Cymer, Inc.

Asml Netherlands B.v.

Vladimir B Fleurov

Igor Vladimirovich Fomenkov

William N Partlo

Alexander Igorevich Ershov

Richard C Ujazdowski

Richard L Sandstrom

Jean-Marc Hueber

Richard G Morton

Richard M Ness

Alexander Bykanov

Xiaojiang Jason Pan

John Martin Algots

Eckehard D Onkels

Walter Dale Gillespie

Silvia De Dea

Robert A Shannon

Michael C Cates

Dmitri V Gaidarenko

Daniel J W Brown

Robert N Jacques

Peter Clarke Newman

Thomas Patrick Duffey

R Kyle Webb

Thomas Hofmann

David J Warkentin

Robert A Bergstedt

Scott T Smith

Thomas A Yager

Herve A Besaucele

Thomas D Steiger

Paul C Melcher

John T Melchior

Stuart L Anderson

Bryan George Moosman

Rajasekhar Rao

Curtis L Rettig

German E Rylov

Brett D Smith

J Martin Algots

Ronald L Spangler

Shahryar Rokni

Zsolt Bor

Holger K Glatzel

William N Partio

Robert B Saethre

Frederick A Palenschat

Vladimir A Kulgeyko

Leonard Lublin

David M Johns

Ross H Winnick

Elizabeth Marsh

Christian J Wittak

Michael Du'Lyea

Ed Danielewicz

Matthew Ball

Walter Crosby

Michael Wyatt

Edward Arriola

Robin Swain

John Fitzgerald

Thomas E McKelvey

Shailendra Srivastava

Bryan G Moosman

Thomas E Mckelvy

An extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) light source comprising an optic, a target material, and a laser beam passing through said optic along a beam path to irradiate said target material. The EUV light source further includes a system generating a gas flow directed toward said target material along said beam path, said system having a tapering member surrounding a volume and a plurality of gas lines, each gas line outputting a gas stream into said volume.

Systems and methods for buffer gas flow stabilization in a laser produced plasma light source

A system for producing EUV light using a drive laser beam to irradiate a stream of material droplets. There is included a monitoring system for monitoring at least one of drive laser beam reflection from the drive laser beam and EUV radiation pulses and producing a detector signal, the detector signal being a pulse train. There is also included an arrangement for analyzing the detector signal to ascertain whether there exists at least one satellite droplet in the stream of material droplets.

Methods and apparatus for laser produced plasma EUV light source

A system for an extreme ultraviolet light source includes one or more optical elements positioned to receive a reflected amplified light beam and to direct the reflected amplified light beam into first, second, and third channels, the reflected amplified light beam including a reflection of at least a portion of an irradiating amplified light beam that interacts with a target material; a first sensor that senses light from the first channel; a second sensor that senses light from the second channel and the third channel, the second sensor having a lower acquisition rate than the first sensor; and an electronic processor coupled to a computer-readable storage medium, the medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive data from the first sensor and the second sensor, and determine, based on the received data, a location of the irradiating amplified light beam relative to the target material in more than one dimension.

Beam position control for an extreme ultraviolet light source

A first temperature distribution that represents a temperature of an element adjacent to and distinct from a first optical element that is positioned to receive an amplified light beam is accessed. The accessed first temperature distribution is analyzed to determine a temperature metric associated with the element, the determined temperature metric is compared to a baseline temperature metric, and an adjustment to position of the amplified light beam relative to the first optical element is determined based on the comparison.

Thermal monitor for an extreme ultraviolet light source

An extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) light source is described herein comprising an optic; a primary EUV light radiator generating an EUV light emitting plasma and producing a deposit on said optic; and a cleaning system comprising a gas and a secondary light radiator, the secondary light radiator generating a laser produced plasma and producing a cleaning species with the gas.

Systems and methods for optics cleaning in an EUV light source

A system and method of operating a high repetition rate gas discharge laser system. The system includes a gas discharge chamber having a hot chamber output window heated by the operation of the gas discharge laser chamber, an output laser light pulse beam path enclosure downstream of the hot chamber window and comprising an ambient temperature window, a cooling mechanism cooling the beam path enclosure intermediate the output window and the ambient window. The gas discharge chamber can include a longitudinally and axially compliant ground rod, including a first end connected to a first chamber wall, a second end connected to a second chamber wall, the second chamber wall opposite the first chamber wall and a first portion formed into a helical spring, the ground rod providing mechanical support for a preionizer tube.

