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.

The Talbot effect is utilized for micro-fabrication of periodic microstructures via proximity lithography in a mask aligner. A novel illumination system, referred to as MO Exposure Optics, allows to control the effective source shape and accordingly the angular spectrum of the illumination light. Pinhole array photomasks are employed to generate periodic high-resolution diffraction patterns by means of self-imaging. They create a demagnified image of the effective source geometry in their diffraction pattern which is printed to photoresist. The proposed method comprises high flexibility and sub-micron resolution at large proximity gaps. Various periodic structures have been generated and are presented.

The application of the phase-shift method allows a significant resolution enhancement for proximity lithography in mask aligners. Typically a resolution of 3 µm (half-pitch) at a proximity distance of 30 µm is achieved utilizing binary photomasks. By using an alternating aperture phase shift photomask (AAPSM), a resolution of 1.5 µm (half-pitch) for non-periodic lines and spaces pattern was demonstrated at 30 µm proximity gap. In a second attempt a diffractive photomask design for an elbow pattern having a half-pitch of 2 µm was developed with an iterative design algorithm. The photomask was fabricated by electron-beam lithography and consists of binary amplitude and phase levels.

The half-tone lithography using pixilated chromium masks in a projection stepper is an established technology in microoptics fabrication. However, the projection lithography tool is comparably expensive and the achievable lateral resolution is typically limited. By using pixel diffraction effects, binary and continuous profile lithography with submicron resolution can be installed on a conventional mask aligner. To achieve this goal the control of both, the angular spectrum of the illumination and the mask features is essential. We used a novel micro-optics based illumination system referred as "MO Exposure Optics System" in a SUSS MicroTec MA6 mask aligner for the dedicated shaping of the angular illumination distribution. In combination with an adapted lithography mask the formation of a desired intensity distribution in the resist layer is possible. A general mathematic model describes the relation between the angular spectrum of the mask illumination, pixel size and pitch in the mask, proximity distance and propagated field, which also includes special cases like Talbot imaging. We show that a wide range of different micro-optical structures can be optimized by controlling the light diffraction in proximity lithography. Parameter settings were found for submicron binary pattern up to continuous profile structures with extensions up to several tens of microns. An additional interesting application of this approach is the combination of binary and continuous profiles in single elements, e.g. micro lenses with diffractive correction or AR structures. Experimental results achieved for blazed gratings with a period of 2 microns are presented.

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