Abstract: An optical system compatible with short wavelength (extreme ultraviolet) radiation comprising four reflective elements for projecting a mask image onto a substrate. The four optical elements are characterized in order from object to image as convex, concave, convex and concave mirrors. The optical system is particularly suited for step and scan lithography methods. The invention increases the slit dimensions associated with ringfield scanning optics, improves wafer throughput and allows higher semiconductor device density.

Abstract: A lens system particularly suitable for low light, high speed applications has a primary mirror (31, 51) having a spherical reflecting surface and a secondary mirror (37, 52) having a spherical reflecting surface arranged to receive light reflected from the primary mirror. Both mirrors have the same center of curvature. The lens system includes image relay lens (47, 56) and a transfer lens (35, 55) arranged to image the center of curvature to a location at the center of the aperture stop (43, 57) of the image relay lens. This relay lens may include a spherical mirror located so that its center of curvature is coincident with the center of the aperture stop, thus creating a singular optical center of curvature for the whole lens system. The relay lens may include a meniscus corrector lens (33, 41, 42) which is located close to the aperture stop and which is also concentric with the common center of curvature.

Abstract: An optical system compatible with short wavelength (extreme ultraviolet) An optical system compatible with short wavelength (extreme ultraviolet) radiation comprising four reflective elements for projecting a mask image onto a substrate. The four optical elements comprise, in order from object to image, convex, concave, convex and concave mirrors. The optical system is particularly suited for step and scan lithography methods. The invention enables the use of larger slit dimensions associated with ring field scanning optics, improves wafer throughput and allows higher semiconductor device density. The inventive optical system is characterized by reduced dynamic distortion because the static distortion is balanced across the slit width.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a reflecting optical system, wherein the reflecting optical system comprises a first reflecting surface having a positive power and a second reflecting surface having a negative power, wherein at least one of the surfaces is inclined and the reflecting optical system comprises a substantially afocal optical system of the surfaces.

Abstract: A variable-magnification image-forming optical system having at least four lens units including a decentered optical system. The decentered optical system has at least one curved surface with a rotationally asymmetric surface configuration having no axis of rotational symmetry in nor out of the surface. Rotationally asymmetric aberrations due to decentration are corrected by the rotationally asymmetric surface configuration. A magnification change is effected by changing at least one of the spacings between the four lens units.

Abstract: A catadioptric zoom lens assembly has a catoptric objective lens group with a forwardly facing primary mirror and a rearwardly facing first surface reflecting secondary mirror located forwardly of the primary mirror to create an intermediate image forwardly of the primary mirror. A zoom relay lens group is located optically rearwardly of the intermediate image and has a stationary field lens subgroup, a first movable lens subgroup and a second movable lens subgroup.

Abstract: This invention is directed to a phototaking optical system including a solid optical element having a refraction incident surface on incident surface on which light from an object is incident, a plurality of curved reflection surfaces which sequentially reflect the light from the refraction incident surface, and a refraction exit surface from which the light from the curved reflection surfaces emerges, wherein at least one of the refraction incident surface and the refraction exit surface is a rotation asymmetrical surface.

Abstract: Three process flows for manufacturing the micro-lens array substrates are disclosed. The process flows consist of two main parts. The first part of the process flows involves fabrication of a master mold. The first two process flows utilize photolithography means to print and dry etch the micro-lens array pattern on the substrate, which is covered by a oxidation or a wet etch stopping layer. The desired surface curvature corresponding to the desired size, shape, and pattern of the micro-lens array is created by either oxidizing the exposed silicon layer (in the first process flow) or to wet-etch the exposed SiO2 by using HF solutions (in the second process flow). The third process flow creates damaged areas by using a focused laser light at first. Then, the damaged areas are preferably etched by solutions, leaving the desired surface curvature.

Abstract: An image display apparatus which enables observation of a clear image at a wide field angle, and which is extremely small in size and light in weight and hence unlikely to cause the observer to be fatigued. The image display apparatus has an image display device (7) and an ocular optical system for projecting the image of the image display device and leading the projected image to an observer's eyeball (1). The ocular optical system has, in the order of backward ray tracing, a first surface (3) which is a refracting surface, a second surface (4) which is a decentered reflecting surface of positive power, a third surface (5) which is a decentered reflecting surface, and a fourth surface (6) which is a refracting surface. At least two of the four surfaces have a finite curvature radius. A space formed by the first to fourth surfaces (3 to 6) is filled with a medium having a refractive index larger than 1.

Abstract: A lens system particularly suitable for low light, high speed applications has a primary mirror (31, 51) having a spherical reflecting surface and a secondary mirror (37, 52) having a spherical reflecting surface arranged to receive light reflected from the primary mirror. Both mirrors have the same center of curvature. The lens system includes image relay lens (47, 56) and a transfer lens (35, 55) arranged to image the center of curvature to a location at the center of the aperture stop (43, 57) of the image relay lens. This relay lens may include a spherical mirror located so that its center of curvature is coincident with the center of the aperture stop, thus creating a singular optical center of curvature for the whole lens system. The relay lens may include a meniscus corrector lens (33, 41, 42) which is located close to the aperture stop and which is also concentric with the common center of curvature.

Abstract: An optical system including at least one lens and erecting mirrors designed and arranged to give an inherent aperture and field greater in one direction than another direction. By using a low power eyepiece lens it is possible to arrange for a user's eye or eyes to be further behind the eyepiece lens so that the user can wear normal spectacles to correct for eye defects. When a pair of the optical systems is used in a pair of binoculars, it is possible for the exit pupils to be in a form of horizontal slots so the systems do not have to have adjustable spacing to allow for a particular user's eye separation.

