Cymer, Inc.

Kla Tencor Corporation

Kla Corporation

Asml Netherlands B.v.

Alexander Bykanov

Igor Vladimirovich Fomenkov

Alexander Igorevich Ershov

Oleh V Khodykin

William N Partlo

Oleg Khodykin

David C Brandt

Norbert R Bowering

Oscar Hemberg

J Martin Algots

Rudy Flores Garcia

Layton Hale

Nikolay Artemiev

Brian Ahr

Richard L Sandstrom

Daniel C Wack

Alexander Kuznetsov

Antonio Arion Gellineau

Vladimir B Fleurov

Silvia De Dea

Norbert Bowering

Alexey Kuritsyn

Jerzy R Hoffman

Rodney D Simmons

Joseph A Di Regolo

Bjorn A M Hansson

Dennis W Cobb

John Josef Hench

Rui-Fang Shi

Georgiy Olegovich Vaschenko

R Kyle Webb

James L Moran

Andrei Veldman

Jonah H Jacob

Frank Chilese

Joseph A Mangano

Joseph Walsh

Michael P Kanouff

Rodney Alan Petr

John Viatella

William F Marx

Bjorn Hansson

Konstantin Tsigutkin

John Wade Viatella

Mordechai Rokni

Daniel Christopher Wack

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source includes a vacuum chamber with a rotating target assembly therein. The rotating target assembly has an annular groove with a distal wall relative to an axis of rotation. The distal wall includes a porous region. The rotating target assembly is rotated to form a target by centrifugal force with a layer of molten metal on a distal wall of an annular groove in the rotating target assembly.

Rotating target for extreme ultraviolet source with liquid metal

The present disclosure is directed to a device having a nozzle for dispensing a liquid target material; one or more intermediary chamber(s), each intermediary chamber positioned to receive target material and formed with an exit aperture to output target material for downstream irradiation in a laser produced plasma (LPP) chamber. In some disclosed embodiments, control systems are included for controlling one or more of gas temperature, gas pressure and gas composition in one, some or all of a device's intermediary chamber(s). In one embodiment, an intermediary chamber having an adjustable length is disclosed.

Droplet generation for a laser produced plasma light source

Methods and systems for positioning a specimen and characterizing an x-ray beam incident onto the specimen in a Transmission, Small-Angle X-ray Scatterometry (T-SAXS) metrology system are described herein. A specimen positioning system locates a wafer vertically and actively positions the wafer in six degrees of freedom with respect to the x-ray illumination beam without attenuating the transmitted radiation. In some embodiments, a cylindrically shaped occlusion element is scanned across the illumination beam while the detected intensity of the transmitted flux is measured to precisely locate the beam center. In some other embodiments, a periodic calibration target is employed to precisely locate the beam center. The periodic calibration target includes one or more spatially defined zones having different periodic structures that diffract X-ray illumination light into distinct, measurable diffraction patterns.

Methods and systems for characterization of an x-ray beam with high spatial resolution

Methods and systems for x-ray based semiconductor metrology utilizing a broadband, soft X-ray illumination source are described herein. A laser produced plasma (LPP) light source generates high brightness, broadband, soft x-ray illumination. The LPP light source directs a highly focused, short duration laser source to a non-metallic droplet target in a liquid or solid state. In one example, a droplet generator dispenses a sequence of nominally 50 micron droplets of feed material at a rate between 50 and 400 kilohertz. In one aspect, the duration of each pulse of excitation light is less than one nanosecond. In some embodiments, the duration of each pulse of excitation light is less than 0.5 nanoseconds. In some embodiments, the LPP light source includes a gas separation system that separates unspent feed material from other gases in the plasma chamber and provides the separated feed material back to the droplet generator.

X-ray metrology system with broadband laser produced plasma illuminator

Multilayer targets enabling fast and accurate, absolute calibration and alignment of X-ray based measurement systems are described herein. The multilayer calibration targets have very high diffraction efficiency and are manufactured using fast, low cost production techniques. Each target includes a multilayer structure built up with pairs of X-ray transparent and X-ray absorbing materials. The layers of the multilayer target structure is oriented parallel to an incident X-ray beam. Measured diffraction patterns indicate misalignment in position and orientation between the incident X-Ray beam and the multilayer target. In another aspect, a composite multilayer target includes at least two multilayer structures arranged adjacent one another along a direction aligned with the incident X-ray beam, adjacent one another along a direction perpendicular to the incident X-ray beam, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the multilayer structures are spatially separated from one another by a gap distance.

