In any lens design problem, the first and most important step in the design process is the selection of the best design starting point, or design form, for the problem at hand. While many publications are available which address the selection of a design form for common optical problems, there is little available in the literature to assist the optical designer who is performing a conceptual design trade off in specialized areas of interest, such as UV microscopy. Given the advancement of short wavelength systems utilized in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, where the short wavelength is used in conjunction with high numerical apertures to provide increasingly smaller spot sizes, the once esoteric field of UV microscope objective design has moved to the forefront of the theater of optical design. This paper addresses the fundamental differences between the available UV objective starting points in the broadest possible terms within the context of varied system level constraints, and is intended to serve the designer as a vehicle for selecting the design form which will best suit the task at hand.
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