Cymer, Inc.

Claudia A Hartmann

William N Partlo

Palash P Das

Stuart L Anderson

Helmut Schillinger

Brett D Smith

Claus Strowitzki

Stephan Geiger

Tobias Pflanz

Jennan Yu

A high repetition rate, compact, modular gas discharge, ultraviolet laser. The laser is useful as a light source for very rapid inspections of wafers in an integrated circuit fabrication process. It is also useful for reticle writing at very rapid rates. A preferred embodiment operates at pulse repetition rates of 1000 to 4000 Hz and is designed for round-the-clock production line operation. This preferred embodiment comprises a pulse control unit which controls the timing of pulses to an accuracy of less than 4 nanoseconds. Preferred embodiments of this gas discharge laser can be configured to operate with a KrF gas mixture, an ArF gas mixture or an Fgas mixture, each with an approximate buffer gas, producing 248 nm, 197 nm or 157 nm ultraviolet light pulses.

High repetition rate gas discharge laser with precise pulse timing control

A high repetition rate, compact, modular gas discharge, ultraviolet laser. The laser is useful as a light source for very rapid inspections of wafers in an integrated circuit fabrication process. It is also useful for reticle writing at very rapid rates. A preferred embodiment operates at pulse repetition rates of 1000 to 4000 Hz and is designed for round-the-clock production line operation. This preferred embodiment comprises a pulse control unit which controls the timing of pulses to an accuracy of less than 4 nanoseconds. Preferred embodiments of this gas discharge laser can be configured to operate with a KrF gas mixture, an ArF gas mixture or an F gas mixture, each with an approximate buffer gas, producing 248 nm, 197 nm or 157 nm ultraviolet light pulses.

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Mering, Germany

Claudia A Hartmann