Patent ID: 7184192

Claim:
A method for creating a microlithographic pattern on a workpiece sensitive to radiation using a spatial light modulator having a multitude of modulating elements, the modulating elements having a piston action, including: reading from an information storage device a pattern description, extracting from the pattern description a sequence of partial patterns, converting said partial patterns to modulator signals, operating at least some groups of the modulating elements so that adjoining piston elements are driven to opposing phases to produce a desired real amplitude as a sum of complex amplitudes, emitting electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range from extreme ultraviolet (EUV) to infrared (IR), illuminating by said radiation the spatial light modulator, projecting the illumination from the spatial light modulator onto the workpiece forming a partial image, and moving said workpiece and/or projection system relative to each other, coordinating the movement of the workpiece, the operation of groups of modulating elements and intensity of the radiation, so that said pattern is stitched together from the partial images created by the sequence of partial patterns.