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:
Mar. 26, 1991
Filed:
Jan. 19, 1990
Arthur L Morsell, Del Mar, CA (US);
Henry Shields, San Diego, CA (US);
California Jamar, Incorporated, San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
A laser plasma X-ray source for use in photolithography is disclosed wherein an electro-optical shutter is used to trim the output pulse from a master oscillator to a desired duration. The pulse is then split into several pieces which travel along various optical delay paths so that the pieces pass sequentially through a laser power amplifier. After amplification, the pieces are reassembled and then focussed at the plasma target. In a first embodiment, polarization and angle coding methods are used to distinguish each pulse piece as it travels along the delay paths. In a second embodiment, polarization coding is replaced by additional angle coding transverse to the plane of the angles of the first embodiment. An expander/reducer lens assembly is used in both embodiments to reduce the angles between the beam paths and allow more beams to fit closely to the laser amplifier gain region.