Patent ID: 7061581

Claim:
A lithographic apparatus comprising: an illumination system that supplies a plurality of beams of radiation; an array of individually controllable elements that pattern said plurality of beams of radiation; a plurality of projection systems that project respective ones of the patterned beams onto a substrate, each of the projection systems comprising an array of lenses arranged so that each lens in the array of lenses directs a part of the respective patterned beams towards a respective target area on the substrate; and a displacement system that causes relative displacement between the substrate and the projection systems, such that the respective patterned beams are scanned across the substrate in a predetermined scanning direction, wherein the projection systems are arranged in projection system groups, such that lenses in the array of lenses of different projection system groups direct parts of different ones of the patterned beams to different one of the respective target areas of the substrate that are aligned in the scanning direction, wherein the projection system groups are spaced apart in the scanning direction, such that each of the projection system groups scans the respective ones of the patterned beams across a respective area of the substrate as the substrate and the projection systems are displaced relative to each other, and wherein the respective areas being scanned by the respective ones of the patterned beams from respective ones of the projection system groups that are adjacent to each other in the scanning direction are contiguous.