Patents by Inventor Ralf Kiesel

Ralf Kiesel has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20250284212
    Abstract: An optical system for a lithography apparatus, comprises: a vacuum housing under vacuum, in which a number of optical elements for guiding radiation in the optical system and a number of actuator/sensor devices assigned to the optical elements are arranged; a vacuum-tight housing that is separate from the vacuum housing and under atmospheric pressure; and an electrical vacuum feedthrough that connects the vacuum housing and the vacuum-tight housing and serves to feed at least one electrical connection connected to at least one of the actuator/sensor devices from the vacuum-tight housing into the vacuum housing. An optical transceiver module for converting optical signals into electrical signals, which is connectable to a controller via at least one optical waveguide, is arranged in the interior of the vacuum-tight housing and is electrically connected to the electrical vacuum feedthrough.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2025
    Publication date: September 11, 2025
    Inventor: Ralf KIESEL
  • Publication number: 20240302754
    Abstract: An optical system comprises a number of optics modules, wherein the respective optics module comprises: a number of displaceable optical elements for guiding radiation in the optical system; a number of actuator/sensor devices, wherein at least one of the actuator/sensor devices is assigned to the respective optical element, wherein the respective actuator/sensor device is configured to displace the assigned optical element and/or to acquire a position of the assigned optical element; a vacuum-tight housing; and an electronics unit in the vacuum-tight housing and configured to actuate the respective actuator/sensor device on the basis of received actuation data, wherein the electronics unit has a first electronics region containing a number of electrical and/or electronic component parts and that generates, and a second electronics region containing a number of electrical and/or electronic component parts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2024
    Publication date: September 12, 2024
    Inventors: Stefan Krone, Ralf Kiesel, Volker Wieczorek, Kai Kunze
  • Patent number: 10983443
    Abstract: A control device actuates actuator unit to set a position of an optical element of a lithography system. The control device includes an amplifier unit for providing a control signal for the actuator unit via a voltage signal and a PWM signal. The PWM signal has a duty factor and a clock frequency. The control device also includes a modulator unit designed to provide the PWM signal having the duty factor and a defined clock frequency from a plurality of defined clock frequencies. A defined clock frequency of the plurality of defined clock frequencies is an integer multiple of a basic clock frequency. The basic clock frequency is in the range of 10 kHz to 1 MHz.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH
    Inventors: Stefan Krone, Lars Berger, Ralf Kiesel, Paul Wijlaars
  • Publication number: 20190302626
    Abstract: A control device actuates actuator unit to set a position of an optical element of a lithography system. The control device includes an amplifier unit for providing a control signal for the actuator unit via a voltage signal and a PWM signal. The PWM signal has a duty factor and a clock frequency. The control device also includes a modulator unit designed to provide the PWM signal having the duty factor and a defined clock frequency from a plurality of defined clock frequencies. A defined clock frequency of the plurality of defined clock frequencies is an integer multiple of a basic clock frequency. The basic clock frequency is in the range of 10 kHz to 1 MHz.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2019
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Inventors: Stefan Krone, Lars Berger, Ralf Kiesel, Paul Wijlaars