6 KHz and above gas discharge laser system

An apparatus and method which may comprise a pulsed gas discharge laser which may comprise a seed laser portion; an amplifier portion receiving the seed laser output and amplifying the optical intensity of each seed pulse; a pulse stretcher which may comprise: a first beam splitter operatively connected with the first delay path and a second pulse stretcher operatively connected with the second delay path; a first optical delay path tower containing the first beam splitter; a second optical delay path tower containing the second beam splitter; one of the first and second optical delay paths may comprise: a plurality of mirrors defining the respective optical delay path including mirrors located in the first tower and in the second tower; the other of the first and second optical delay paths may comprise: a plurality of mirrors defining the respective optical delay path including mirrors only in one of the first tower and the second tower.

Immersion lithography laser light source with pulse stretcher

The present invention provides long life optics for a modular, high repetition rate, ultraviolet gas discharge laser systems producing a high repetition rate high power output beam. The invention includes solutions to a surface damage problem discovered by Applicants on CaFoptics located in high pulse intensity sections of the output beam of prototype laser systems. Embodiments include an enclosed and purged beam path with beam pointing control for beam delivery of billions of output laser pulses. Optical components and modules described herein are capable of controlling ultraviolet laser output pulses with wavelength less than 200 nm with average output pulse intensities greater than 1.75&#xd7;10Watts/cmand with peak intensity or greater 3.5&#xd7;10Watts/cmfor many billions of pulses as compared to prior art components and modules which failed after only a few minutes in these pulse intensities. Techniques and components are disclosed for minimizing the potential for optical damage and for reducing the pulse energy density to less than 100&#xd7;10J/cm. Important improvements described in this specification have been grouped into the following subject matter categories: (1) Solution to CaFsurface damage discovered by Applicants, (2) description of a high power ArF MOPA laser system, (3) description of beam delivery units, (4) polarization considerations (5) a high speed water-cooled auto shutter energy detector module and (6) other improvements.

High power deep ultraviolet laser with long life optics

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

A reliable modular production quality ArF excimer laser capable of producing laser pulses at repetition rates in the range of 3,000 to 4,000 Hz or greater with pulse energies in the range of about 2 mJ to 5 mJ or greater with a full width half, maximum bandwidth of about 0.4 pm or less and dose stability of less than 0.4 percent. Using this laser as an illumination source, stepper or scanner equipment can produce integrated circuit resolution of 0.10 &mgr;m (100 nm) or less. Replaceable modules include a laser chamber; a modular pulse power system; and a line narrowing module. For a given laser power output, the higher repetition rate provides two important advantages. The lower per pulse energy means less optical damage and the larger number of pulses for a specified illumination dose means better dose stability.

ArF laser with low pulse energy and high rep rate

A gas discharge laser having a laser chamber with two elongated erodable electrode elements, each having an erodable section and an electrode with support configured to minimize discharge region laser gas turbulence and with the electrode elements being configured to permit gradual erosion over more than 8 billion pulses without causing substantial changes in the shape of electrical discharges between the electrode elements. A pulse power system provides electrical pulses of at least 2J at rates of at least 2 KHz. A blower circulates laser gas between the electrodes at speeds of at least 2 m/s and a heat exchanger is provided to remove heat produced by the blower and the discharges.

Gas discharge laser long life electrodes

Methods and structural changes in gas discharge lasers for minimizing wavelength chirp at high pulse rates. Applicants have identified the major cause of wavelength chirp in high pulse rate gas discharge lithography lasers as pressure waves from a discharge reflecting back to the discharge region coincident with a subsequent discharge. The timing of the arrival of the pressure wave is determined by the temperature of the laser gas through which the wave is traveling. During burst mode operation, the laser gas temperature in prior art lasers changes by several degrees over periods of a few milliseconds. These changing temperatures change the location of the coincident pressure waves from pulse to pulse within the discharge region causing a variation in the pressure of the laser gas which in turn affects the index of refraction of the discharge region causing the laser beam exiting the rear of the laser to slightly change direction. This change in beam direction causes the grating in the LNP to reflect back to the discharge region light at a slightly different wavelength causing the wavelength chirp. Solution to the problem is to include in the laser chamber structural elements to moderate or disperse the pressure waves and to maintain the laser gas temperature as close as feasible to constant values.

Electric discharge laser with acoustic chirp correction

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Escondido, CA, United States of America

Vladimir B Fleurov