公开(公告)号：EP1060543A1

公开(公告)日：2000-12-20

申请号：EP99938017.3

申请日：1999-02-16

申请人： Cymer, Inc.

发明人： KNOWLES, David, S. ,  AZZOLA, James, H. ,  BESAUCELE, Herve, A. ,  DAS, Palash, P. ,  ERSHOV, Alexander I. ,  JUHASZ, Tibor ,  NESS, Richard, M. ,  OZARSKI, Robert, G. ,  PARTLO, William, N. ,  ROTHWEIL, Daniel, A. ,  SANDSTROM, Richard, L. ,  UJAZDOWSKI, Richard, C. ,  WATSON, Tom, A. ,  FOMENKOV, Igor, V.

IPC分类号： H01S3/22 ,  H01S3/097 ,  H01S3/08

CPC分类号： G03F7/70358 ,  G03F7/70025 ,  G03F7/70041 ,  G03F7/70558 ,  G03F7/70575 ,  H01S3/03 ,  H01S3/036 ,  H01S3/08009 ,  H01S3/1055 ,  H01S3/134 ,  H01S3/1392 ,  H01S3/225 ,  H01S3/2251 ,  H01S3/2256

摘要： A reliable, modular, production quality narrow-band KrF excimer laser capable of producing 10 mJ laser pulses at 1000 Hz with a bandwith of about 0.6 pm or less. The present invention is especially suited to long-term round-the-clock operation in the lithographic production of integrated circuits. Improvements over prior art lasers include a single upstream preionizer tube (56) and acoustic baffles. A preferred embodiment includes reduced fluorine concentration, an anode support bar shaped to reduce aerodynamic reaction forces on blower bearings, a modified pulse power system providing faster pulse rise time, an output coupler (65) with substantially increased reflectivity, a line narrowing module with CaF prism beam expanders, a more accurate wavemeter, a laser computer controller programmed with new and improved pulse energy control algorithm.

公开(公告)号：EP1226635A1

公开(公告)日：2002-07-31

申请号：EP00928786.3

申请日：2000-05-02

申请人： Cymer, Inc.

发明人： UJAZDOWSKI, Richard, C. ,  SHANNON, Robert, A. ,  BERGER, Dmitri ,  PARTLO, William, N. ,  WATSON, Tom, A. ,  AZZOLA, James, H. ,  OLIVER, I., Roger ,  DUFFEY, Thomas, P. ,  FOMENKOV, Igor, V. ,  THOMPSON, Paul, S. ,  TEDESCO, Carl, E., II ,  HARRINGTON, Steven, M. ,  ISHIHARA, Toshihiko ,  LARSON, Donald, G. ,  MORTON, Richard, G.

IPC分类号： H01S3/04

CPC分类号： G03F7/70025 ,  H01S3/036 ,  H01S3/134

摘要： A gas discharge laser (90) with fast response gas temperature control to maintain laser gas temperature within desired limits during burst mode operation. Preferred embodiments include a passive temperature stabilizer having fans with surface areas exposed to flowing laser gas at least equal to the surface area of the cooling fins of a laser gas heat exchanger (66). Preferred embodiments utilize heating elements and coolant flow control to regulate laser gas temperatures using processors programmed to anticipate idle periods.

公开(公告)号：EP1436866A2

公开(公告)日：2004-07-14

申请号：EP02759577.6

申请日：2002-09-06

申请人： Cymer, Inc.

发明人： MORTON, Richard, G. ,  DYER, Timothy, S. ,  STEIGER, Thomas, D. ,  UJAZDOWSKI, Richard, C. ,  WATSON, Tom, A. ,  MOOSMAN, Bryan ,  IVASCHENKO, Alex, P. ,  GILLESPIE, Walter, D ,  RETTIG, Curtis, L.

IPC分类号： H01S3/22 ,  H01S3/223

CPC分类号： H01S3/038 ,  H01S3/036 ,  H01S3/0381 ,  H01S3/0388 ,  H01S3/09702 ,  H01S3/225

摘要： The present invention provides a gas discharge laser having at least one long-life elongated electrode for producing at least 12 billion high voltage electric discharges in a fluorine containing laser gas. In a preferred embodiment at least one of the elctrodes is comprised of a first material having a relatively low anode erosion rate and a second anode material having a relatively higher anode erosion rate. The first anode material (42) is positioned at a desired anode discharge region of the electrode. The second anode material (40) is located adjacent to the first anode material (42) along at least two long sides of the first material (42). During operation of the laser erosion occurs on both materials but the higher erosion rate of the second material (40) assures that any tendency of the discharge to spread onto the second material (40) will quickly erode away the second material (40) enough to stop the spread of the discharge. In a preferred embodiment the anode is as described above and the cathode is also a two-material electrode with the first material at the discharge region being C26000 brass and the second material being C36000 brass. A pulse power system provides electrical pulses at rates of at least 1 KHz. A blower circulates laser gas between the electrodes at speeds of at least 5 m/s and a heat exchanger is provided to remove heat produced by the blower and the discharges.

