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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Highly Resolved Intravital Striped-illumination Microscopy of Germinal Centers
Published on: April 9, 2014
Design of angle-resolved illumination optics using nonimaging bi-telecentricity for 193 nm scatterfield microscopy
Martin Y Sohn1, Bryan M Barnes1, Richard M Silver1
1Engineering Physics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.
Abstract:
Accurate optics-based dimensional measurements of features sized well-below the diffraction limit require a thorough understanding of the illumination within the optical column and of the three-dimensional scattered fields that contain the information required for quantitative metrology. Scatterfield microscopy can pair simulations with angle-resolved tool characterization to improve agreement between the experiment and calculated libraries, yielding sub-nanometer parametric uncertainties. Optimized angle-resolved illumination requires bi-telecentric optics in which a telecentric sample plane defined by a Köhler illumination configuration and a telecentric conjugate back focal plane (CBFP) of the objective lens; scanning an aperture or an aperture source at the CBFP allows control of the illumination beam angle at the sample plane with minimal distortion. A bi-telecentric illumination optics have been designed enabling angle-resolved illumination for both aperture and source scanning modes while yielding low distortion and chief ray parallelism. The optimized design features a maximum chief ray angle at the CBFP of 0.002° and maximum wavefront deviations of less than 0.06 λ for angle-resolved illumination beams at the sample plane, holding promise for high quality angle-resolved illumination for improved measurements of deep-subwavelength structures using deep-ultraviolet light.
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