Patent ID: 6924885

Claim:
A lithographic apparatus comprising: an illumination system to provide a projection beam of radiation, the illumination system defining an intensity distribution in a pupil plane, the illumination system comprising a first optical element constructed and arranged to deflect the projection beam over a first range of directions with a direction dependent intensity distribution determined by the optical element; a support structure to support a patterning device, the patterning device serving to pattern the projection beam according to a desired pattern; a substrate table to hold a substrate; and a projection system to project the patterned beam onto a target portion of the substrate; a second optical element optically following said first optical element in a path of the projection beam, the first optical element and the second optical element each being arranged to pass a major part of the projection beam substantially without deflection, the second optical element deflecting a portion of the major part of the projection beam passed by the first optical element over a second range of directions with a direction dependent intensity distribution; and a transmission blocking element to block transmission to the substrate of the part of intensity of the projection beam passed undeflected by both the optical element and the second optical element.