Abstract

There are three difficult challenges involved in designing optics for deep ultraviolet imaging, such as for use in microlithography, photoablation for defect repair, or feature inspection. The first challenge is that diffraction-limited performance at 0.193 μm, for example, is a very different kettle of fish from diffraction-limited at 0.6328 μm. Not only is the wavelength three times shorter for the UV case, requiring much better aberration correction, but surface figure errors have to be much tighter as well and may become beyond the capabilities of most optics shops.

© 1989 Optical Society of America