Saddle-point construction in the design of lithographic objectives, part 1: Method

Saddle-point construction in the design of lithographic objectives, part 2: Application

Network search method in the design of extreme ultraviolet lithographic objectives

The merit function space of mirror system for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is studied. Local minima situated in the multidimensional optical merit function space are connected via links that contain saddle points and form a network. We present networks for EUV lithographic objective designs and discuss how these networks change when...

Looking for order in the optical design landscape

In present-day optical system design, it is tacitly assumed that local minima are points in the merit function landscapewithout relationships between them. We will show however that there is a certain degree of order in the design landscapeand that this order is best observed when we change the dimensionality of the optimization problem and when...

Designing lithographic objectives by constructing saddle points

Optical designers often insert or split lenses in existing designs. Here, we present, with examples from Deep and Extreme UV lithography, an alternative method that consists of constructing saddle points and obtaining new local minima from them. The method is remarkable simple and can therefore be easily integrated with the traditional design...

Saddle points in the merit function landscape of lithographic objectives

The multidimensional merit function space of complex optical systems contains a large number of local minima that are connected via links that contain saddle points. In this work, we illustrate a method to construct such saddle points with examples of deep UV objectives and extreme UV mirror systems for lithography. The central idea of our...

Generating saddle points in the merit function landscape of optical systems

Finding multiple local minima in the merit function landscape of optical system optimization is a difficult task, especially for complex designs that have a large number of variables. We discuss here a method that enables a rapid generation of new local minima for optical systems of arbitrary complexity. We have recently shown that saddle points...

Correction of the phase retardation caused by intrinsic birefringence in deep UV lithography

In the year 2001 it was reported that the birefringence induced by spatial dispersion (BISD), sometimes also called intrinsic birefringence, had been measured and calculated for fluorides CaF2 and BaF2 in the deep UV range. It was also shown that the magnitude of the BISD in these cubic crystals is sufficiently large to cause serious problems...

The effect of intrinsic birefringence in deep UV-lithography

The subject of birefringence induced by spatial dispersion (BISD), also called intrinsic birefringence, recently became an important issue for 157-nm lithography. For the deep UV range, because of intrinsic absorption, only crystalline materials can be used as optical materials for lens manufacturing. The physical properties of crystals are...