Very-high aperture projection objective
AssigneeCarl Zeiss SMT GmbH
InventorKarl-Heinz Schuster
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A very-high aperture, purely refractive projection objective is designed as a two-belly system with an object-side belly, an image-side belly and a waist (7) situated therebetween. The system diaphragm (5) is seated in the image-side belly at a spacing in front of the image plane. Arranged between the waist and the system diaphragm in the region of divergent radiation is a negative group (LG5) which has an effective curvature with a concave side pointing towards the image plane. The system is distinguished by a high numerical aperture, low chromatic aberrations and compact, material-saving design.
Claims35
An optical system configured to project an object from an object plane of the optical system to an image plane of the optical system, the optical system comprising:
- a system diaphragm;
- and
- a plurality of optical elements which are arranged along an optical axis, the plurality of optical elements comprising:
- a first plurality of lenses;
- and
- a second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses comprising a first meniscus lens and a second meniscus lens, the first and second meniscus lenses each having a concave surface facing the image plane,
- wherein the optical system is a microlithography projection optical system comprising a waist between the first and second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses is positioned between the first plurality of lenses and the image plane, and the first meniscus lens is positioned between the system diaphragm and the waist,
- wherein the first and second meniscus lenses are positioned at a location in the second plurality of lenses where light projected from the object plane diverges.
An optical system configured to project an object from an object plane of the optical system to an image plane of the optical system, the optical system comprising:
- a plurality of optical elements arranged along an optical axis of the optical system, the plurality of optical elements comprising:
- a first plurality of lenses;
- and
- a second plurality of lenses positioned between the first plurality of lenses and the image plane, the second plurality of lenses comprising a first meniscus lens and a second meniscus lens, the first and second meniscus lenses each having a concave surface facing the image plane,
- wherein the optical system is a microlithography projection optical system comprising a waist positioned between the first and second pluralities of lenses and the optical system comprises a pupil plane positioned between the first meniscus lens and the image plane,
- wherein the projection optical system has an image side numerical aperture of 0.85 or more.
An optical system configured to project an object from an object plane of the optical system to an image plane of the optical system, the optical system comprising:
- a plurality of optical elements arranged along an optical axis of the optical system, the plurality of optical elements comprising:
- a first plurality of lenses;
- and
- a second plurality of lenses positioned between the first plurality of lenses and the image plane, the second plurality of lenses comprising a first meniscus lens, a second meniscus lens, and a third meniscus lens, where the first and second meniscus lenses have a concave surface facing the image plane and are adjacent to each other with respect to the optical axis, and the first and third meniscus lenses are adjacent each other with respect to the optical axis,
- wherein the optical system is a microlithography projection optical system comprising a waist between the first and second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses is positioned between the first plurality of lenses and the image plane,
- wherein the projection optical system has an image side numerical aperture of 0.85 or more.
An optical system configured to project an object from an object plane of the optical system to an image plane of the optical system, the optical system comprising:
- a system diaphragm;
- and
- a plurality of optical elements which are arranged along an optical axis, the plurality of optical elements comprising:
- a first plurality of lenses;
- and
- a second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses comprising a first meniscus lens, a second meniscus lens and a third meniscus lens, the first and second meniscus lenses each having a concave surface facing the image plane,
- wherein the optical system is a microlithography projection optical system comprising a waist between the first and second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses is positioned between the first plurality of lenses and the image plane, the first meniscus lens is positioned between the system diaphragm and the waist, the third meniscus lens is positioned with a convex surface facing the image plane, and the first, second, and third meniscus lenses are positioned adjacent each other with respect to the optical axis and wherein the optical system has an image side numerical aperture of 0.85 or more.
An optical system configured to project an object from an object plane of the optical system to an image plane of the optical system, the optical system comprising:
- a system diaphragm;
- and
- a plurality of optical elements which are arranged along an optical axis, the plurality of optical elements comprising:
- a first plurality of lenses;
- and
- a second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses comprising a first meniscus lens and a second meniscus lens, the first and second meniscus lenses each having a concave surface facing the image plane,
- wherein the optical system is a microlithography projection optical system comprising a waist between the first and second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses is positioned between the first plurality of lenses and the image plane, and the first meniscus lens is positioned between the system diaphragm and the waist,
- wherein the second plurality of lenses includes a negative group positioned between the waist and the system diaphragm, the negative group having an effective curvature with a concave side directed towards the image, where the effective curvature of the negative group has a radius of curvature of rc whose ratio, rc/DB, to the aperture diameter, DB, of the system diaphragm is in a range between approximately 0.8 and approximately 2.2.
An optical system configured to project an object from an object plane of the optical system to an image plane of the optical system, the optical system comprising:
- a system diaphragm;
- and
- a plurality of optical elements which are arranged along an optical axis, the plurality of optical elements comprising:
- a first plurality of lenses;
- and
- a second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses comprising a first meniscus lens and a second meniscus lens, the first and second meniscus lenses each having a concave surface facing the image plane,
- wherein the optical system is a microlithography projection optical system comprising a waist between the first and second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses is positioned between the first plurality of lenses and the image plane, and the first meniscus lens is positioned between the system diaphragm and the waist,
- wherein the optical system has an image side numerical aperture of 0.85 or more.
An optical system configured to project an object from an object plane of the optical system to an image plane of the optical system, the optical system comprising:
- a system diaphragm;
- and
- a plurality of optical elements which are arranged along an optical axis, the plurality of optical elements comprising:
- a first plurality of lenses;
- and
- a second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses comprising a first meniscus lens and a second meniscus lens, the first and second meniscus lenses each having a concave surface facing the image plane,
- wherein the optical system is a microlithography projection optical system comprising a waist between the first and second plurality of lenses, the second plurality of lenses is positioned between the first plurality of lenses and the image plane, and the first meniscus lens is positioned between the system diaphragm and the waist,
- wherein the microlithography projection optical system is a single-waist projection optical system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.