Patent ID: 7834981

Claim:
Projection exposure apparatus for exposing a radiation-sensitive substrate arranged at an image surface with at least one image of a pattern of a mask that is arranged at an object surface, comprising: a light source emitting ultraviolet light from a wavelength band having a bandwidth Δλ>10 pm around a central operating wavelength λ>200 nm; an illumination system receiving the light from the light source and directing illumination radiation onto the pattern of the mask; and a projection objective projecting a demagnified image of the pattern of the mask onto a light-sensitive substrate with projection light from a wavelength band having a bandwidth Δλ>10 pm around a central operating wavelength λ>200 nm with an image-side numerical aperture NA>0.6; wherein the projection objective is a catadioptric projection objective and comprises at least one concave mirror, arranged in a region of a pupil surface of the projection objective, and a negative group having at least one negative lens arranged in direct proximity to the concave mirror in a region near the pupil surface, where a marginal ray height of the imaging is greater than a chief ray height.