Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh

Robert Meier

Eric Eva

Vitaliy Shklover

Holger Kierey

Ralf Winter

Christof Jalics

Dirk Heinrich Ehm

Stefan-Wolfgang Schmidt

Moritz Becker

Stefan Wiesner

Arno Schmittner

Alexey Sergeevich Kuznetsov

Irene Ament

Wolfgang Merkel

Christoph Nottbohm

Diana Urich

A cost-effective method for repairing reflective optical elements for EUV lithography. These optical elements () have a substrate () and a coating () that reflects at a working wavelength in the range between 5 nm and 20 nm and is damaged as a result of formation of hydrogen bubbles. The method includes: localizing a damaged area () in the coating () and covering the damaged area () with one or more materials having low hydrogen permeability by applying a cover element to the damaged area. The cover element is formed of a surface structure, a convex or concave surface, or a coating corresponding to the coating of the reflective optical element, or a combination thereof. The method is particularly suitable for collector mirrors () for EUV lithography. After the repair, the optical elements have cover elements ().

Method for repairing reflective optical elements for EUV lithography

In order to prevent delamination of a reflective coating from the substrate under the influence of reactive hydrogen, a reflective optical element () for EUV lithography is provided, which has a substrate () and a reflective coating () for reflecting radiation in the wavelength range of 5 nm to 20 nm. A functional layer () is arranged between the reflective coating () and the substrate (). With the functional layer, the concentration of hydrogen in atom % at the side of the substrate facing the reflective coating is reduced by at least a factor of 2.

Reflective optical element for EUV lithography

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Munich, Germany

Robert Meier