Patent ID: 8629974

Claim:
An optical component for a maskless exposure apparatus comprising: a light source configured to emit light; a digital micro-mirror display (DMD) comprising a plurality of pixels each configured to modulate the light emitted from the light source according to a control signal; a first optical system configured to form an image of the pixels from the light modulated by the pixels of the digital micro-mirror display; a second optical system configured to form the image, formed by the first optical system, on a photosensitive material; a micro-tunnel array positioned between the first and second optical systems and comprising a plurality of micro-tunnels each having a wide light incident portion and a light exit portion narrower than the light incident portion so that the light passing through the micro-tunnels is concentrated to increase light quantity and the concentrated light is transmitted to the second optical system; and a plurality of light prevention portions each positioned between neighboring light incident portions of the plurality of micro-tunnels, wherein the plurality of light prevention portions allow the light going toward each light incident portion to pass through each micro-tunnel and reach the second optical system while screening diffused light going toward spaces between the neighboring light incident portions so that the diffused light has no influence on neighboring pixels, wherein in case of one-time total reflection, the maximum of a total length L of the micro-tunnels is expressed as L=(D 1 −D 2 )/(2×tan α) and the minimum of the total length L of the micro-tunnel is expressed as L=D 1 /(tan β/n+tan 2α), wherein said D 1 denotes a width of the light incident portion, said D 2 denotes a width of the light exit portion, said α denotes an angle between a tunnel surface and a surface normal to the light incident portion, said β denotes an incident angle of the light, and said n denotes a refractive index of an air.