Cymer, Inc.

Asml Netherlands B.v.

David Wayne Myers

William N Partlo

Igor Vladimirovich Fomenkov

Alexander Igorevich Ershov

Richard L Sandstrom

Daniel J W Brown

Richard M Ness

Richard C Ujazdowski

Herve A Besaucele

Eckehard D Onkels

David S Knowles

William G Hulburd

Palash P Das

Stuart L Anderson

Scott T Smith

German E Rylov

Scot T Smith

Jeffrey Oicles

Robert Jay Rafac

Robert A Bergstedt

Norbert R Bowering

John Viatella

Paul Alexander McKenzie

Rong Liu

Richard G Morton

Robert N Jacques

Peter Clarke Newman

Thomas Patrick Duffey

Tom A Watson

R Kyle Webb

Thomas Hofmann

Xiaojiang Jason Pan

Paul S Thompson

Daniel Anthony Rothweil

Robert G Ozarski

I Roger Oliver

Gamaralalage G Padmabandu

William G Oldham

Paolo Zambon

Ian Roger Oliver

In a laser-produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) system, laser pulses are used to produce EUV light. To determine the energy of individual laser pulses, a photoelectromagnetic (PEM) detector is calibrated to a power meter using a calibration coefficient. When measuring a unitary laser beam comprising pulses of a single wavelength, the calibration coefficient is calculated based on a burst of the pulses. A combined laser beam has main pulses of a first wavelength alternating with pre-pulses pulses of a second wavelength. To calculate the energy of the main pulses in the combined laser beam, the calibration coefficient calculated for a unitary laser beam of the main pulses is used. To calculate the energy of the pre-pulses in the combined laser beam, a new calibration coefficient is calculated. When the calculated energy values drift beyond a pre-defined threshold, the calibration coefficients are recalculated.

Calibration of photoelectromagnetic sensor in a laser source

An oscillator-amplifier gas discharge laser system and method is disclosed which may comprise a first laser unit which may comprise a first discharge region which may contain an excimer or molecular fluorine lasing gas medium; a first pair of electrodes defining the first discharge region containing the lasing gas medium, a line narrowing unit for narrowing a spectral bandwidth of output laser light pulse beam pulses produced in said first discharge region; a second laser unit which may comprise a second discharge chamber which may contain an excimer or molecular fluorine lasing gas medium; a second pair of electrodes defining the second discharge region containing the lasing gas medium; a pulse power system providing electrical pulses to the first pair of electrodes and to the second pair of electrodes producing gas discharges in the lasing gas medium between the respective first and second pair of electrodes, and laser parameter control mechanism modifying a selected parameter of a selected laser output light pulse beam pulse produced by said gas discharge laser system by controlling the timing of the occurrence of the gas discharge between the first pair of electrodes and the occurrence of the gas discharge between the second pair of electrodes.

Very narrow band, two chamber, high rep-rate gas discharge laser system

An apparatus and method is described which may comprise a plasma produced extreme ultraviolet ('EUV') light source multilayer collector which may comprise a plasma formation chamber; a shell within the plasma formation chamber in the form of a collector shape having a focus; the shell having a sufficient size and thermal mass to carry operating heat away from the multilayer reflector and to radiate the heat from the surface of the shell on a side of the shell opposite from the focus. The material of the shell may comprise a material selected from a group which may comprise silicon carbide, silicon, Zerodur or ULE glass, aluminum, beryllium, molybdenum, copper and nickel. The apparatus and method may comprise at least one radiative heater directed at the shell to maintain the steady state temperature of the shell within a selected range of operating temperatures.

EUV light source

An apparatus and method is described for effectively and efficiently providing plasma irradiation laser light pulses in an LPP EUV light source which may comprise a laser initial target irradiation pulse generating mechanism irradiating a plasma initiation target with an initial target irradiation pulse to form an EUV generating plasma having an emission region emitting in-band EUV light; a laser plasma irradiation pulse generating mechanism irradiating the plasma with a plasma irradiation pulse after the initial target irradiation pulse so as to compress emission material in the plasma toward the emission region of the plasma. The plasma irradiation pulse may comprise a laser pulse having a wavelength that is sufficiently longer than a wavelength of the initial target irradiation pulse to have an associated lower critical density resulting in absorption occurring within the plasma in a region of the plasma defined by the wavelength of the plasma irradiation pulse sufficiently separated from an initial target irradiation site to achieve compression of the emission material, and the may compress the emission region. The laser plasma irradiation pulse may produce an aerial mass density in the ablating cloud of the plasma sufficient to confine the favorably emitting plasma for increased conversion efficiency. The deposition region for the plasma irradiation pulse may be is removed enough from the initial target surface so as to insure compression of the favorably emitting plasma. A high conversion efficiency laser produced plasma extreme ultraviolet ('EUV') light source may comprise a laser initial target irradiation pulse generating mechanism irradiating a plasma initiation target with a target irradiation pulse to form an EUV generating plasma emitting in-band EUV light; a plasma tamper substantially surrounding the plasma to constrain the expansion of the plasma.

