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:
Aug. 27, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 06, 2000
I. Roger Oliver, San Diego, CA (US);
William N. Partlo, Poway, CA (US);
Richard M. Ness, San Diego, CA (US);
Richard L. Sandstrom, Encinitas, CA (US);
Stuart L. Anderson, San Diego, CA (US);
Alex P. Ivaschenko, La Jolla, CA (US);
James K. Howey, Vista, CA (US);
Vladimir Kulgeyko, San Diego, CA (US);
Jean-Marc Hueber, La Jolla, CA (US);
Daniel L. Birx, late of Potomac, MD (US);
Cymer, Inc., San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
A gas discharge laser capable of operating at pulse rates in the range of 4,000 Hz to 6,000 Hz at pulse energies in the range of 5 mJ to 10 mJ or greater. Important improvements over prior art designs include: (1) a laser chamber having a gas flow path with a gradually increasing cross section downstream of the discharge electrodes to permit recovery a large percentage of the pressure drop in the discharge region, (2) a squirrel cage type fan for producing gas velocities through the discharge region of more than 76 m/s and capable of continuous trouble-free operation for several months, (3) a heat exchanger system capable of removing in excess of 16 kw of heat energy from the laser gas (4) a pulse power system capable of providing precisely controlled electrical pulses to the electrodes needed to produce laser pulses at the desired pulse energies in the range of 5 mJ to 10 mJ or greater at pulse repetition rates in the range of 4,000 Hz to 6,000 Hz or greater and (5) a laser beam measurement and control system capable of measuring pulse energy wavelength and bandwidth on a pulse-to-pulse laser with feedback pulse-to-pulse control of pulse energy and wavelength.