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:
Dec. 13, 2022
Filed:
Jun. 07, 2021
Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh, Oberkochen, DE;
Vitaliy Shklover, Heidenheim, DE;
CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH, Oberkochen, DE;
Abstract
A method for in situ protection of a surface () of an aluminum layer () of a VUV radiation reflecting coating () of an optical element (), arranged in an interior of an optical arrangement, against the growth of an aluminum oxide layer (), including carrying out an atomic layer etching process for layer-by-layer removal of the aluminum oxide layer from the surface. The etching process includes a surface modification step and a material detachment step. At least one boron halide is supplied as a surface modifying reactant to the interior in pulsed fashion during the surface modification step. A plasma is generated at a surface () of the aluminum oxide layer, at least during the material detachment step. The atomic layer etching process is performed until the aluminum oxide layer reaches a given thickness (D), or the aluminum oxide layer is kept below that thickness (D) by the process.