Patent ID: 7872209

Claim:
A thermal flux apparatus comprising: a radiation module; a stage; and a translation mechanism, wherein: the radiation module comprises: a source of substantially monochromatic light having a wavelength between 190 nm and 950 nm, wherein the source provides the light with a power greater than 0.5 kW; and an optical train disposed to receive light from the light source, the optical train including focusing optics to focus the received light to a line of radiation substantially collimated perpendicular to a surface of the stage, the line of radiation having a full-width-at-half-maximum (“FWHM”) width between 3 μm and 500 μm and having a FWHM length longer than its width; wherein the optical train includes a collimator disposed to collimate the light from the source in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the stage and a focusing element disposed to focus the collimated light into the line of radiation; wherein the focusing element comprises a series of lenses; wherein the series of lenses comprises a first lens, a final lens, and a plurality of intermediate lenses disposed between the first lens and the final lens such that light from the source encounters the optical train at the first lens and the line of radiation emanates from the final lens; and wherein the first lens reduces fast-axis divergence of light passing through the optical train to less than 0.1°; and the translation mechanism is adapted to translate the stage and the line of radiation relative to each other.