The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 19, 2022
Filed:
Feb. 13, 2020
Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh, Oberkochen, DE;
Moritz Becker, Aalen, DE;
Stefan-Wolfgang Schmidt, Aalen, DE;
CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH, Oberkochen, DE;
Abstract
A method for operating an optical apparatus (A,B,), having a structural element () which is arranged in a residual gas atmosphere (RGA) of the apparatus and which is formed at least partly from an element material subjected to a chemical reduction process and/or an etching process with a plasma component (PK) present in the residual gas atmosphere includes: feeding (S) a gas component (GK) that at least partly suppresses the reduction process depending on a detected suppression extent (UM) for a suppression of the etching process and/or reduction process by the suppressing gas component in the residual gas atmosphere; and detecting (S) the suppression extent with a sensor unit () arranged in the residual gas atmosphere. The sensor unit includes a sensor material section () composed of a sensor material and exhibiting a sensor section property that is measurable under the influence of the suppressing gas component.