SEMICONDUCTOR APPARATUS AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME

• US 20200133136A1
• Filed: 01/30/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: CHEN, Kuan-Hung, HSIEH, Chieh, CHIEN, Shang-Chieh, CHEN, Li-Jui, CHENG, Po-Chung
• Granted Patent: US 10,859,918 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70033 by plasma extreme ultraviolet [EUV] sources
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70058 Mask illumination systems
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70175 Lamphouse reflector arrangements or collector mirrors, i.e. collecting light from solid angle upstream of the light source
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70916 Pollution mitigation, i.e. mitigating effect of contamination or debris, e.g. foil traps
• CPC Class Codes: H05G 2/005 containing a metal as principal radiation generating component
• CPC Class Codes: H05G 2/008 involving a beam of energy, e.g. laser or electron beam in the process of exciting the plasma

Abstract

A method for operating a semiconductor apparatus includes generating a plurality of target droplets, deforming the target droplets into a plurality of target plumes respectively, changing an orientation of at least one of the target plumes, and generating a plurality of EUV radiations from the target plumes respectively. At least one of the EUV radiations irradiates an area on the light collector different from other EUV radiations in response to the orientation of the at least one of the target plumes.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating a plurality of target droplets;

deforming the target droplets into a plurality of target plumes respectively;

changing an orientation of at least one of the target plumes; and

generating a plurality of EUV radiations from the target plumes respectively, wherein at least one of the EUV radiations irradiates an area on an light collector different from other EUV radiations in response to the orientation of the at least one of the target plumes.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

introducing a reactant gas to a reflective surface of the light collector, wherein the reactant gas interacts with the EUV radiations to clean the reflective surface.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing another orientation of another one of the target plumes, wherein the orientation of the at least one of the target plumes is different from the another orientation of the another one of the target plumes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein deforming the target droplets comprises:

emitting a plurality of pre-pulse lasers; and

colliding with the target droplets by the pre-pulse lasers respectively, wherein the pre-pulse lasers are emitted one at a time with substantially the same period between two contiguous pre-pulse lasers and collide with the target droplets at substantially the same position thereon.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein changing the orientation comprises:

emitting at least one of the pre-pulse lasers earlier than other pre-pulse lasers by a first time period.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein changing the orientation comprises:

emitting another one of the pre-pulse lasers later than other pre-pulse lasers by a second time period.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein an absolute value of one of the first and second time periods ranges between about 0 μ

s and about 1 μ

s.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein changing the orientation comprises:

changing a collision position of at least one of the target droplet, wherein the collision position of the at least one of the target droplet is different from another collision position of another target droplet by a distance.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein an absolute value of the distance ranges between about 0 μ

m and about 10 μ

m.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein changing the orientation comprises:

alternately changing collision positions of the target droplets.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein changing the orientation comprises:

changing an intensity of at least one of the pre-pulse lasers.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the EUV radiations comprises:

emitting a plurality of main-pulse lasers; and

exciting the target plumes by the main-pulse lasers respectively, wherein the pre-pulse lasers are coordinated with the main-pulse lasers, such that each of the main-pulse lasers comes after a corresponding one of the pre-pulse lasers by substantially the same time delay.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

resuming another orientation of another one of the target plumes after the changing the orientation of the at least one of the target plumes.

14-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A method, comprising:

generating a first target droplet and a second target droplet;

deforming the first target droplet into a first target plume, wherein the first target droplet has a first orientation;

generating a first EUV radiation from the first target plume;

deforming the second target droplet into a second target plume such that the second target plume has a second orientation different from the first orientation of the first target droplet; and

generating a second EUV radiation from the second target plums.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein deforming the first target droplet comprises:

emitting a first pre-pulse laser to collide with the first target droplet.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein deforming the second target droplet comprises:

emitting a second pre-pulse laser to collide with the second target droplet such that a collision position of the second target droplet is different from a collision position of the first target droplet.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein generating the first EUV radiation comprises:

emitting a first main-pulse laser to excite the first target plume such that the first EUV radiation is formed to irradiate a first area of an light collector.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein generating the second EUV radiation comprises:

emitting a second main-pulse laser to excite the second target plume such that the second EUV radiation is formed to irradiate a second area of the light collector different from the first area of the light collector.

26. A method, comprising:

generating a first target droplet;

emitting a first pre-pulse laser to collide with a central portion of the first target droplet;

emitting a first main-pulse laser to excite the collided first target droplet;

generating a second target droplet;

emitting a second pre-pulse laser to collide with a side portion of the second target droplet; and

emitting a second main-pulse laser to excite the collided second target droplet.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein a first time interval between generating the first target droplet and emitting the first pre-pulse laser is different from a second time interval between generating the second target droplet and emitting the second pre-pulse laser.