Patent ID: 7570345

Claim:
A projection exposure system comprising an illumination optical system having a pupil plane and including a light source for illuminating a patterning structure and a projection optical system for imaging a region of the illuminated patterning structure into a corresponding field in a substrate-plane for exposing substrates with images of the patterning structure in a manufacturing process of miniaturized articles formed from the exposed substrates, wherein the illumination optical system comprises: a first optical integrator system for illuminating a first region of a first size of the patterning structure; and at least a second optical integrator system for illuminating a second region of the patterning structure which has a second size which is different from the first size, wherein the first and at least second optical integrator are arranged such that the first optical integrator can be exchanged for the at least second optical integrator system; wherein a distribution of illumination intensity in a pupil plane of the illumination optical system in terms of shape and size is substantially the same for the first and at least second optical integrator system.