We illustrate the importance of considering scattering from the illuminator in extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) systems. Our results indicate that a significant amount of amplitude modulation noise is present in the aerial image if scatter is present in a Kohler illuminator. The effect depends on the spatial frequency of the pattern on the mask, the numerical aperture of the projection camera, the coherence factor, and placement of the plane in the illuminator where the scattering occurs.