Apparatus and method of improving beam shaping and beam homogenization

A method of thermally processing a substrate, comprising:

• positioning a substrate on a substrate support;
• delivering a first energy pulse having a first wavelength and first pulse width to a first lens from a first energy source;
• transmitting at least a portion of the first energy pulse to a first micro-lens array from the first lens so that the uniformity of the image received by two or more micro-lenses is at least partially different;
• transmitting at least a portion of the energy received by the first micro-lens array to a second micro-lens array, wherein the first micro-lens array is adapted to increase the energy density of the portion of the energy received by the second lens array;
• and
• transmitting at least a portion of the energy received by the second micro-lens array to a second lens, wherein the second lens is adapted to transmit the received energy to components that transfer the energy to a region on the surface of the substrate positioned on the substrate support and to correct quadratic phase aberration.