Illumination device including amplitude-division and beam movements

An illumination device comprising:

• a radiation source for supplying a coherent beam;
• an optical integrator comprising an array of lenses disposed along a plane perpendicular to an optical axis of said device;
• a first optical system for amplitude-dividing the coherent beam from said radiation source and for producing plural beams which are substantially incoherent with each other, said first optical system projecting the plural beams to said optical integrator in different directions and with substantial overlap upon one another on said optical integrator;
• and
• a second optical system for directing beams from said lenses of said optical integrator to a surface to be illuminated and for superposing the beams upon one another on the surface to be illuminated.
• wherein said second optical system comprises a scanner for scanning an entrance pupil plane thereof with the plural beams from said optical integrator.

An exposure apparatus, comprising:

• a laser beam source for supplying a laser beam;
• an optical integrator comprising an array of lenses disposed along a plane perpendicular to an optical axis of said apparatus;
• a first optical system for amplitude-dividing the laser beam form said laser beam source and for producing plural beams which are substantially incoherent with each other, said first optical system comprising a scanner for projecting the plural laser beams to said optical integrator in different direction a and with substantial overlap, upon one another on said optical integrator, and for scanning the surface of said optical integrator with the projected plural beams;
• and
• a second optical system for directing laser beams from said lenses of said optical integrator to a mask and for superposing the laser beams upon one another on the mask, whereby a pattern of the mask as illuminated can be transferred to a wafer.

An illumination method in which a coherent beam is projected to a lens array to thereby generate a plurality of secondary beams to illuminate an article, said method comprising the steps of:

• amplitude-dividing the coherent beam to produce a plurality of beams which are substantially incoherent with each other;
• projecting the produced beams along different directions and with substantial overlap of the produced beams upon one another on the lens array;
• and
• oscillating the produced beams relative to the lens array.

An illumination method in which a laser beam having plural transverse modes is projected to a lens array to generate a plurality of secondary beams to illuminate an article, said method comprising the steps of:

• amplitude-dividing the laser beam to produce a plurality of beams which are substantially incoherent with each other;
• projecting the produced beams along different directions and with substantial overlap of the produced beams upon one another on the lens array;
• and
• oscillating the produced beams relative to the lens array.