A new illumination system for mask aligner lithography is presented. The illumination system uses two subsequent microlens-based Köhler integrators. The second Köhler integrator is located in the Fourier plane of the first. The new illumination system uncouples the illumination light from the light source and provides excellent uniformity of the light irradiance and the angular spectrum. Spatial filtering allows to freely shape the angular spectrum to minimize diffraction effects in contact and proximity lithography. Telecentric illumination and ability to precisely control the illumination light allows to introduce resolution enhancement technologies (RET) like customized illumination, optical proximity correction (OPC) and source-mask optimization (SMO) in mask aligner lithography.

Abstract:We present a new approach of beam homogenizing elements based on a statistical array of concave cylindrical microlens arrays. Those elements are used to diffuse light in only one direction and can be employed together with fly's eye condensers to generate a uniform flat top line for high power coherent light sources. Conception, fabrication and characterization for such 1D diffusers are presented in this paper.

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Depth of focus can be enhanced with cubic phaseplates located at the exit pupil of an optical system without significant loss of resolution. The enhancement factor is proportional to the strength of the phaseplate. The digital image is inversely filtered. The stronger the phaseplate is the stronger the inverse filter function must be. This causes increasing noise for high spatial frequencies in the restored image. Therefore, an optimum strength of the cubic phaseplate has to be chosen for the respective situation. A variable phaseplate system has been realized and tested. The performance of the setup has been experimentally studied. Applications and practical aspects are discussed in particular regarding barcode readers.