Illumination system with spatially controllable partial coherence

摘要

An illumination system used in photolithography for the manufacture of semiconductors having an array optical element with different illumination regions matched to different geometric pattern regions on a reticle. The array optical element may be a filter, diffractive optical element, or microlens array having illumination regions producing different types of illumination properties or characteristics such as quadrupole, annular, or top hat among others. Each of the illumination regions are matched or correspond to a respective pattern region on the reticle to provide optimized exposure of a photosensitive resist covered wafer. The optical element of the present invention may be used to tailor a conventional illumination system to the unique characteristics of a particular reticle. Additionally, imperfections in the optics of a photolithographic system can be compensated for by the optical element. This facilitates the manufacture of semiconductor devices having decreasing feature sizes while improving qualify and increasing yield.