Patent ID: 7982853

Claim:
A lithographic method for the maskless transfer of a pattern onto a photosensitive substrate, the method comprising: (a) imaging a radiating surface of at least one mirror clement of a digital mirror array via a deflecting mirror and a projection optic onto the substrate, wherein the deflecting mirror is movable in a scan direction; (b) moving the at least one mirror element, projection optics and a substrate surface clement exposed by the deflecting mirror relative to the substrate so as to result in a change of position of the at least one mirror element, the projection optics, and the substrate surface element; (c) continuously measuring the change of position by a measuring system; (d) generating a trigger signal after reaching a defined change of position; (e) resetting the exposed substrate surface element to a substrate starting position by changing the position of the deflecting mirror in a path of rays, wherein the reset operation is triggered by the trigger signal; (f) repeating steps (b) to (c) until a resetting potential of the deflecting mirror is consumed; (g) switching off all mirror elements of the digital mirror array, wherein the switching interrupts an exposure of the substrate surface element; (h) resetting the deflecting mirror to a mirror starting position; (i) preparing the mirror element in the scan direction for the continuation of the exposure of the substrate surface element; (i) measuring a covering position between the prepared mirror element and the substrate surface element and generating a second trigger signal when a desired covering is reached; and (k) switching on the prepared mirror clement by the trigger signal and (I) continuing the exposure.