Abstract: There is to provide an optical element fabrication method including the steps of forming a thin film onto a substrate, and eliminating a color center produced in the forming step by giving energy to the substrate.

Abstract: In an anti-reflective film including alternating layers of high refractive-index layers and low refractive-index layers, by designing such that a designed central wavelength ?0 is within a wavelength range of 141 nm to 189 nm, and that when the first to eighth layers as counted from a substrate have optical film thicknesses d1 to d8 respectively, the equations of: 0.45?0?d1?0.65?0; 0.05?0?d2?0.20?0; 0.29?0?d3?0.49?0; 0.01?0?d4?0.15?0; 0.05?0?d5?0.20?0; 0.23?0?d6?0.28?0; 0.23?0?d7?0.28?0; and 0.23?0?d8?0.28?0 are satisfied, the anti-reflective film can be formed so as to have a low reflectance for a light incident at such a large angle as 30 degrees or more, without increasing the whole thickness of the film.

Abstract: A method is provided of conditioning an atmosphere inside a chamber of an exposure apparatus in which an optical element is disposed for directing light to expose a substrate. The method includes the steps of supplying inert gas into the chamber and exhausting gas from the chamber. The supplying step adjusts the flow rate of the inert gas so that the amount of impurities supplied into the chamber is not greater than 2 nanograms per minute per 1 liter of a volume of the chamber.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for forming a film of aluminum oxide in which a target containing aluminum is sputtered in a gas containing fluorine atoms. The thin film of aluminum oxide according to the present invention has little optical absorption and high refractive index in the ultraviolet and vacuum ultraviolet regions.

Abstract: There is to provide an optical element fabrication method including the steps of forming a thin film onto a substrate, and eliminating a color center produced in the forming step by giving energy to the substrate.

Abstract: In an anti-reflective film comprising alternating layers of high refractive-index layers and low refractive-index layers, by designing such that a designed central wavelength ?0 is within a wavelength range of 141 nm to 189 nm, and that when the first to eighth layers as counted from a substrate have optical film thicknesses d1 to d8 respectively, the equations of: 0.45?0?d1?0.65?0; 0.05?0?d2?0.20?0; 0.29?0?d3?0.49?0; 0.01?0?d4?0.15?0; 0.05?0?d5?0.20?0; 0.23?0?d6?0.28?0; 0.23?0?d7?0.28?0; and 0.23?0?d8?0.28?0 are satisfied, the anti-reflective film can be formed so as to have a low reflectance for a light incident at such a large angle as 30 degrees or more, without increasing the whole thickness of the film.

Abstract: There is to provide an optical element fabrication method including the steps of forming a thin film onto a substrate, and eliminating a color center produced in the forming step by giving energy to the substrate.

Abstract: A vacuum deposition system comprises i) a film-forming chamber the inside of which can be kept at a stated degree of vacuum by a film-forming chamber evacuation means such as a vacuum pump, having a substrate holder which holds a substrate on which a thin film is to be formed and a crucible which heats and evaporates a deposition material to be made into a thin film, and ii) a reaction chamber in the inside of which a gas is to be ionized, which is connected to a reaction chamber gas feed means which feeds a source gas for compensating gas atoms having come short; the film-forming chamber and the reaction chamber being connected through a pressure control means. The source gas fed by means of the reaction chamber gas feed means is previously ionized in the reaction chamber by the action of ionization attributable to the plasma, and thereafter the pressure control means is operated to introduce the ionized gas into the film-forming chamber.

Abstract: In order to provide an antireflection film of a wide wavelength bandwidth excellent in environment resistance performance in the ultraviolet wavelength region, the antireflection film is constructed in four-layered, or five-layered, or six-layered structure, using Al2O3 for high-index layers and AlF3 or MgF2 for low-index layers. Vacuum evaporation, sputtering, or CVD is used for formation of the antireflection film.

Abstract: Disclosed is an optical element disposed in a container having an inside ambience independent from an outside of the container, and rinsed by irradiation with ultraviolet rays from a light source outside the container. Also disclosed is a rinsing method, having a first step for accommodating an article, to be rinsed, into a second container disposed inside a first container and being adapted to maintain an ambience different from that of the first container, a second step for introducing a rinsing gas into the second container, and a third step for irradiating the article with ultraviolet rays from a light source disposed inside the first container but outside the second container.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for forming a film of aluminum oxide in which a target containing aluminum is sputtered in a gas containing fluorine atoms.

