Various embodiments described herein relate to methods, apparatus, and systems for treating metal-containing photoresist to modify material properties of the photoresist. For instance, the techniques herein may involve providing a substrate in a process chamber, where the substrate includes a photoresist layer over a substrate layer, and where the photoresist includes metal, and treating the photoresist to modify material properties of the photoresist such that etch selectivity in a subsequent post-exposure dry development process is increased. In various embodiments, the treatment may involve exposing the substrate to elevated temperatures and/or to a remote plasma. One or more process conditions such as temperature, pressure, ambient gas chemistry, gas flow/ratio, and moisture may be controlled during treatment to tune the material properties as desired.

A mirror for extreme ultraviolet light includes: a substrate (41); a multilayer film (42) provided on the substrate and configured to reflect extreme ultraviolet light; and a capping layer (53) provided on the multilayer film, and the capping layer includes a first layer (61) containing an oxide of a metal, and a second layer (62) arranged between the first layer and the multilayer film and containing at least one of a boride of the metal and a nitride of the metal.

A droplet generator for an extreme ultraviolet imaging tool includes a reservoir for a molten metal, and a nozzle having a first end connected to the reservoir and a second opposing end where molten metal droplets emerge from the nozzle. A gas inlet is connected to the nozzle, and an isolation valve is at the second end of the nozzle configured to seal the nozzle droplet generator from the ambient.

Example implementations described herein include a laser source and associated methods of operation that can balance or reduce uneven beam profile problem and even improve plasma heating efficiency to enhance conversion efficiency and intensity for extreme ultraviolet radiation generation. The laser source described herein generates an auxiliary laser beam to augment a pre-pulse laser beam and/or a main-pulse laser beam, such that uneven beam profiles may be corrected and/or compensated. This may improve an intensity of the laser source and also improve an energy distribution from the laser source to a droplet of a target material, effective to increase an overall operating efficiency of the laser source.

A method of manufacturing an integrated circuit (IC) device includes forming a photoresist layer on a substrate, and exposing the photoresist layer to light by using a photolithographic apparatus including a light generator. The light generator includes a chamber having a plasma generation space, an optical element in the chamber, and a debris shielding assembly between the optical element and the plasma generation space in the chamber, and the debris shielding assembly includes a protective film facing the optical element and being spaced apart from the optical element with a protective space therebetween, the protective space including an optical path, and a protective frame to support the protective film and to shield the protective space from the plasma generation space.

A broadband light source includes a rotatable drum coated with plasma-forming target material, a rotational actuator configured to rotate the rotatable drum, and a rotary encoder connected to the rotatable drum. The broadband light source may include a linear actuator configured to axially translate the rotatable drum and linear encoder connected to the rotatable drum. The broadband light source includes a pulsed laser source configured to direct pulsed illumination to a set of spots on the material-coated portion of the rotatable drum for exciting the plasma-forming target material and emitting broadband light as the drum is actuated. The broadband light source includes a control system. The control system is configured to receive one or more rotational position indicators from the rotary indicator and control triggering of the laser source based on the one or more rotational position indicators from rotary encoder.

A contamination trap for use in a debris mitigation system of a radiation source, the contamination trap comprising a plurality of vanes configured to trap fuel debris emitted from a plasma formation region of the radiation source; wherein at least one vane or each vane of the plurality of vanes comprises a material comprising a thermal conductivity above 30 W m.sup.−1 K.sup.−1.

A photolithography system utilizes tin droplets to generate extreme ultraviolet radiation for photolithography. The photolithography system irradiates the droplets with a laser. The droplets become a plasma and emit extreme ultraviolet radiation. The photolithography system senses contamination of a collector mirror by the tin droplets and adjusts the flow of a buffer fluid to reduce the contamination.

A method of treating a surface of a reticle includes retrieving a reticle from a reticle library and transferring the reticle to a treatment device. The surface of the reticle is treated in the treatment device by irradiating the surface of the reticle UV radiation while ozone fluid is over the surface of the reticle for a predetermined irradiation time. After the treatment, the reticle is transferred to an exposure device for lithography operation to generate a photo resist pattern on a wafer. A surface of the wafer is imaged to generate an image of the photo resist pattern on the wafer. The generated image of the photo resist pattern is analyzed to determine critical dimension uniformity (CDU) of the photo resist pattern. The predetermined irradiation time is increased if the CDU does not satisfy a threshold CDU.

A method includes moving a wafer stage to a first station on a table body of a lithography chamber; placing a wafer on a top surface of the wafer stage; emitting a first laser beam from a first laser emitter toward a first beam splitter on a first sidewall of the wafer stage, wherein a first portion of the first laser beam is reflected by the first beam splitter to form a first reflected laser beam, and a second portion of the first laser beam transmits through the first beam splitter to form a first transmitted laser beam; calculating a position of the wafer stage on a first axis based on the first reflected laser beam; after calculating the position of the wafer, moving the wafer stage to a second station on the table body; and performing a lithography process to the wafer.