Patent ID: 7041992

Claim:
A charged-particle multi-beam exposure apparatus ( 1 ) for exposure of a target ( 41 ) with a plurality of beams of electrically charged particles, said particle beams propagating along parallel beam paths towards the target ( 41 ), wherein for each of said particle beams an illumination system ( 10 ), a shaping means ( 20 ) and a projection optics system ( 30 ) are provided, with the illumination system ( 10 ) being adapted to produce the beam and form it into a substantially telecentric beam illuminating the shaping means, the shaping means ( 20 ) being adapted to form the shape of the illuminating beam into a desired pattern, and the projection optics system ( 30 ) being adapted to project an image of the beam shape defined in the shaping means onto the target ( 40 ), wherein the shaping means ( 20 ) of each particle beam is realized as a pattern definition means for defining a multitude of beamlets in the respective particle beam, said means being adapted to let pass the illuminating beam only through a plurality of apertures defining the shape of beamlets permeating said apertures, said means further comprising a blanking means to switch off the passage of selected beamlets from the respective paths of the beamlets, wherein the illuminating system ( 10 ) and/or the projection optics system ( 30 ) comprise particle-optical lenses having lens elements (L 1 , L 2 , L 3 , L 4 , L 5 ) common to more than one particle beam.