A new illumination system for mask aligner lithography is presented. The illumination system uses two subsequent microlens-based Köhler integrators. The second Köhler integrator is located in the Fourier plane of the first. The new illumination system uncouples the illumination light from the light source and provides excellent uniformity of the light irradiance and the angular spectrum. Spatial filtering allows to freely shape the angular spectrum to minimize diffraction effects in contact and proximity lithography. Telecentric illumination and ability to precisely control the illumination light allows to introduce resolution enhancement technologies (RET) like customized illumination, optical proximity correction (OPC) and source-mask optimization (SMO) in mask aligner lithography.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.