Nikon Museum

Nikon Museum Special Exhibition

Special Exhibition
"Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR - a Genealogy of the World's Highest Resolution Lenses"

Dates:   April 3, 2018 (Tue) - June 30, 2018 (Sat)
Place:   Nikon Museum, Shinagawa Tokyo
Exhibitions:
About 40 lenses including Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR lenses, about 40 electronic devices

Museum Leaflet

Gatecrash the Nikon Museum

I visited the Nikon museum on 3th April of the opening date of the special exhibition.
Well, let's enjoy a special exhibition with us together.

Nikon Headquarters, Shinagawa Tokyo

Sakura Hanami Season Nippon

Gatecrash the Nikon Museum

A Genealogy of the World's Highest Resolution Lenses

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR lenses were developed in 1960s by Nikon (then Nippon Kogaku K.K.) especially for use in the production of transistors and ICs. They evolved into projection lenses for semiconductor lithography systems, considered "the most precise equipment in history", and contribute greatly to the semiconductor industry.

About 40 lenses are on display in this exhibition, including Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR lenses, their forerunners the Printing NIKKOR lenses, and projection lenses for semiconductor lithography systems, illustrating the progress and evolution of such lenses.

Notes:
You can get the large size image by clicking on the following photographs.

A Genealogy of the World's Highest Resolution Lenses

Projection Lens for the NSR-S306C Semiconductor Lithography System, 2001

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 30mm F1.2
No. 301274, 1964

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR Historical Family Trees

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR Historical Family Trees

What is the Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR

In 1961, Nikon started developing a high-resolution lens at the request of printing companies and electrical manufacturers. This lens was used in the production of photomasks for semiconductor manufacturing. As a reseult of Nikon receiving a large number of orders for this lens from overseas as well as Japanese manufacturers, a series of ultra-high resolution lenses wwas developed named "Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR", which eventually dominated the world market.
By limiting the wavelenfth of the light source, these lenses realized high resolution with superior chromatic aberration correction capability.

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 12mm F1.2 Prototype, 1972

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR Prototype 28mm F1.5 and 28mm F1.7, 1972

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 22mm F1.5 Prototype, 1973

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 58mm F1.8 Prototype

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 28mm F1.8, 1967

Nikon 1 J5 and UMN 28mm F1.8

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 50mm F1.8 for h-line and e-line, 1969

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 165mm F4 and 12mm F1.2 Prototype, 1970

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 12mm F1.2 Prototype, 1970

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 105mm F2.8 (1962) and 125mm F2.8 Prototype (1965)

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 55mm F2 and 155mm F4 Prototype, 1965

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 155mm F4, 1966

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 155mm F4, 1966

Very Rare e-line Filter 72mm and 40.5mm

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 105mm F2.8, 1962

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 125mm F2.8 Prototype, 1965

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 135mm F4 for g-line Prototype, 1968

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 55mm F2 for h-line, 1965

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 28mm F1.8, 1967

Professor Dr. Zyun Koana's Micro Dot, 1964

Printing NIKKOR

Printing NIKKOR lens was developed to create film duplicates of original movies for screening. It provides high resolution images with superior chromatic aberration and distotion correction, and was also used for the inspection and measurement of minute patterns.

Printing NIKKOR 105mm F2.8 Prototype

Printing NIKKOR 95mm F2.8 Prototype and 105mm F2.8

Lens performance testing system

Lens performance testing system is also exhibited, including the system for testing the Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 29.5mm F1.2 lens, which had the world's highest resolution at the time of its launch in 1964.

A photographic system that demonstrated the world's highest resolution

This is a photographic system for macro imaging that was used by Professor Dr. Zyun Koana (1907 - 1985) to demonstrate the performance of high-resolution lenses, including the Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR. A variety of lenses can be used by switching adapters.

The lens attached to the system is the prototype No. 5043 of the Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 19.5mm F1.2, which was developed in 1964.
This is one of three prototypes provides the best performance among them, and was used for various experiments by Professor Dr. Koana.
Due to the favorable reviews resulting from those experiments, Nikon began mass production of this lens.

The Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 19.5mm F1.2 achieved a resolution of 1,260 lines/mm in an imaging area of 2 mm, the highest in the world at that time.

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 29.5mm F1.2, N0. 5043

A photographic system that demonstrated the world's highest resolution

Big Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR Lenses

Big Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR Lenses

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 250mm F1.0, 1967

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 225mm F1.0, 1967

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 225mm F1.4, 1969

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 225mm F1.4 and 300mm F1.4, 1969

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 300mm F1.4, 1969

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 225mm F1.0 Prototype, 1969

Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR 250mm F4, 1971

Reduction Projection Lenses for Semiconductor Lithography System

The Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR evolved into a projection lens for semiconductor lithography systems, providing both high resolution and a wide foeld of view. It contributed to the development of the Nikon NSR series, the world's leading lithography system in semiconductor fabrication.
The wavelength of the light source has shortended as systems have evolded, from the g-line (436 nm) and i-line (365 nm) emitted by KrF (246 nm) and ArF (193 nm) excimer lasers, and currentry realized as astonishingly high resolution.

Reduction projection lenses for semiconductor lithography system

Reduction projection lens for semiconductor lithography system

Projection Lens (for NSR-1010G), 1980

Projection Lens (for NSR-1505G2A), 1984

Projection Lens (for NSR-0510G), 1986

Projection Lens (for NSR-1505G4D), 1987

The History of Electronic Devices and Semiconductors

Furthermore, under the corner title "The History of Electronic Devices and Semiconductors", radios, calculators, game machines, mobile phones, word processors and other devices that developed alongside such semiconductors as the transistors produced in the 1960s, ICs and LSIs in the 1970s and system LSIs in the 2000s are displayed.
Viewing such nostalgic electronic devices lets you can experience the evolution of semiconductors.

The History of Electronic Devices and Semiconductors 1960 - 1970's

The History of Electronic Devices and Semiconductors 1980's

The History of Electronic Devices and Semiconductors 1990's

The History of Electronic Devices and Semiconductors 1990's

Tamagotchi 1996

Thank you !! Nikon Museum Tokyo

Special Links

My friend Mr. Siroyagi-san's flickr is great!
He visited the Nikon Museum and took a lot of pictures for you.
Please browse, enjoy and have fun! Thank you Siroyagi-san!
Siroyagi's flickr, The Nikon Museum Special Exhibition

His nice blog is here. (Japanese)
The Nikon Museum Special Exhibition "Ultra-Micro-NIKKOR"

Mr. Makoto Suzuki's Special Report, Digi-Came Watch (Japanese)
Do you know the Ultra Micro NIKKOR?

Important Note

The father of the Ultra Micro Nikkor lenses is Professor Dr. Zyun Koana of the University of Tokyo. The spelling of his correct name is Zyun Koana. The spelling of Jun koana is incorrect. The spelling of the explanation panel at this exhibition was wrong. The spelling of his correct name is Zyun Koana.