| 摘要 |
The disclosure relates to optical systems of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, and to a microlithographic exposure method. According to an aspect of the disclosure, an optical system has a light source, a ray-splitting optical element, which splits a light ray incident on this element when the projection exposure apparatus is in operation into a first partial ray and a second partial ray, with the first and the second partial ray having mutually orthogonal polarization directions, and at least one ray-deflecting optical element for generating a desired polarized illumination setting from the first partial ray and the second partial ray, wherein the ray-splitting optical element is arranged such that light incident on this ray-splitting optical element when the projection exposure apparatus is in operation has a degree of polarization of less than one. |
| 主权项 |
1. An optical system, comprising:
a first element configured so that, during use of the optical system, the first element splits a light ray incident on the first element into first and second partial rays, the first partial ray having a polarization direction which is orthogonal to a polarization direction of the second partial ray; a second element configured so that, during use of the optical system, the second optical element generates a polarized illumination setting from the first and second partial rays; a first arrangement comprising a plurality of first facets and a plurality of second facets, the first facets and second facets configured so that, during use of the optical system, the first and second facets are assigned different polarization states of the light reflected at the respective facets; and a second arrangement comprising a plurality of third facets configured to that, during use of the optical system, the third facets are downstream of the first and second facets in a propagation direction of the light through the optical system, wherein:
the first element is arranged so that, during use of the optical system, light incident on the first element has a degree of polarization of less than one;for each of the third facets:
the third facet is switchable between first and second positions;during use of the optical system when the third facet is in the first position, the third facet captures light from a first facet; andduring use of the optical system when the third facet is in the second position, the third facet captures light from a second facet;the optical system has a pupil plane;the optical system is configured so that, during use of the optical system, adjacent illumination spots in the pupil plane have polarization states that are different from each other; andthe optical system is a microlithographic optical system. |
