摘要:
The present invention provides a control system for a modular high repetition rate two discharge chamber ultraviolet gas discharge laser. In preferred embodiments, the laser is a production line machine with a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber.Novel control features specially adapted for a two-chamber gas discharge laser system include: (1) pulse energy controls, with nanosecond timing precision (2) precision pulse to pulse wavelength controls with high speed and extreme speed wavelength tuning (3) fast response gas temperature control and (4) F2 injection controls with novel learning algorithm.
摘要:
The present invention provides a control system for a modular high repetition rate two discharge chamber ultraviolet gas discharge laser. In preferred embodiments, the laser is a production line machine with a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. Feedback timing control techniques are provided for controlling the relative timing of the discharges in the two chambers with an accuracy in the range of about 2 to 5 billionths of a second even in burst mode operation. This MOPA system is capable of output pulse energies approximately double the comparable single chamber laser system with greatly improved beam quality.
摘要:
The present invention provides a control system for a modular high repetition rate two discharge chamber ultraviolet gas discharge laser. In preferred embodiments, the laser is a production line machine with a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. Feedback timing control techniques are provided for controlling the relative timing of the discharges in the two chambers with an accuracy in the range of about 2 to 5 billionths of a second even in burst mode operation. This MOPA system is capable of output pulse energies approximately double the comparable single chamber laser system with greatly improved beam quality.
摘要:
The present invention provides a control system for a modular high repetition rate two discharge chamber ultraviolet gas discharge laser. In preferred embodiments, the laser is a production line machine with a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. Novel control features specially adapted for a two-chamber gas discharge laser system include: (1) pulse energy controls, with nanosecond timing precision (2) precision pulse to pulse wavelength controls with high speed and extreme speed wavelength tuning (3) fast response gas temperature control and (4) F2 injection controls with novel learning algorithm.
摘要:
The present invention provides a control system for a modular high repetition rate two discharge chamber ultraviolet gas discharge laser. In preferred embodiments, the laser is a production line machine with a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. Novel control features specially adapted for a two-chamber gas discharge laser system include: (1) pulse energy controls, with nanosecond timing precision (2) precision pulse to pulse wavelength controls with high speed and extreme speed wavelength tuning (3) fast response gas temperature control and (4) F2 injection controls with novel learning algorithm.
摘要:
An oscillator-amplifier gas discharge laser system and method is disclosed which may comprise a first laser unit which may comprise a first discharge region which may contain an excimer or molecular fluorine lasing gas medium; a first pair of electrodes defining the first discharge region containing the lasing gas medium, a line narrowing unit for narrowing a spectral bandwidth of output laser light pulse beam pulses produced in said first discharge region; a second laser unit which may comprise a second discharge chamber which may contain an excimer or molecular fluorine lasing gas medium; a second pair of electrodes defining the second discharge region containing the lasing gas medium; a pulse power system providing electrical pulses to the first pair of electrodes and to the second pair of electrodes producing gas discharges in the lasing gas medium between the respective first and second pair of electrodes, and laser parameter control mechanism modifying a selected parameter of a selected laser output light pulse beam pulse produced by said gas discharge laser system by controlling the timing of the occurrence of the gas discharge between the first pair of electrodes and the occurrence of the gas discharge between the second pair of electrodes.
摘要:
An injection seeded modular gas discharge laser system capable of producing high quality pulsed laser beams at pulse rates of about 4,000 Hz or greater and at pulse energies of about 5 mJ or greater. Two separate discharge chambers are provided, one of which is a part of a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. The chambers can be controlled separately permitting separate optimization of wavelength parameters in the master oscillator and optimization of pulse energy parameters in the amplifying chamber. A preferred embodiment in a F2 laser system configured as a MOPA and specifically designed for use as a light source for integrated circuit lithography. In the preferred MOPA embodiment, each chamber comprises a single tangential fan providing sufficient gas flow to permit operation at pulse rates of 4000 Hz or greater by clearing debris from the discharge region in less time than the approximately 0.25 milliseconds between pulses. The master oscillator is equipped with a line selection package for selecting the strongest F2 spectral line.