Abstract: A process of producing a thin film is disclosed. The process comprises the steps of providing a vessel; placing a target such that a surface to be sputtered of the target surrounds a discharge space; placing a substrate on a side of an opening of the space such that the substrate faces an anode disposed so as to close another opening of the space surrounded by the target; supplying a sputtering gas and a fluorine-containing gas into the vessel; and supplying a dc power or a power obtained by superimposing pulses with reversing polarities on the dc power, between the target and the anode, wherein a discharge is induced in the discharge space to sputter the target, thereby forming a fluorine-containing thin film on the substrate.

Abstract: The antireflection film of the present invention comprises an alternately multi-layered film of 10 layers formed on a base member and having antireflection characteristics in two wavelength regions including a first wavelength (&lgr;1) of 248 nm and a second wavelength (&lgr;2) of 633 nm as central wavelengths, respectively, the multi-layered film of 10 layers comprising: low-refractive index layers arranged at odd-numbered positions from a side opposite to the base member and having a refractive index of 1.45 to 1.52 at the first wavelength (&lgr;1); and high-refractive index layers arranged at even-numbered positions from the side opposite to the base member and having a refractive index of 1.65 to 1.80 at the first wavelength (&lgr;1), wherein layers arranged at the first, second and third positions from the side opposite to the base member each have an optical thickness ranging from 0.21&lgr;1 to 0.28&lgr;1.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for forming a film of aluminum oxide in which a target containing aluminum is sputtered in a gas containing fluorine atoms. The thin film of aluminum oxide according to the present invention has little optical absorption and high refractive index in the ultraviolet and vacuum ultraviolet regions.

Abstract: A process of producing a thin film is disclosed which comprises the steps of:

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for forming a film of aluminum oxide in which a target containing aluminum is sputtered in a gas containing fluorine atoms.

Abstract: A film formation method of forming at least one layered film on a substrate containing fluorite as a main ingredient by using a film formation apparatus which emits electrons or ions, which comprises the step of forming, as a first layered film counted from the side of the substrate, a film having a thickness of 30 nm or less and comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of SiO2, BeO, MgO, and MgF2.

Abstract: A process is provided for forming a thin film having refractive index thereof varying continuously or stepwise in a thickness direction. The process comprises sputtering in a vacuum chamber by introducing, during film formation, at least two kinds of gases selected from a nitrogen-containing gas, an oxygen-containing gas, and a fluorine-containing gas with the flow rate ratio of the gases varied continuously or stepwise. This process enables variation of the refractive index in the thickness direction, simply without difficulty.

Abstract: In a method for forming a multi-layer optical thin film on a surface of a base material, a multi-layer optical thin film is formed based on thickness setting values for respective layers, an optical characteristic of the thus formed multi-layer optical thin film is measured, thicknesses for the respective layers for a multi-layer optical thin film to have an aimed optical characteristic are obtained based on the thus measured optical characteristic, the thickness setting values are corrected based on the thus obtained film thicknesses for the respective layers, and a next multi-layer optical thin film is formed based on the thus corrected thickness setting values. In another method for forming a thin film by sputtering, a concentration of H.sub.2 O gas in a vacuum chamber or a discharge impedance is measured, and at least one of sputter power, sputter gas partial pressure, and sputter gas flow rate is controlled in accordance with the measurement result so as to keep the sputtering rate constant.

Abstract: An anti-reflection film is arranged by alternately stacking a plurality of high-refractive index layers containing Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and a plurality of low-refractive index layers containing SiO.sub.2 on a transparent substrate in turn from the substrate side to the air side, and satisfies:1.45.ltoreq.ns.ltoreq.1.651.60.ltoreq.na.ltoreq.1.850.31.lambda.0.ltoreq.d1.ltoreq.0.42.lambda.00.38.lambda.0.ltoreq.d2.ltoreq.0.45.lambda.00.20.lambda.0.ltoreq.d3.ltoreq.0.31.lambda.00.18.lambda.0.ltoreq.d4.ltoreq.0.28.lambda.00.20.lambda.0.ltoreq.d5.ltoreq.0.30.lambda.00.20.lambda.0.ltoreq.d6.ltoreq.0.30.lambda.0where ns and na are the refractive indices of the low-refractive index layer and the high-refractive index layer for light components falling with the wavelength range from 190 nm to 250 nm, di (unit: nm) is the optical film thickness of the i-th layer when the high- and low-refractive index layers are counted from the substrate side to the air side, and .lambda.