Patent ID: 7965377

Claim:
A method for adjusting a projection objective of a projection exposure machine of the type used for microlithography in the fabrication of semiconductor components and having an illumination device for providing an illumination beam and a plurality of optical elements in the path of the illumination beam for projecting an image onto a substrate, a characteristic of the projection objective being capable of being adjusted to alter aberrations of the projection objective, said method comprising: (a) specifying a set of parameters, each of said parameters in said set of parameters representing a respective imaging property of the projection objective, each of said parameters in said set of parameters having an absolute value at each of a plurality of points in a field of an image plane of the projection objective, said set of parameters comprising a first parameter; (b) determining a condition relating to said absolute values of said first parameter; and (c) after (b), adjusting said characteristic of said projection objective to satisfy said condition relating to said absolute values of said first parameter, said imaging property being an imaging property selected from the group consisting of distortion and line width.