiation transmission, and a meter, connected to each detector, to detect a current or voltage resulting from the secondary electron emission from the respective electron emission surface.

Lithographic apparatus, and device manufacturing method

A projection exposure apparatus includes an illuminating device for illuminating a pattern of an original, a holder for holding a substrate, and a projection system for projecting an image of the pattern of the original onto the substrate. The projection system includes a projection optical system and a plane optical element spaced from the projection optical system and disposed opposite to the surface of the substrate. Also provided is a casing having a filled interspace formed between the optical element and the substrate, with the optical element providing an upper cover of the casing.

Immersion type projection exposure apparatus

A near‐field optical technique, using a new type of solid immersion lens (SIL), has been developed and applied to the writing and reading of domains in magneto‐optic material. The SIL is a truncated glass sphere which serves to increase the numerical aperture of the optical system by n2, where n is the index of refraction of the lens material. Using a SIL made from n=1.83 glass and illuminating with 780 nm light, we have achieved a 317 nm spot size. We have resolved a 500 nm period grating, and written and read 350 nm diameter magnetic domains. The technique should be capable of a 125 nm focused spot size using blue light.

Near‐field optical data storage using a solid immersion lens

A confocal imaging system utilizes an opaque mask with a slit and a row of pinpoint sensors or utilizes an opaque mask with a skewed pattern of pinholes and an array of isolated pinpoint sensors in a matching pattern in order to obtain sufficient data to provide a complete image for imaging and/or inspecting an object such as electronics in a single one-dimensional scan. The system also simultaneously produces multiple images at different heights in the single one-dimensional scan of the viewed object, and also simultaneously produces images taken in different spectral bands in the same one-dimensional scan of the object to be imaged and/or inspected. The relative height or depth of the different images can be modified by simply adjusting the inclination between the confocal imaging system and a path followed by the object that is to be imaged and/or inspected during the one-dimensional scan. The optical confocal imaging system requires no moving parts and the only moving parts of the system are for motorized conveying of the object to be imaged and/or inspected along the path. In one arrangement of the confocal imaging system, color imaging and/or inspecting of the object can be performed. In another arrangement of the confocal imaging system, simultaneous brightfield and darkfield imaging and/or inspecting of an object can be performed.

Tandem linear scanning confocal imaging system with focal volumes at different heights

A lithography system employing a solid immersion lens having a spherical surface to enhance its resolution is disclosed

Lithography system employing a solid immersion lens

An optical recording system including a read/write optical assembly including an objective lens for reading or writing from an optical medium including a solid immersion lens disposed between the objective lens and having a surface closely spaced from the recording medium.

Optical recording system employing a solid immersion lens

We describe a new type of optical pickup for use in high-density optical storage systems. By changing a conventional pickup design to include a glass element between the objective and the disk, the transverse resolution of the system can be increased by as much as a factor of 1.5. This system is also less sensitive than conventional systems to variations in disk thickness and disk tilt. We demonstrate how the system has been used as a microscope to inspect an optical disk and describe possible design configurations for an optical pickup.

High-numerical-aperture lens system for optical storage

An optical microscope which includes a high refractive index solid immersion lens interposed between the objective lens and the object being viewed to provide a microscope having resolution which is far better than the Rayleigh diffraction limit in air.

Near field and solid immersion optical microscope

We have demonstrated a new type of near-field microscope that uses an add-on lens, called a solid immersion lens, to a real-time Nipkow disk type of confocal scanning optical microscope. Using this microscope, a factor of two improvement in the edge response over a confocal microscope has been observed along with excellent images of a grating with 100 nm strips and spaces. This microscope operates in reflection and gives real-time images.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Scott M. Mansfield

Papers

Lithography system employing a solid immersion lens

Optical recording system employing a solid immersion lens

High-numerical-aperture lens system for optical storage

Near field and solid immersion optical microscope

Solid immersion lens photon tunneling microscope (Invited Paper)