Patent ID: 9052608
Filing Date: 2015-06-09
Classification: G03F

Abstract:
1. A method for imaging a radiation-sensitive substrate in which a programmable template is projected as a collective image onto the radiation-sensitive substrate using coherent radiation emitted by a radiation source at a wavelength to which the substrate is radiation-sensitive, the programmable template comprising a plurality of controllable modulator elements, each one of the controllable modulator elements defining an image grid, each one of the controllable modulator elements when active generating an image spanning said corresponding image grid, collectively said plurality of controllable modulator elements producing said collective image defined by respective states of each one of said plurality of controllable modulator elements, the method comprising: expanding the coherent radiation with an optical unit into an expanded radiation field so that the radiation field is directed onto the programmable template and all controllable modulator elements of the programmable template receive said coherent radiation; and simultaneously deflecting, by using an acoustic-optical or electro-optical deflection unit, said collective image multiple times by a partial grid length spanning less than said image grid, so that on a given portion of the surface of the substrate, a given coherent beam bundle of image elements of the programmable template is displaced said multiple times within said given portion of the substrate surface to repeatedly apply radiation in correspondence to said multiple times, wherein for each one of said multiple times the displacement is for said partial grid length, which is less than that of a single image element of the programmable template so as to accumulate radiation across a given image pixel at said given portion of the substrate surface from said given coherent beam bundle and an adjacent coherent beam bundle, wherein formation of the given image pixel includes interference from the repeatedly applied given and adjacent coherent beam bundle.