Cymer, Inc.

Paolo Zambon

Tom A Watson

Gamaralalage G Padmabandu

Palash P Das

William N Partlo

Igor Vladimirovich Fomenkov

Richard L Sandstrom

Richard M Ness

Richard C Ujazdowski

John A Rule

Alexander Igorevich Ershov

Richard G Morton

Peter Clarke Newman

Thomas Patrick Duffey

R Kyle Webb

Thomas Hofmann

John Martin Algots

Scott T Smith

Herve A Besaucele

Thomas D Steiger

Paul C Melcher

Stuart L Anderson

Daniel Anthony Rothweil

Paul S Thompson

Robert G Ozarski

David Wayne Myers

Curtis L Rettig

Raymond F Cybulski

Robert A Shannon

Ronald L Spangler

Alex P Ivaschenko

Shahryar Rokni

Robert B Saethre

Mark Branham

David M Johns

Clay C Titus

Christian J Wittak

Jerome A Emilo

Sunjay Phatak

Omez S Mesina

Weijie Zheng

The present invention relates to a fluorine gas discharge laser system and control of replenishment of fluorine gas as the gas discharge laser operates and consumes fluorine.

Method and apparatus for controlling the output of a gas discharge laser system

A method and apparatus are disclosed for controlling the output of a two chamber gas discharge laser comprising an oscillator gas discharge laser and an amplifier gas discharge laser that may comprise establishing a multidimensional variable state space comprising a coordinate system having at least two coordinates, each coordinate comprising a selected variable representing an operating parameter of the oscillator or the amplifier; tracking a multidimensional operating point in the multidimensional variable state space according to the variation of the selected variables in either or both of the oscillator or the amplifier to determine the position of the multidimensional operating point in the multidimensional state space; determining from the position of the multidimensional operating point in the multidimensional operating space a region from a plurality of defined regions in the multidimensional operating space in which the multidimensional operating point is located and identifying the region.

Method and apparatus for controlling the output of a gas discharge MOPA laser system

The present invention provides an excimer laser capable of producing a high quality pulsed laser beam at pulse rates of about 4,000 Hz at pulse energies of about 5 mJ or greater. A preferred embodiment is an ArF excimer laser specifically designed as a light source for integrated circuit lithography. An improved wavemeter with special software monitors output beam parameters and controls a very fast PZT driven tuning mirror and the pulse power charging voltage to maintain wavelength and pulse energy within desired limits. In a preferred embodiment two fan motors drive a single tangential fan which provides sufficient gas flow to clear discharge debris from the discharge region during the approximately 0.25 milliseconds between pulses.

Four KHz gas discharge laser system

A lithograph quality optimization process for controlling laser beam parameters when changing operating modes. The laser is programmed to automatically conduct an optimization procedure preferably in less than one minute to adjust laser operating parameters such as blower speed, total gas pressure and F partial pressure in order to optimize beam quality parameters.

Control technique for microlithography lasers

Energy efficient lithography laser

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

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Paolo Zambon