Laser device and exposure method
First Claim
1. A laser device which generates ultraviolet light, comprising:
- a laser light generator which generates mono-wavelength laser light in a wavelength range of from an infrared region to a visible region;
an optical amplifier including an optical fiber amplifier which amplifies the laser light generated by the laser light generator; and
a wavelength converter which includes a plurality of nonlinear optical crystals which perform wavelength conversion of the laser light amplified by the optical amplifier, and a plurality of temperature controllers which perform temperature control of the plurality of the nonlinear optical crystals to tune phase matching angles at the time of wavelength conversion, wherein the wavelength converter generates ultraviolet light.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A laser device which can be used as a light source for an exposure device, can be downsized, and is easy to maintain. A laser beam (LB6) emitted from a DFB (Distributed feedback) semiconductor laser, for example, and amplified by an optical fiber amplifier is passed through non-linear optical crystals (502, 503, 504) to be sequentially doubled in frequency to thereby generate an ultraviolet-region laser beam (LB5) consisting of an octuple wave. A GdYCOB, that is, GdxY1−xCa4O(BO3)3 crystal (0≦×≦1) is used for the non-linear optical crystal (503) for a double wave-to-quadruple wave conversion, and a KAB, that is, K2Al2B4O7 crystal for the non-linear optical crystal (504) for a quadruple wave-to-octuple wave conversion. The non-linear optical crystals (502-504) are all fine-tuned in phase match angle by temperature controllers (521-523) respectively.
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Citations
64 Claims
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1. A laser device which generates ultraviolet light, comprising:
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a laser light generator which generates mono-wavelength laser light in a wavelength range of from an infrared region to a visible region;
an optical amplifier including an optical fiber amplifier which amplifies the laser light generated by the laser light generator; and
a wavelength converter which includes a plurality of nonlinear optical crystals which perform wavelength conversion of the laser light amplified by the optical amplifier, and a plurality of temperature controllers which perform temperature control of the plurality of the nonlinear optical crystals to tune phase matching angles at the time of wavelength conversion, wherein the wavelength converter generates ultraviolet light. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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2. A laser device which generates ultraviolet light, comprising:
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a laser light generator which generates mono-wavelength laser light in a wavelength range of from an infrared region to a visible region;
an optical amplifier including an optical fiber amplifier which amplifies the laser light generated by the laser light generator; and
a wavelength converter which performs wavelength conversion of the laser light amplified by the optical amplifier into ultraviolet light by using a plurality of the nonlinear optical crystals, wherein a lithium tetraborate (Li2B4O7) crystal is used for at least one of the plurality of nonlinear optical crystals. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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5. A laser device which generates ultraviolet light, comprising:
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a laser light generator which generates mono-wavelength laser light in a wavelength range of from an infrared region to a visible region;
an optical amplifier including an optical fiber amplifier which amplifies the laser light generated by the laser light generator; and
a wavelength converter which performs wavelength conversion of the laser light amplified by the optical amplifier into ultraviolet light by using a plurality of nonlinear optical crystals, wherein a KAB (K2Al2B4O7) crystal is used for at least one of the plurality of the nonlinear optical crystals. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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9. A laser device which generates ultraviolet light, comprising:
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a laser light generator which generates mono-wavelength laser light in a wavelength range of from an infrared region to a visible region;
an optical amplifier including an optical fiber amplifier which amplifies the laser light generated by the laser light generator; and
a wavelength converter which performs wavelength conversion of the laser light amplified by the optical amplifier section into ultraviolet light by using a plurality of nonlinear optical crystals, wherein a GdYCOB (GdXY1−
xCa4O(BO3)3) crystal is used for at least one of the plurality of the nonlinear optical crystals. - View Dependent Claims (10, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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11. A laser device which generates ultraviolet light, comprising:
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a laser light generator which generates mono-wavelength laser light in a wavelength range of from an infrared region to a visible region;
an optical amplifier including an optical fiber amplifier which amplifies the laser light generated by the laser light generator; and
a wavelength converter which performs wavelength conversion of the laser light amplified by the optical amplifier section into ultraviolet light by using a plurality of nonlinear optical crystals, and which includes the plurality of relay optical systems which relay the laser light among the plurality of the nonlinear optical crystals, wherein the plurality of the relay optical systems are each disposed to allow light of one wavelength to pass through. - View Dependent Claims (12, 15, 16, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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13. A laser device which generates ultraviolet light, comprising:
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a laser generator section which generates mono-wavelength laser light in a wavelength range of from an infrared region to a visible region;
an optical splitter section which splits the laser light generated by the laser generator into a plurality of luminous fluxes;
a plurality of optical amplifiers which amplifies each of the plurality of luminous fluxes split by the optical splitter section by using an optical fiber amplifier; and
a wavelength converter which performs wavelength conversion of laser light of a bundle of the plurality of the luminous fluxes from the plurality of the optical amplifier into ultraviolet light by using a plurality of nonlinear optical crystals, wherein the wavelength converter includes a nonlinear crystal which generates a harmonic wave according to sum frequency generation of a first beam composed of a fundamental wave or a harmonic wave of the laser light and a second beam composed of a harmonic wave of the laser light, and an anisotropic optical system having magnifications which are different in two directions crossing with each other to match the individual magnitudes of the plurality of the luminous fluxes composing the first beam to the individual magnitudes of the plurality of the luminous fluxes composing the second beam. - View Dependent Claims (14, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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17. A laser device which generates ultraviolet light, comprising:
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a laser generator which generates mono-wavelength laser light;
an optical amplifier including an optical fiber amplifier which amplifies the laser light; and
a wavelength converter which performs wavelength conversion of the amplified laser light into ultraviolet light having a wavelength of about 200 nm or shorter by using a plurality of nonlinear optical crystals, wherein one of lithium tetraborate and KAB crystals is used for a last-stage nonlinear optical crystal of the plurality of the nonlinear optical crystals which generates the ultraviolet light. - View Dependent Claims (18, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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Specification