Abstract: An optical system is provided for a FLIR mounted in a cylindrical turret ch has five folding mirrors, two doubling as scanning mirrors, numerous lenses with aspherical surfaces and different refractive indices, and a rotatable head mirror. Some of the lenses and mirrors being mounted on remote controlled electrically powered focusing or scanning means.

Abstract: An all reflective telescope system generally includes two spherical mirrors, one mild aspheric mirror and one aspheric mirror all centered about a common telescope axis and imaging on a focal surface for easy manufacture, very long focal length, wide field of view, high resolution, compact volume and low weight particularly well suited for space observations, and in a detailed form includes a sectional concave hyberboloidal primary mirror, a circular mild convex ellipsoidal secondary mirror, a sectional concave spherical tertiary mirror and a sectional convex spherical quaternary mirror for focusing an extended distant object onto a concave cylindrical focal surface having a linear array of charge coupled detectors for high resolution imagery, the telescope having high performance operation near diffraction limits and operating at detector resolution limits.

Abstract: An ultracompact complex optical device made up of a monolithic block of optical material with two opposite aspherical surfaces, the primary mirror being an aspherical annular specular concave surface and the secondary mirror being an aspherical convex or concave specular surface, circular in shape; the rays of light refract as they enter the optical material and are then reflected on the primary mirror made up of the generally convergent surface of optical material, and in the secondary mirror made up of the surface of the optical material in convergent or divergent form, once or several times, and lastly these are refracted as they leave the optical material. The device is used for application in the manufacturing of magnification lenses, eyepieces, microscopes, spyglasses, whether binoculars or telescopes, large telescopes, photographic cameras and also in any instrument or device in which non-visible radiation is used or developed.

Abstract: An optics assembly for observing a panoramic scene. The optics assembly includes a plurality of optical elements. A first element redirects light from the panoramic scene. The optical power of the first element forms an imaginary pupil. The energy from the first element is redirected about 90 degrees, forming an annular path. A second element receives the redirected light and re-images the imaginary pupil to form a real pupil. This portion of the energy continues to be in an annular form. A third element includes an optical relay system having a group of reimaging optics. The third element receives light from the second element while relaying the real pupil into the reimaging optics. It also establishes the focal length of the optics assembly, corrects pupil aberrations produced at the real pupil, corrects field aberrations and produces an annular image on a flat focal plane. The optical relay system interfaces with the second element through the use of the real pupil.

Abstract: A reflection and refraction optical system includes a planner beam splitter, a concave mirror and a lens group, for imaging a fine pattern of a reticle upon a wafer, wherein a lens element of the lens group is disposed eccentrically with respect to an optical axis of the system by a predetermined amount or a parallel plate is disposed obliquely with respect to the optical axis, so as to produce a comma or distortion effective to cancel the comma or distortion produced by the beam splitter.

Abstract: A confocal imaging system for use in conjunction with an optical microscope, in which a slit-shaped or bar-shaped beam of light is scanned over the specimen, descanned with a fixed mask and rescanned for viewing or recording, the focusing and scanning system being constituted by wholly reflective optical systems.

Abstract: A corrector mirror folds the optical path between the objective and relay portions of a three-mirror anastigmat. The corrector mirror is a non-powered mirror having a nominally flat but higher order aspheric surface. By placing the corrector mirror between the objective portion and an intermediate image formed by the objective portion, the field offset of the anastigmat can be significantly increased. A large field offset makes the off-axis anastigmat ideal for use with an on-axis dewar for infrared imaging applications.

Abstract: A projection exposure system includes a light transmitting member located between a light source and fly's eye lens to receive most of the incident light and to transmit the incident light to the periphery of the fly's eye lens. Light transmission of the system may be carried out by a light pipe and conic reflection mirror concentrically placed therein, or by an optical fiber flux having a light entrance pupil consisting of a bundle of individual units and a ramified light exit pupil. The system has high light-utilizing efficiency and reduced exposure time because most of the incident light is used.

Abstract: A panoramic imaging system for projecting a 360 degree cylindrical field of view onto a two-dimensional annular format has a panoramic imaging block with a concentric axis of symmetry, two refractive surfaces and two reflective surfaces. The first reflective surface is a concave conicoid of revolution with the conic constant in the range from -0.6 to +2.0. In an embodiment of the invention, the second refractive surface (the last in the path of rays) is flat, while the first reflective surface, the second reflective surface and the first refractive surface are all spherical.

Abstract: A confocal imaging system for use in conjunction with an optical microscope, in which a silt-shaped or bar-shaped beam of light is scanned over the specimen, descanned with a fixed mask and rescanned for viewing or recording, the focussing and scanning system being constituted by wholly reflective optical systems.

Abstract: A wide-angle optical imaging system (10) employs three mirrors (20, 22, 24) to reflect and propagate beams of electromagnetic energy (16, 17, 18) from four reflecting surfaces. A convex mirror (20) is the primary mirror/reflector. A concave mirror (22) is both the secondary and quaternary mirror/reflector for the system. A folding mirror (24) which is essentially flat mirror is the tertiary mirror/reflector for the system. The optical axis (36) of the system (10) is normal to the center of the folding mirror (24). The vertex of the convex mirror (20) and the vertex of the concave mirror (22) lie along the optical axis (36). A distortion corrector (32) and filter (34) are positioned in front of the image plane (30) of the system (10).