Injection seeded F2 lithography laser
First Claim
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1. A tunable narrow band F2 injection seeded laser system comprising:
- A) a tunable seed laser means having a first gain medium for generating a narrow band seed beam centered at a wavelength of approximately 157.6 nm, B) an amplifying means having second gain medium for amplifying said seed beam to produce an output laser beam at a wavelength of about 157.6 nm with a bandwidth of less than 0.8 pm, said amplifying means comprising;
C) a laser chamber module comprising a laser chamber comprising;
1) at least two elongated electrodes;
2) a laser gas comprised of a) fluorine, and b) a buffer gas mixture comprising helium and neon;
3) a gas circulator for circulating said gas between said electrodes at speeds of at least two cm/millisecond D) a pulse power system of a power supply and pulse compression and amplification circuits and pulse power controls for producing high voltage electrical pulses of at least 14,000 volts across said electrodes at rates of at least about 1000 Hz; and
E) a laser pulse energy control system for controlling the voltage provided by said pulse power system, said control system comprising a laser pulse energy monitor and a computer processor programmed with an algorithm for calculating, based on historical pulse energy data, electrical pulses needed to produce laser pulses having pulse energies within a desired range of energies.
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Abstract
A tunable injection seeded very narrow band F2 lithography laser. The laser combines modular design features of prior art long life releasable lithography lasers with special F2 line narrowing and tuning techniques applied to a seed beam operated in a first gain medium which beam is used to stimulate narrow band lasing in a second gain medium to produce a very narrow band laser beam useful for integrated circuit lithography.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A tunable narrow band F2 injection seeded laser system comprising:
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A) a tunable seed laser means having a first gain medium for generating a narrow band seed beam centered at a wavelength of approximately 157.6 nm, B) an amplifying means having second gain medium for amplifying said seed beam to produce an output laser beam at a wavelength of about 157.6 nm with a bandwidth of less than 0.8 pm, said amplifying means comprising;
C) a laser chamber module comprising a laser chamber comprising;
1) at least two elongated electrodes;
2) a laser gas comprised of a) fluorine, and b) a buffer gas mixture comprising helium and neon;
3) a gas circulator for circulating said gas between said electrodes at speeds of at least two cm/millisecond D) a pulse power system of a power supply and pulse compression and amplification circuits and pulse power controls for producing high voltage electrical pulses of at least 14,000 volts across said electrodes at rates of at least about 1000 Hz; and
E) a laser pulse energy control system for controlling the voltage provided by said pulse power system, said control system comprising a laser pulse energy monitor and a computer processor programmed with an algorithm for calculating, based on historical pulse energy data, electrical pulses needed to produce laser pulses having pulse energies within a desired range of energies. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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16. A laser as in claim and further comprising an inductor, a pulse transformer and a third capacitor wherein said inductor, pulse transformer and said third capacitor are arranged to permit the high voltage charge on said second capacitor to flow to ground through the primary side of said pulse transformer in order to produce a very high voltage pulse at the output of said pulse transformer to be stored temporarily on said third capacitor.
Specification