摘要:
A molecular fluorine (F2) laser is provided wherein the gas mixture includes molecular fluorine for generating an emission spectrum including two or three closely spaced lines around 157 nm. An optical method and means are provided for selecting an emission line from among the plurality of closely spaced emission lines of the molecular fluorine laser gas volume and broadening the spectrum of said selected emission line. This approach of broadening the spectrum reduces the coherence length of the output beam. As a result, speckle may be reduced or avoided in microlithography applications.
摘要:
A narrow band molecular fluorine laser system includes an oscillator and an amplifier, wherein the oscillator produces a 157 nm beam having a linewidth less than 1 pm and the amplifier increases the power of the beam above a predetermined amount, such as more than one or several Watts. The oscillator includes a discharge chamber filled with a laser gas including molecular fluorine and a buffer gas, electrodes within the discharge chamber connected to a discharge circuit for energizing the molecular fluorine, and a resonator including the discharge chamber for generating a laser beam having a wavelength around 157 nm. Line-narrowing optics are included intra- and/or extra-resonator for reducing the linewidth of the laser beam to less than 1 pm. The amplifier may be the same or a different discharge chamber, and optical and/or electronic delays may be used for timing pulses from the oscillator to reach the amplifier at a maximum in the discharge current of the amplifier.
摘要:
This invention concerns a process useful for increasing the accuracy of the shape of a laser ablated feature formed on a substrate, especially where the substrate is a polymeric article. The process includes irradiating the polymeric article with laser light that has passed through a retardation plate selected from stationary adjustable plates, rotating plates or spinning plates, preferable in multiples of quarter-waves or half-waves. This invention also concerns a laser apparatus useful for making ablated features in a substrate having a radiation source; a mask positioned between the radiation source and a substrate to be irradiated, and a retardation plate which is stationary and adjustable, rotating or spinning plates.
摘要:
A CW fiber-laser includes a gain fiber having a reflector proximity-coupled to one end, with the other end left uncoated. A laser resonator is defined by the reflector and the uncoated end of the gain-fiber. Pump-radiation from two fast-axis diode-laser bar stacks is combined and focused into the uncoated end of the gain-fiber for energizing the fiber. Laser radiation resulting from the energizing is delivered from the uncoated end of the gain-fiber and separated from the pump-radiation by a dichroic minor.
摘要:
Laser apparatus is disclosed in which fundamental-wavelength optical pulses delivered from a mode-locked laser resonator at a pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) are converted to harmonic-wavelength pulses in an optical delay loop. One example is disclosed in which the harmonic-wavelength pulses are delivered directly from the delay loop. Another example is disclosed in which the harmonic-wavelength pulses are divided by the delay loop into a number of temporally spaced-apart replicas thereof, and the delay loop delivers bursts of replicas of different one of the harmonic wavelength pulses at a burst-repetition frequency equal to or a multiple of the PRF of the resonator.
摘要:
Arrangements for combination and fast-axis alignment of fast-axes of diode-laser beams are disclosed. Alignment arrangements include providing each diode-laser with a corresponding alignable fast-axis collimating lens, providing individually alignable mirrors for steering an re-orienting beams from each diode-laser, and providing single diode-laser slab-modules in which the diode-laser beams can be pre-aligned to a common propagation-axis direction, and in which edges and surfaces of the slabs can be used to align the fast and slow-axes of the beams. Beam combination methods include combination by dichroic elements, polarization-sensitive elements, and optical fiber bundles.
摘要:
Apparatus for marking a bitmap image on tape includes a source of a modulatable laser-beam. The beam is directed to an oscillating mirror on a carriage translatable across the width direction of the tape. The oscillating mirror directs the beam to a focusing lens mounted on the carriage. The focusing lens is arranged to focus the beam to a focal-spot on the tape. As the carriage is translated, the focal-spot is swept reciprocally in a wave-like path across the tape. Modulation of the beam is arranged such that pixels of a plurality of rows of the bitmap image are printed in one traverse of the carriage. The tape is advanced incrementally and repeated traverses of the carriage are made to complete printing of the bitmap image. Light from the laser can be delivered to the oscillating mirror via an optical fiber.
摘要:
An amorphous silicon layer on a glass substrate is crystallized by concentrating CW radiation from a number of OPS-lasers into a line of light on the layer. The layer is moved with respect to the line of light to control the dwell time of the line on any location on the layer and to crystallize an extended area of the layer.
摘要:
A projection video display includes a light source including an OPS-laser delivering laser radiation in multiple transverse modes (a multiple-transverse-mode OPS-laser). The display includes a spatial light modulator for spatially modulating the radiation from the multiple-transverse-mode OPS-laser in accordance with a portion of an image to be displayed. Projection optics project the spatially modulated light on a screen on which the image is to be displayed. In one example the OPS-laser is a diode-laser array pumped OPS-laser and is one of three lasers, one delivering red light, one delivering blue light, and the other delivering green light. The lasers are time modulated such that the spatial light modulator receives light from each of the lasers separately. The OPS laser is directly time modulated by periodically turning the diode-laser array on and off.
摘要:
Pulse parameters of a gas discharge laser system can be optimized and controlled for precision applications such as microlithography. Important laser pulse parameters typically vary in the beginning of a pulse burst, and the directionality of the output beam typically varies throughout the burst. In order to improve the performance of the laser system, the variation at the beginning of a pulse burst can be eliminated by extending the pulse pattern and shuttering the output during periods of significant parameter variation. A fast shutter such as an acousto-optical modulator can be used to prevent output during the burst transition processes. Elements such as acousto-optical cells also can be used in combination with a fast position sensor to steer the direction of the output beam, in order to adjust for variations in the direction of the beam between pulses in a burst.