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. 16, 2013
Filed:
May. 06, 2010
Dirk Heinrich Ehm, Lauchheim, DE;
Arnold Storm, Delft, NL;
Johannes Hubertus Josephina Moors, Helmond, NL;
Bastiaan Theodoor Wolschrijn, Abcoude, NL;
Thomas Stein, Oberkochen, DE;
Edwin Te Sligte, Eindhoven, NL;
Dirk Heinrich Ehm, Lauchheim, DE;
Arnold Storm, Delft, NL;
Johannes Hubertus Josephina Moors, Helmond, NL;
Bastiaan Theodoor Wolschrijn, Abcoude, NL;
Thomas Stein, Oberkochen, DE;
Edwin te Sligte, Eindhoven, NL;
Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH, Oberkochen, DE;
ASML Netherlands B.V., Veldhoven, NL;
Abstract
The invention is directed to a method for at least partially removing a contamination layer () from an optical surface () of an EUV-reflective optical element () by bringing a cleaning gas into contact with the contamination layer. In the method, a jet () of cleaning gas is directed to the contamination layer () for removing material from the contamination layer (). The contamination layer () is monitored for generating a signal indicative of the thickness of the contamination layer () and the jet () of cleaning gas is controlled by moving the jet () of cleaning gas relative to the optical surface () using this signal as a feedback signal. A cleaning arrangement (to) for carrying out the method is also disclosed. The invention also relates to a method for generating a jet () of cleaning gas and to a corresponding cleaning gas generation arrangement.