Intrinsic birefringence compensation for below 200 nanometer wavelength optical lithography components with cubic crystalline structures

A method of compensating for intrinsic birefringence of transmissive materials in an optical system comprising steps of:

• arranging a combination of optical elements within an optical system, at least some of the optical elements exhibiting separate amounts of intrinsic birefringence;
• determining a cumulative intrinsic birefringence exhibited by the combination of optical elements within the optical system;
• inducing a counteracting stress-induced birefringence in at least one of the optical elements exhibiting intrinsic birefringence;
• and
• sizing the counteracting stress-induced birefringence in the one optical element to be (a) significantly larger than the intrinsic birefringence exhibited by the one optical element (b) not significantly larger than the cumulative intrinsic birefringence exhibited by the combination of optical elements, and (c) opposite in sign to the cumulative intrinsic birefringence.