Multilayer targets for calibration and alignment of X-ray based measurement systems

Methods and systems for reducing the effect of finite source size on illumination beam spot size for Transmission, Small-Angle X-ray Scatterometry (T-SAXS) measurements are described herein. A beam shaping slit having a slender profile is located in close proximity to the specimen under measurement and does not interfere with wafer stage components over the full range of angles of beam incidence. In one embodiment, four independently actuated beam shaping slits are employed to effectively block a portion of an incoming x-ray beam and generate an output beam having a box shaped illumination cross-section. In one aspect, each of the beam shaping slits is located at a different distance from the specimen in a direction aligned with the beam axis. In another aspect, the beam shaping slits are configured to rotate about the beam axis in coordination with the orientation of the specimen.

Beam shaping slit for small spot size transmission small angle X-ray scatterometry

The present disclosure is directed to plasma-based light sources. Systems and methods are described for protecting components of the light source from plasma generated debris which can include target material gas, atomic vapor, high energy ions, neutrals, micro-particles, and contaminants. Particular embodiments include arrangements for reducing the adverse effects of plasma generated ions and neutrals on light source components while simultaneously reducing in-band light attenuation due to target material gas and vapor.

Plasma-based light source

The present disclosure is directed to a system for protecting a reflective optic and/or any other surface in a plasma-based illumination system from debris by actively flowing gas against the debris flow direction. According to various embodiments, a vacuum chamber is configured to contain a target material, wherein a laser or discharge produced plasma is generated in response to an excitation of the target material. One or more outlets within the chamber are configured to receive gas flowing from a fluidically coupled gas source and further configured to actively flow the gas towards a source of debris and away from the reflective optic or any other protected surface at a controlled flow rate.

Debris protection system for reflective optic utilizing gas flow

An EUV light source is disclosed which may comprise a plurality of targets, e.g., tin droplets, and a system generating pre-pulses and main-pulses with the pre-pulses for irradiating targets to produce expanded targets. The system may further comprise a continuously pumped laser device generating the main pulses with the main pulses for irradiating expanded targets to produce a burst of EUV light pulses. The system may also have a controller varying at least one pre-pulse parameter during the burst of EUV light pulses. In addition, the EUV light source may also include an instrument measuring an intensity of at least one EUV light pulse within a burst of EUV light pulses and providing a feedback signal to the controller to vary at least one pre-pulse parameter during the burst of EUV light pulses to produce a burst of EUV pulses having a pre-selected dose.

Laser produced plasma EUV light source

An EUV light source includes a rotatable, cylindrically-symmetric element having a surface coated with a plasma-forming target material, a drive laser source configured to generate one or more laser pulses sufficient to generate EUV light via formation of a plasma by excitation of the plasma-forming target material, a set of focusing optics configured to focus the one or more laser pulses onto the surface of the rotatable, cylindrically-symmetric element, a set of collection optics configured to receive EUV light emanated from the generated plasma and further configured to direct the illumination to an intermediate focal point, and a gas management system including a gas supply subsystem configured to supply plasma-forming target material to the surface of the rotatable, cylindrically-symmetric element.

System and method for generation of extreme ultraviolet light

A system for producing an exclusionary buffer gas flow in an EUV light source, comprising a vacuum chamber, a light path, a plasma generation region, at least one shield, at least one through-bore arranged in the at least one shield, at least one buffer gas injector arranged within the at least one through-bore to inject a buffer gas into the light path substantially towards the plasma generation region to prevent a flow of a target material into the light path, and a vacuum pump arranged to remove the buffer gas and the target material from the vacuum chamber.

System and method for producing an exclusionary buffer gas flow in an EUV light source

An apparatus for generating extreme ultra-violet (EUV) light, including a drive laser arranged to produce a laser pulse, a vacuum chamber, a set of focusing optics arranged to focus the laser pulse produced by the drive laser onto a target spot within the vacuum chamber, a target material generator arranged to deliver a series of droplets of a target material to the target spot by modulating a flow velocity of a supply of the target material through a nozzle tip and thereby inducing a formation process of the series of droplets which series of droplets from the nozzle tip are expelled through a triple point chamber, and a set of collector optics arranged to focus a quantity of EUV light generated when a droplet of the series of drople of the target material is exposed to the laser pulse at the target spot onto an intermediate focus spot.

EUV light source using cryogenic droplet targets in mask inspection

An extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) light source is described herein comprising an optic; a primary EUV light radiator generating an EUV light emitting plasma and producing a deposit on said optic; and a cleaning system comprising a gas and a secondary light radiator, the secondary light radiator generating a laser produced plasma and producing a cleaning species with the gas.

Systems and methods for optics cleaning in an EUV light source

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Alexander Bykanov