Abstract:
A system (11A) for generating extreme ultraviolet light, in which a target material (27) inside a chamber (2A) is irradiated with a laser beam to be turned into plasma, includes a first laser apparatus (40) configured to output a first laser beam (41), a second laser apparatus (3A) configured to output a second laser beam having a pedestal and a peak portion, and a controller (5A)connected to the first and second laser apparatuses and configured to cause the first laser beam to be outputted first, the pedestal to be outputted after the first laser beam, and the peak portion having higher energy than the pedestal to be outputted after the pedestal.
Abstract:
A laser apparatus may include a seed laser device configured to output a pulse laser beam, a pulse energy adjusting unit configured to vary pulse energy of the pulse laser beam, at least one amplifier for amplifying the pulse laser beam, at least one power source for varying an excitation intensity in the at least one amplifier, and a controller configured to control the pulse energy adjusting unit on a pulse-to-pulse basis for the pulse laser beam passing therethrough and to control the at least one power source for a group of multiple pulses of the pulse laser beam.
Abstract:
A laser apparatus may include a seed laser device configured to output a pulse laser beam, a pulse energy adjusting unit configured to vary pulse energy of the pulse laser beam, at least one amplifier for amplifying the pulse laser beam, at least one power source for varying an excitation intensity in the at least one amplifier, and a controller configured to control the pulse energy adjusting unit on a pulse-to-pulse basis for the pulse laser beam passing therethrough and to control the at least one power source for a group of multiple pulses of the pulse laser beam.
Abstract:
A laser apparatus may include: a master oscillator configured to output a pulsed laser beam at a repetition rate; at least one amplifier disposed on a beam path of the pulsed laser beam; at least one optical shutter disposed on the beam path of the pulsed laser beam; and a controller configured to switch the at least one optical shutter.
Abstract:
An extreme ultraviolet light generation system used with a laser apparatus may be provided, and the extreme ultraviolet light generation system may include: a chamber including at least one window for at least one laser beam and a target supply unit for supplying a target material into the chamber; and at least one polarization control unit, provided on a laser beam path, for controlling a polarization state of the at least one laser beam.
Abstract:
A regenerative amplifier (20) according to one aspect of this disclosure is used in combination with a laser device, and the regenerative amplifier may include: a pair of resonator mirrors (21a, 21b) constituting an optical resonator; a C02 slab amplifier (25) provided between the pair of the resonator mirrors for amplifying a laser beam with a predetermined wavelength outputted from the laser device; and an optical system (26, 27) disposed to configure a multipass optical path (C2) along which the laser beam is reciprocated inside the slab amplifier, the optical system transferring an optical image of the laser beam at a first position (la) as an optical image of the laser beam at a second position (lb).
Abstract:
A laser device, which repeats a cycle of burst-mode operation in each of which continuous oscillating operations for continuously pulsatively oscillating laser light by a prescribed number of times and stopping operations for pausing the pulsative oscillation for a prescribed oscillation pausing time are alternately executed, controls the power supply voltage of the laser device so that each output energy of the pulsative oscillation can become coincident with a target value, finds the difference between the ouput value of each pulse and the target value at every pulse and, for a pulse for which the difference exceeds tolerance limits, corrects the updates the power supply voltage value stored in the voltage data table means corresponding to the pulse number of the pulse and the measured oscillation pausing time by using the control gain of a control gain setting means set in the block corresponding to the pulse number and the measured oscillation pausing time and the difference, so as to always make the pulse energy of all pulses for the continous pulsative oscillation constant and further improve the accuracy of optical machining.
Abstract:
A narrow-band oscillation excimer laser employing a diffraction grating as a wavelength selecting element, which is particularly suited for a light source of a reduction type projection aligner. The grating used in the narrow-band oscillation excimer laser of the invention is so disposed that the direction of grating lines is nearly perpendicular to the direction of laser discharge. When a beam expander is used to expand laser beam falling on the beam expander is so disposed that the direction of beam expansion is nearly perpendicular to that of discharge of the laser. Further, when an aperture is to be used in the optical resonator, the aperture is placed so that the longitudinal direction may be parallel to the direction of laser discharge. Moreover, the front mirror of the optical resonator is a cylindrical one, whose mechanical axis is in parallel with the direction of laser discharge. This makes it possible to provide a narrow-band oscillation excimer laser having very high efficiency and excellent durability.
Abstract:
A method and a device for controlling a narrow-band oscillation excimer laser used as a source of light for a reduced-scale projection exposure device. The laser oscillator contains at least two wavelength select elements. There are carried out the center wavelength control for bringing the oscillation center wavelength determined by these wavelength select elements into agreement with a desired wavelength, the superpose control for superposing the wavelengths that have transmitted through these wavelength select elements, and the power control that controls the laser output by controlling a voltage applied to the electrodes in the laser chamber. The gas is replaced partly as a voltage applied to the electrodes in the laser chamber is increased. After the gas is partly replaced, the control period is set to be nearly the same for the superpose control and for the power control, or the superpose control is inhibited while the power control is being carried out. When the laser is energized, the superpose control is executed first, and then the center wavelength control is executed.
Abstract:
A method and an apparatus for detecting the wavelength of a laser beam by utilizing an optogalvano effect based upon atoms or molecules in the plasma. Atoms or molecules in the plasma are irradiated with a laser beam. The impedance of the plasma at this moment is detected to determine whether the wavelength of the laser beam is in agreement with a predetermined absolute wavelength. The result of detection is used for controlling the wavelength of the laser beam.