摘要翻译:一种注射种子模块化气体放电激光系统,其能够以约4,000Hz或更大的脉冲速率和约5mJ或更大的脉冲能量产生高质量的脉冲激光束。 提供两个单独的放电室,其中之一是主振荡器的一部分,其产生在第二放电室中放大的非常窄的带状晶体束。 可以单独控制室,允许主振荡器中的波长参数的单独优化和放大室中的脉冲能量参数的优化。 配置为MOPA并被专门设计用作集成电路光刻的光源的F 2 N 2激光系统中的优选实施例。 在优选的MOPA实施例中,每个腔室包括单个切向风扇,其通过在比脉冲之间的大约0.25毫秒更短的时间内清除来自放电区域的碎屑来提供足够的气流以允许以4000Hz或更高的脉冲速率操作。 主振荡器配备有用于选择最强的F 2/2谱线的线选择包。
摘要:
An injection seeded modular gas discharge laser system capable of producing high quality pulsed laser beams at pulse rates of about 4,000 Hz or greater and at pulse energies of about 5 mJ or greater. Two separate discharge chambers are provided, one of which is a part of a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. The chambers can be controlled separately permitting separate optimization of wavelength parameters in the master oscillator and optimization of pulse energy parameters in the amplifying chamber. A preferred embodiment in an ArF excimer laser system configured as a MOPA and specifically designed for use as a light source for integrated circuit lithography. In the preferred MOPA embodiment, each chamber comprises a single tangential fan providing sufficient gas flow to permit operation at pulse rates of 4000 Hz or greater by clearing debris from the discharge region in less time than the approximately 0.25 milliseconds between pulses. The master oscillator is equipped with a line narrowing package having a very fast tuning mirror capable of controlling centerline wavelength on a pulse-to-pulse basis at repetition rates of 4000 Hz or greater to a precision of less than 0.2 pm.
摘要:
A narrow band laser system having two laser subsystems. The first laser subsystem is configured to provide a very narrow band pulsed output beam which is used to injection seed the second laser subsystem where the narrow band pulsed seed beam is amplified to produce a narrow band pulsed output beam. A pulse power supply is provided which is specially configured to precisely time the discharges in the two laser subsystem so that the discharges are properly synchronized. Preferred embodiments include a pulse power system with a pulse transformer unit having two sets of transformer cores. A single upstream pulse compression circuit provides high voltage pulses in parallel to the primary windings of all of the cores in both sets. Separate secondary conductors (one passing through one set of cores and the other passing through the other set of cores) provide very high voltage pulses respectively to separate downstream circuits supplying discharge pulses to the electrodes in each of two separate laser chambers. Preferred embodiments include KrF, ArF and F2 systems. In these preferred embodiments, line narrowing may be accomplished within the resonant cavity of the seed laser or the output of the seed laser could be line narrowed using a pre-gain filter.
摘要:
The present invention provides a reliable modular production quality excimer laser capable of producing 10 mJ laser pulses at 2000 Hz with a full width half, maximum bandwidth of about 0.6 pm or less. Replaceable modules include a laser chamber; a pulse power system comprised of three modules; an optical resonator comprised of a line narrowing module and an output coupler module; a wavemeter module, an electrical control module, a cooling water module and a gas control module. Improvements in the laser chamber permitting the higher pulse rates and improved bandwidth performance include a single upstream preionizer tube and a high efficiency chamber. The chamber is designed for operation at lower fluorine concentration. Important improvements have been provided in the pulse power unit to produce faster rise time and improved pulse energy control. These improvements include an increased capacity high voltage power supply with a voltage bleed-down circuit for precise voltage trimming, an improved commutation module that generates a high voltage pulse from the capacitors charged by the high voltage power supply and amplifies the pulse voltage 23 times with a very fast voltage transformer having a secondary winding consisting of a single four-segment stainless steel rod. A novel design for the compression head saturable inductor greatly reduces the quantity of transformer oil required and virtually eliminates the possibility of oil leakage which in the past has posed a hazard.