Abstract: The deep ultraviolet lithography projection lens is the core component of the photolithography machine. However, whether the spatial distribution of the polarization state of the illumination field or the polarization aberration of the photolithography projection lens will change the compact focusing characteristic of the beam, which can not be neglected in the imaging quality. Based on the 3D Jones matrix, the polarization aberration functions were extended to the 3D space, and the evaluation method of polarization aberration for 3D coherent light field was established. The 3D polarization aberrations of the deep ultraviolet lithography projection objective, which was a typical polarization-sensitive optical system, were analyzed. And its physical significance was expounded in detail. It is found that the distributions of the 3D polarization functions in exit pupil are closely related to its own optical parameters, such as field of view, coatings and structural parameters. The effects of coatings and polarization effect on the imaging quality of lithography projection lens were discussed. And the relationships between the polarization distributions of the illuminated beam and the wavefront aberration of the optical system were further studied. The results show that the additional phase introduced by coatings leads to a significant decrease of the image quality for lithography projection lens, and the illumination by the radially vector beam can improve the image quality.