Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.v.

Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh

Thomas Kruecken

Guenther Hans Derra

Christof Metzmacher

Peter Zink

Achim Weber

Uladzimir Zhokhavets

Vladzimir Zhokhavets

The present invention relates to an electrode device () for gas discharge sources and to a gas discharge source having one or two of said electrode devices (). With the proposed design of the cover (), an efficient cooling of the electrode wheel () is achieved, allowing high electrical powers for operating gas discharge sources with such an electrode device.

Rotating wheel electrode device for gas discharge sources comprising wheel cover for high power operation

The present invention relates to a method of cleaning and after treatment of optical surfaces in an irradiation unit, said irradiation unit comprising a radiation source () emitting EUV-radiation and/or soft X-rays, a first volume () following said radiation source () and containing first optical components () with said optical surfaces, and a second volume () following said first volume () and containing second optical components (). The method comprises at least one cleaning step in which a first gas or gas mixture is brought into contact with said optical surfaces, thereby forming volatile compounds with contaminations deposited on said optical surfaces, wherein said compounds are pumped out of the first volume () together with the first gas or gas mixture. In an after treatment step following said cleaning step the radiation source () is operated once or several times in order to release residues of the cleaning step from the optical surfaces by irradiating said optical surfaces with said EUV-radiation or soft X-rays while the first volume () is separated from the second volume (), wherein said released residues are pumped out of the first volume (). With this method an improved cleaning result is achieved.

Method of cleaning and after treatment of optical surfaces in an irradiation unit

The present invention provides a method of cleaning optical surfaces in an irradiation unit in order to remove contaminations deposited on said optical surfaces. The method includes a cleaning step in which a first gas or gas mixture is brought into contact with said optical surfaces thereby forming a volatile compound with a first portion of said contaminations. In an operation pause of the irradiation unit prior to the cleaning step, a pretreatment step is performed, in which a second gas or gas mixture is brought into contact with said optical surfaces. Said second gas or gas mixture is selected to react with a second portion of said contaminations different from said first portion to form a reaction product, which is able to form a volatile compound with said first gas or gas mixture.

Method of cleaning optical surfaces of an irradiation unit in a two-step process

The present invention relates to an electrode device for gas discharge sources, a gas discharge source comprising such an electrode device and to a method of operating the gas discharge source. The electrode device comprises an electrode wheel () rotatable around a rotational axis () and a wiper unit () arranged to limit the thickness of a liquid material film applied to at least a portion of an outer circumferential surface () of the electrode wheel () during rotation of said electrode wheel (). The wiper unit () is arranged and designed to form a gap () between the outer circumferential surface () and a wiping edge () of the wiper unit () and to inhibit or at least reduce a migration of liquid material from side surfaces to the outer circumferential surface () of the electrode wheel () during rotation. With the proposed electrode device the electrode wheel () can be rotated at higher rotational speeds without the formation of droplets resulting in a higher output power and pulse frequency of a gas discharge source having such an electrode device.

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Aachen, Germany

Thomas Kruecken