An EUV light generation apparatus includes a chamber; a prepulse laser outputting prepulse laser light; a main pulse laser outputting main pulse laser light; a combiner combining optical paths of the prepulse laser light and the main pulse laser light; a light concentrating unit concentrating, on the target, the prepulse laser light and the main pulse laser light having the optical paths combined; a stage changing a position of the light concentrating unit; a first actuator changing a travel direction of the main pulse laser light; an EUV light sensor detecting EUV energy; a laser energy sensor detecting pulse energy of the main pulse laser light; and an EUV light generation control unit controlling the stage so that temporal variation of the EUV energy decreases and controlling the first actuator so that a ratio of the EUV energy to the pulse energy increases.

A system and a method for generating stable ultrashort pulses of XUV and soft X-ray radiation from laser-ablated plumes of a liquid target, using a laser source a pre-pulse and a laser source of a main pulse, by selecting the pre-pulse and the main pulse; directing and focusing the pre-pulse to a surface of the liquid target to ablate the surface of the liquid target, forming a plasma plume generating harmonics; the main pulse being selected for driving the harmonics.

A laser system for generating secondary radiation through interaction of a focused primary laser beam with a target material includes a laser beam source for providing a raw laser beam, and a beam guidance device for forming the focused primary laser beam from the raw laser beam. The focused primary laser beam is directed towards a target region in order to interact with the target material arranged in the target region. The beam guidance device includes a beam focusing device configured to form the primary laser beam by focusing a laser beam entering the beam focusing device, which corresponds to the raw laser beam. The beam focusing device includes at least two mirror elements spaced apart from one another. The beam focusing device has a numerical aperture between 0.001 and 0.01 provided that the primary laser beam propagates in a medium with a refractive index of less than 1.01.

A method for operating a lithography apparatus is provided. The method includes using a laser generator, emitting a laser beam; using a radiation source, producing extreme ultraviolet radiation by hitting the target droplet by the laser beam; using a scanner, directing the EUV radiation onto a substrate through a mask; and performing an in-line inspection process on a target component in one of the laser generator, the radiation source, and the scanner when producing the EUV radiation.

A modular laser-produced plasma X-ray system includes a liquid metal flow system enclosed within a low-pressure chamber, the flow system including a liquid metal, wherein in at least one location on the liquid metal forms a metal target directly illuminated by laser pulses, a circulation pump within the liquid metal flow system for circulating the liquid metal, a laser pulse emitter configured to transmit laser pulses into the chamber via a laser window, focusing optics, located between the emitter and the metal target, the focusing optics directing the laser pulses to strike the metal target at a target location to form X-ray pulses, and an X-ray window positioned within the chamber to enable the X-ray pulses to exit the chamber.

An EUV light generation system includes a prepulse laser device outputting prepulse laser light to be radiated to a target supplied into a chamber; a main pulse laser device outputting main pulse laser light to be radiated to a diffusion target generated by the radiation of the prepulse laser light; a first actuator adjusting an irradiation position of the prepulse laser light; a second actuator adjusting an irradiation position of the main pulse laser light; an EUV sensor detecting EUV energy; a laser energy sensor detecting laser energy of the main pulse laser light; a target sensor imaging the diffusion target; and a controller controlling, after controlling the first actuator based on a characteristic value of the diffusion target calculated from an image of the diffusion target, the second actuator so that a ratio of the EUV energy to the laser energy detected by the laser energy sensor becomes large.

Provided is a control method of an extreme ultraviolet light generation system. The extreme ultraviolet light generation system includes a target supply unit configured to supply a target, a laser device configured to irradiate the target with laser light, an EUV energy sensor configured to detect an energy of extreme ultraviolet light generated by the target being irradiated with the laser light, an optical adjuster configured to adjust an energy of the laser light, and a processor configured to adjust the optical adjuster by PID control based on output of the EUV energy sensor. The processor acquires a first index value for the output of the EUV energy sensor and a second index value different from the first index value and determines a control gain in the PID control based on the first and second index values.

An observation device for an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light system for observing a material droplet for EUV light generation includes an optical unit for focusing a measurement laser beam onto the material droplet and for directing light reflected by the material droplet along a predefined beam path, a sensor system arranged at an end of the beam path for detecting the reflected light, and at least one light-blocking element arranged between the optical unit and the sensor system, as viewed along the beam path, for keeping away interfering reflections of the measurement laser beam, which emanate from the optical unit in a direction of the sensor system at least in a central region of the beam path, such that at least a part of the reflected light can reach the sensor system along the beam path in spite of the light-blocking element.

According to an embodiment of the present technology, there is provided a light source apparatus that converts a liquid raw material into plasma and extracts radiation by using irradiation with an energy beam, the light source apparatus including: a first member that includes a first region to which the liquid raw material has adhered with a first film thickness; and a beam source that irradiates the first region with the energy beam at a first focusing density and irradiates a first space with the energy beam at a second focusing density, the first space being a space in which the liquid raw material is diffused by the irradiation with the energy beam at the first focusing density, the first focusing density being a focusing density at which the energy beam does not reach the first member when the first region is irradiated with the energy beam.

An EUV light generation apparatus includes a chamber; a target supply device configured to supply a target into the chamber; a first pulse laser device configured to irradiate the target with first pulse laser light in a plasma generation region in the chamber; an EUV light concentrating mirror arranged in the chamber and configured to reflect EUV light, radiated from the plasma generation region, toward an external apparatus; and a second pulse laser device configured to irradiate a diffusion matter, diffused by the irradiation with the first pulse laser light, with second pulse laser light having an irradiation spot diameter larger than an irradiation spot diameter of the first pulse laser light. An intensity of the EUV light generated by the irradiation with the second pulse laser light is smaller than an intensity of the EUV light generated by the irradiation with the first pulse laser light.