Invention Application
- Patent Title: APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CLEANING AN INSPECTION SYSTEM
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Application No.: US17563867Application Date: 2021-12-28
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Publication No.: US20220205900A1Publication Date: 2022-06-30
- Inventor: Andrey NIKIPELOV , Saeedeh Farokhipoor , Maarten Van Kampen
- Applicant: ASML NETHERLANDS B.V.
- Applicant Address: NL Veldhoven
- Assignee: ASML NETHERLANDS B.V.
- Current Assignee: ASML NETHERLANDS B.V.
- Current Assignee Address: NL Veldhoven
- Main IPC: G01N21/15
- IPC: G01N21/15 ; G02B1/18 ; G01N21/95 ; G02B5/08 ; G01N21/88

Abstract:
A method and apparatus for cleaning vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) optics (e.g., one or more mirrors of a VUV) of a substrate inspection system is disclosed. The cleaning system ionizes or disassociates hydrogen gas in a VUV optics environment to generate hydrogen radicals (e.g., H*) or ions (e.g., H+, H2+, H3+, which remove water or hydrocarbons from the surface of the one or more mirrors. The one or more VUV mirrors may include a reflective material, such as aluminum. The one or more VUV mirrors may have a protective coating to protect the reflective material from any detrimental reaction to the hydrogen radicals or ions. The protective coating may include a noble metal.
Public/Granted literature
- US12055478B2 Apparatus and method for cleaning an inspection system Public/Granted day:2024-08-06
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