公开(公告)号：EP0759215B1

公开(公告)日：2003-06-04

申请号：EP96903678.9

申请日：1996-01-26

申请人： Cymer, Inc. ,  Advanced Pulse Power Technologies, Inc.

发明人： BIRX, Daniel, L. ,  DAS, Palash, P. ,  FOMENKOV, Igor, V. ,  PARTLO, William, N. ,  WATSON, Tom, A.

IPC分类号： H01S3/00 ,  H03K3/57 ,  H01S3/097 ,  H03K17/80

CPC分类号： H05H1/06 ,  H01S3/097 ,  H01S3/225 ,  H03K3/57 ,  H03K17/80 ,  H03K2217/0036

公开(公告)号：EP1430573A1

公开(公告)日：2004-06-23

申请号：EP02757140.5

申请日：2002-08-16

申请人： Cymer, Inc.

发明人： WATSON, Tom, A. ,  UJAZDOWSKI, Richard, C. ,  IVASCHENKO, Alex, P. ,  SHANNON, Robert, A. ,  SANDSTROM, Richard, L. ,  WEBB, Robert, Kyle ,  PALENSCHAT, Frederick, A. ,  HOFMANN, Thomas ,  RETTIG, Curtis, L. ,  NESS, Richard, L. ,  MELCHER, Paul, C. ,  ERSHOV, Alexander, I.

IPC分类号： H01S3/22

CPC分类号： H01S3/0385 ,  G03F7/70025 ,  G03F7/70041 ,  G03F7/70333 ,  G03F7/70575 ,  G03F7/70933 ,  H01S3/0057 ,  H01S3/0071 ,  H01S3/02 ,  H01S3/036 ,  H01S3/038 ,  H01S3/0387 ,  H01S3/0404 ,  H01S3/041 ,  H01S3/08009 ,  H01S3/08036 ,  H01S3/097 ,  H01S3/09702 ,  H01S3/0971 ,  H01S3/0975 ,  H01S3/1024 ,  H01S3/104 ,  H01S3/105 ,  H01S3/1055 ,  H01S3/1305 ,  H01S3/134 ,  H01S3/137 ,  H01S3/139 ,  H01S3/22 ,  H01S3/2207 ,  H01S3/223 ,  H01S3/225 ,  H01S3/2251 ,  H01S3/2256 ,  H01S3/2258 ,  H01S3/2333 ,  H01S3/2366

摘要： The present invention provides gas discharge laser systems capable of reliable long-term operation in a production line capacity at repetition rates in the range of 6,000 to 10,000 pulses per second. Preferred embodiments are configured as KrF, ArF and F2 lasers used in photolithography. Improvements include a suction fan (555) in the immediate vicinity of the anode (542) to increase gas flow. The intake of the fan (555) is between the anode (542) and the insulating spacer (544B).

公开(公告)号：EP1108275A1

公开(公告)日：2001-06-20

申请号：EP99937789.8

申请日：1999-08-04

申请人： Cymer, Inc.

发明人： HOFMANN, Thomas ,  HOWEY, James, K. ,  SHANNON, Robert, A. ,  UJAZDOWSKI, Richard, C. ,  WATSON, Tom, A. ,  WEBB, R., Kyle

IPC分类号： H01S3/22

CPC分类号： G03F7/708 ,  H01S3/036 ,  H01S3/225

摘要： A tangential fan (140) and cutoff assembly for recirculating a lasing gas (108) mixture has blade members (144), which vary in circumferential position stepwise from end to end, and/or a tapered anode assembly (120). The number of blade members (144) can be constant or variable. The circumferential position of blade members (144) can shift monotonically or reversibly between ends. Blade members (144) are stiffened by optimally selecting the number and placement of hub members (212) to control the natural vibration frequency of the fan. Methods of forming tangential fans include casting and machining from a single block. Monolithic structures can be joined, typically from electron-beam welding. Casting, welding, and machining processes introduce no additional contaminants. Tangential fans produced have mechanical rigidity, accurate tolerances, and low contaminant concentrations. Blade members (144) can be formed into air foil shapes.

