Kla Tencor Corporation

Kla Corporation

Applied Materials, Inc.

Sandia Corporation

Francis Chilese

Rudy Flores Garcia

Gildardo Rios Delgado

Leonard Elliott Klebanoff

David Trost

Daniel John Rader

John R Torczynski

Bassam Shamoun

Qiang Q Zhang

Salam Harb

Layton Hale

Mohammed Tahmassebpur

Ulrich Pohlmann

Joseph Walsh

Michail A Gallis

Anthony S Geller

Shannon Hill

Detlef Wolter

A vacuum system includes a wall of a vacuum chamber, a flange of the vacuum chamber, an outer seal disposed between the wall and the flange, and an inner seal disposed between the wall and the flange. The outer seal includes a first material; the inner seal includes a second material distinct from the first material. The inner seal is closer to the interior of the vacuum chamber than the outer seal and is separated from the outer seal by a gap. The outer seal may be capable of providing tighter vacuum sealing between the wall and the flange than the inner seal. The inner seal may be more resistant than the outer seal to a gas to be used to clean the interior of the vacuum chamber. The vacuum system also includes a path to couple the gap to a first vacuum pump, to evacuate the gap.

Dual vacuum seal

The present invention provides a local clean microenvironment near optical surfaces of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) optical assembly maintained in a vacuum process chamber and configured for EUV lithography, metrology, or inspection. The system includes one or more EUV optical assemblies including at least one optical element with an optical surface, a supply of cleaning gas stored remotely from the one or more optical assemblies and a gas delivery unit comprising: a plenum chamber, one or more gas delivery lines connecting the supply of gas to the plenum chamber, one or more delivery nozzles configured to direct cleaning gas from the plenum chamber to a portion of the EUV assembly, and one or more collection nozzles for removing gas from the EUV optical assembly and the vacuum process chamber.

System and method for cleaning optical surfaces of an extreme ultraviolet optical system

Systems and methods to control particle generation in a reticle inspection system are presented. The number of particles added to a reticle during an entire load-inspect-unload sequence of a reticle inspection system is reduced by performing all reticle contact events in a controlled, flowing air environment. In one embodiment, the reticle is fixed to a carrier by clamping outside of the vacuum environment, and the carrier, rather than the reticle, is coupled to the reticle stage of the inspection system. In this manner, the high levels of back-side particulation associated with electrostatic chucking are avoided. In addition, the carrier is configured to be coupled to the reticle stage in any of four different orientations separated by ninety degrees.

Apparatus and methods for reticle handling in an EUV reticle inspection tool

A gas bearing assembly including: a stator, a spindle rotatable about an axis, a first space between the spindle and the stator and arranged to receive a bearing gas at a first pressure, to support rotation of the spindle about the axis, a first annulus, in the stator or the spindle and arranged to vent the bearing gas from a first portion of the first space, a second annulus, in the stator or the spindle, and arranged to transport a barrier gas, at a second pressure, into a second portion of the first space, and a third annulus, in the stator or the spindle, the third annulus disposed between the first and second annuli and arranged to transport the bearing gas and the barrier gas out of a third portion of the space to a create, in the third portion, a third pressure less than the first and second pressures.

Gas bearing assembly for an EUV light source

An apparatus for use with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light comprising A) a duct having a first end opening, a second end opening and an intermediate opening intermediate the first end opening the second end opening, B) an optical component disposed to receive EUV light from the second end opening or to send light through the second end opening, and C) a source of low pressure gas at a first pressure to flow through the duct, the gas having a high transmission of EUV light, fluidly coupled to the intermediate opening. In addition to or rather than gas flow the apparatus may have A) a low pressure gas with a heat control unit thermally coupled to at least one of the duct and the optical component and/or B) a voltage device to generate voltage between a first portion and a second portion of the duet with a grounded insulative portion therebetween.

Methods and apparatus for use with extreme ultraviolet light having contamination protection

The generation of EUV light includes rotating a cylinder at least partially coated with a plasma-forming target material, directing pulsed illumination to a first set of helically-arranged spots traversing a material-coated portion of the rotating cylinder in a first direction and directing pulsed illumination to a second set of helically-arranged spots traversing the material-coated portion of the rotating cylinder in a second direction, the pulsed illumination being suitable for exciting the plasma-forming target material.

Continuous generation of extreme ultraviolet light

An electron beam writing system includes an electron beam patterning machine operable to emit an electron beam to form a pattern on a substrate. A computer control system, coupled to the electron beam patterning machine, has a plurality of pre-computed distortion maps. Each distortion map describes expected distortions of the substrate caused by bulk heating resulting from exposure to the electron beam. The computer control system controls the electron beam patterning machine using the distortion maps in order to adjust for the expected distortions.

System and method to correct for distortion caused by bulk heating in a substrate

Growing community of inventors

San Ramon, CA, United States of America

Francis Chilese