A gas discharge light source includes a gas discharge system that includes one or more gas discharge chambers. Each of the gas discharge chambers in the gas discharge system is filled with a respective gas mixture. For each gas discharge chamber, a pulsed energy is supplied to the respective gas mixture by activating its associated energy source to thereby produce a pulsed amplified light beam from the gas discharge chamber. One or more properties of the gas discharge system are determined. A gas maintenance scheme is selected from among a plurality of possible schemes based on the determined one or more properties of the gas discharge system. The selected gas maintenance scheme is applied to the gas discharge system. A gas maintenance scheme includes one or more parameters related to adding one or more supplemental gas mixtures to the gas discharge chambers of the gas discharge system.

A gas recycling system includes a series of removal units configured to receive a flow of contaminated lasing gas and output a flow of purified neon gas, the units include a set of filters that remove fouling elements from the flow of contaminated lasing gas; a first set of parallel trap modules that remove hydrogen from the flow of contaminated lasing gas; and a second set of parallel trap modules that remove xenon from said flow of contaminated lasing gas; and a storage vessel that receives said flow of purified neon gas from at least one of the plurality of removal units.

Methods, systems, and devices are described. A system may include an optically transmissive substrate having a protective coating on a first surface and a blocking coating on a second surface that is opposite the first surface. The protective coating is configured to protect the optically transmissive substrate from at least ultraviolet laser energy, and the blocking coating has a first thickness that is less than about 280 nanometers and is adhered to a subset of the second surface. The system further includes a capping layer covering the blocking coating that is on the subset of the second surface and having a second thickness less than the first thickness of the blocking coating. Additionally, the system includes a sealing component positioned between the capping layer and a structure configured to support the optically transmissive substrate.

The invention provides an excimer laser system including a means for calibrating laser output to compensate for increased variation in laser optical fibers.

A deep ultraviolet (DUV) optical system includes: an optical source system including: a plurality of optical oscillators; a beam combiner; and a beam control apparatus between the optical oscillators and the beam combiner. The beam combiner is configured to receive and direct light emitted from any of the optical oscillators toward a scanner apparatus as an exposure light beam, and the beam control apparatus is configured to determine whether the beam combiner receives light from a particular one of the optical oscillators. The DUV optical lithography system also includes a control system coupled to the optical source system, the control system configured to: determine whether a condition exists in the DUV optical system, and based on a determination that the condition exists, perform a calibration action in a subset of the optical oscillators.

Provided is a gas control system and method for online control of a gas compartment of a radiation source. The method includes measuring a parameter of a radiation source such as an excimer laser, the parameter describing an electrical stimulation applied to the laser and/or a characteristic of radiation generated by the laser and/or an amount of a consumable in the gas compartment. A function of the parameter is compared a to a threshold and if the parameter breaches the threshold, an amount of gas is calculated based on the parameter. An instruction is provided to provide or remove the amount of gas to or from, the gas compartment. Gases may be injected or bled into the compartment during use of the radiation source thereby reducing or negating the need to take the radiation source offline to purge and refill the gas compartment.

The invention provides an excimer laser system including a means for calibrating laser output to compensate for increased variation in laser optical fibers.