公开(公告)号：EP1060543B1

公开(公告)日：2008-07-16

申请号：EP99938017.3

申请日：1999-02-16

申请人： Cymer, Inc.

发明人： KNOWLES, David, S. ,  AZZOLA, James, H. ,  BESAUCELE, Herve, A. ,  DAS, Palash, P. ,  ERSHOV, Alexander I. ,  JUHASZ, Tibor ,  NESS, Richard, M. ,  OZARSKI, Robert, G. ,  PARTLO, William, N. ,  ROTHWEIL, Daniel, A. ,  SANDSTROM, Richard, L. ,  UJAZDOWSKI, Richard, C. ,  WATSON, Tom, A. ,  FOMENKOV, Igor, V.

IPC分类号： H01S3/22 ,  H01S3/097 ,  H01S3/08 ,  H01S3/1055 ,  H01S3/134

CPC分类号： G03F7/70358 ,  G03F7/70025 ,  G03F7/70041 ,  G03F7/70558 ,  G03F7/70575 ,  H01S3/03 ,  H01S3/036 ,  H01S3/08009 ,  H01S3/1055 ,  H01S3/134 ,  H01S3/1392 ,  H01S3/225 ,  H01S3/2251 ,  H01S3/2256

摘要： A reliable, modular, production quality narrow-band KrF excimer laser capable of producing 10 mJ laser pulses at 1000 Hz with a bandwith of about 0.6 pm or less. The present invention is especially suited to long-term round-the-clock operation in the lithographic production of integrated circuits. Improvements over prior art lasers include a single upstream preionizer tube (56) and acoustic baffles. A preferred embodiment includes reduced fluorine concentration, an anode support bar shaped to reduce aerodynamic reaction forces on blower bearings, a modified pulse power system providing faster pulse rise time, an output coupler (65) with substantially increased reflectivity, a line narrowing module with CaF prism beam expanders, a more accurate wavemeter, a laser computer controller programmed with new and improved pulse energy control algorithm.

公开(公告)号：EP1257924A1

公开(公告)日：2002-11-20

申请号：EP01910429.8

申请日：2001-02-05

申请人： Cymer, Inc.

发明人： PATEL, Parthiv, S. ,  CONWAY, Joseph, E. ,  TANTRA, Muljadi ,  MOEN, Jeffrey, W. ,  CARLESI, Jason, R. ,  GREEN, Roger, L. ,  WATSON, Tom, A. ,  ROWAN, Christopher, G.

IPC分类号： G06F15/00 ,  H01S3/00

CPC分类号： G03F7/70991 ,  G03F7/70525 ,  G03F7/70975 ,  G05B2219/31205 ,  G05B2219/31485 ,  G07C3/005 ,  Y02P90/86

摘要： A system for a monitoring lithography laser (2) at least one integrated circuit fabrication plants. Each laser (2) at each fabrication plant has associated with it a terminal server (6). With respect to each fabrication plant a central control server unit (8) is in communication with each of the lasers (2) through a local area network (7). Information from the lasers (2) is collected by the central control server unit (8) and the information is used to provide summary information which is made available in a web site format to interested parties having access authorization.

公开(公告)号：EP1192689A1

公开(公告)日：2002-04-03

申请号：EP00928454.8

申请日：2000-04-25

申请人： Cymer, Inc.

发明人： HOFMANN, Thomas ,  HOWEY, James, K. ,  SHANNON, Robert, A. ,  UJAZDOWSKI, Richard, C. ,  WATSON, Tom, A. ,  WEBB, Kyle, R.

IPC分类号： H01S3/22

CPC分类号： G03F7/708 ,  H01S3/036 ,  H01S3/225

摘要： A tangential fan (200) and cutoff assembly for recirculating a lasing gas mixture has blade members (264), which vary in circumferential position stepwise from end to end, and/or a tapered anode assembly (120). The number of blade members (264) can be constant or variable between ends. The circumferential position of blade members (264) can shift monotonically or reversibly between ends. Blade members (264) are stiffened by optimally selecting the number and placement of hub members (262) to control the natural vibration frequency of the fan. Methods of forming tangential fans include casting, and machining from a solid block. Monolithic structures can be joined, typically by electron-beam welding. Casting, welding, and machining processes introduce no additional contaminants. Tangential fans produced have mechanical rigidity, accurate tolerances, and low contaminant concentrations. Blade members (264) can be formed into air foil shapes.