LPP EUV light source

An injection seeded modular gas discharge laser system capable of producing high quality pulsed laser beams at pulse rates of about 4,000 Hz or greater and at pulse energies of about 5 mJ or greater. Two separate discharge chambers are provided, one of which is a part of a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. The chambers can be controlled separately permitting separate optimization of wavelength parameters in the master oscillator and optimization of pulse energy parameters in the amplifying chamber. A preferred embodiment in a Flaser system configured as a MOPA and specifically designed for use as a light source for integrated circuit lithography. In the preferred MOPA embodiment, each chamber comprises a single tangential fan providing sufficient gas flow to permit operation at pulse rates of 4000 Hz or greater by clearing debris from the discharge region in less time than the approximately 0.25 milliseconds between pulses. The master oscillator is equipped with a line selection package for selecting the strongest Fspectral line.

[object Object]

A laser produced plasma ('LPP') extreme ultraviolet ('EUV') light source control system comprises a target delivery system adapted to deliver moving plasma initiation targets and an EUV light collection optic having a focus defining a desired plasma initiation site, a target tracking and feedback system comprising: at least one imaging device providing as an output an image of a target stream track, and a stream track error detector detecting an error in the position of the target stream track in at least one axis generally perpendicular to the target stream track from a desired stream track intersecting the desired plasma initiation site.

An EUV light source collector erosion mitigation method and apparatus for a collector comprising a multilayered mirror collector comprising a collector outer surface composed of a capping material subject to removal due to a removing interaction with materials created in an EUV light-creating plasma, is disclosed which may comprise including within an EUV plasma source material a replacement material. The replacement material may comprise the same material as the capping material of the multilayered mirror. The replacement material may comprise a material that is essentially transparent to light in a selected band of EUV light, e.g., a spectrum of EUV light generated in a plasma of a plasma source material. The replacement material may comprise a material not susceptible to being etched by an etching material used to remove deposited plasma source material from the collector, e.g., a halogen etchant.

EUV light source collector erosion mitigation

Line selected F2 two chamber laser system

An injection seeded modular gas discharge laser system capable of producing high quality pulsed laser beams at pulse rates of about 4,000 Hz or greater and at pulse energies of about 5 mJ or greater. Two separate discharge chambers are provided, one of which is a part of a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. The chambers can be controlled separately permitting separate optimization of wavelength parameters in the master oscillator and optimization of pulse energy parameters in the amplifying chamber. A preferred embodiment in a F laser system configured as a MOPA and specifically designed for use as a light source for integrated circuit lithography. In the preferred MOPA embodiment, each chamber comprises a single tangential fan providing sufficient gas flow to permit operation at pulse rates of 4000 Hz or greater by clearing debris from the discharge region in less time than the approximately 0.25 milliseconds between pulses. The master oscillator is equipped with a line selection package for selecting the strongest F spectral line.

An injection seeded modular gas discharge laser system capable of producing high quality pulsed laser beams at pulse rates of about 4,000 Hz or greater and at pulse energies of about 5 mJ or greater. Two separate discharge chambers are provided, one of which is a part of a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. The chambers can be controlled separately permitting separate optimization of wavelength parameters in the master oscillator and optimization of pulse energy parameters in the amplifying chamber. A preferred embodiment in an ArF excimer laser system configured as a MOPA and specifically designed for use as a light source for integrated circuit lithography. In the preferred MOPA embodiment, each chamber comprises a single tangential fan providing sufficient gas flow to permit operation at pulse rates of 4000 Hz or greater by clearing debris from the discharge region in less time than the approximately 0.25 milliseconds between pulses. The master oscillator is equipped with a line narrowing package having a very fast tuning mirror capable of controlling centerline wavelength on a pulse-to-pulse basis at repetition rates of 4000 Hz or greater to a precision of less than 0.2 pm.

Very narrow band, two chamber, high rep rate gas discharge laser system

The present invention provides a reliable modular production quality excimer laser capable of producing 10 mJ laser pulses at 2000 Hz with a full width half, maximum bandwidth of about 0.6 pm or less. Replaceable modules include a laser chamber; a pulse power system comprised of three modules; an optical resonator comprised of a line narrowing module and an output coupler module; a wavemeter module, an electrical control module, a cooling water module and a gas control module. Improvements in the laser chamber permitting the higher pulse rates and improved bandwidth performance include a single upstream preionizer tube and a high efficiency chamber. The chamber is designed for operation at lower fluorine concentration. Important improvements have been provided in the pulse power unit to produce faster rise time and improved pulse energy control. These improvements include an increased capacity high voltage power supply with a voltage bleed-down circuit for precise voltage trimming, an improved commutation module that generates a high voltage pulse from the capacitors charged by the high voltage power supply and amplifies the pulse voltage 23 times with a very fast voltage transformer having a secondary winding consisting of a single four-segment stainless steel rod. A novel design for the compression head saturable inductor greatly reduces the quantity of transformer oil required and virtually eliminates the possibility of oil leakage which in the past has posed a hazard.

Reliable modular production quality narrow-band high REP rate excimer

Growing community of inventors

Poway, CA, United States of America

David Wayne Myers