Some implementations described herein provide a dual-feedback control system for laser beam targeting in a lithography system such as an EUV lithography system. In addition to using feedback from a high-frequency quad-cell sensor to adjust a target position of the pre-pulse laser beam based on a first portion of a phase of a wavefront of the pre-pulse laser beam, the dual-feedback control system uses feedback from a low-frequency camera sensor to adjust the target position of the pre-pulse laser beam based on a second portion of the phase of the wavefront.

A laser amplification device includes a laser oscillator that includes a first laser active medium including a mixed gas containing carbon dioxide gas and emits pulsed laser light with the full width at half maximum of between 15 ns to 200 ns, and a laser amplifier that includes a second laser active medium including a mixed gas containing carbon dioxide gas through which the pulsed laser light emitted from the laser oscillator passes to be shortened to pulsed laser light with the full width at half maximum of between 5 ns and 30 ns to be output.

A photolithography method includes instructing an optical source to produce a pulsed light beam; scanning the pulsed light beam across a wafer of a lithography exposure apparatus to expose the wafer with the pulsed light beam; during scanning of the pulsed light beam across the wafer, receiving a characteristic of the pulsed light beam at the wafer; receiving a determined value of a physical property of a wafer for a particular pulsed light beam characteristic; and based on the pulsed light beam characteristic that is received during scanning and the received determined value of the physical property, modifying a performance parameter of the pulsed light beam during scanning across the wafer.

Apparatus for and methods of combining multiple, i.e., two or more laser beams to reduce even to the point of elimination a transverse gap between the two or more beams caused, for example, by a space between a coating on a surface of the mirror and the edge of the mirror, or by optic geometry, is avoided.

An apparatus (10) for increasing a pulse length of a pulsed radiation beam, the apparatus comprising: a beam splitter (16) configured to split an input radiation beam (18) into a first beam (24) and a second beam (22); an optical arrangement (12, 14), wherein the beam splitter and the optical arrangement are configured such that at least a portion of the first beam is recombined with the second beam into a modified beam after an optical delay of the first beam caused by the optical arrangement; and at least one optical element (30) in an optical path of the first beam, the at least one optical element configured such that the phase of different parts of a wavefront of the first beam is varied to reduce coherence between the first beam and the second beam.

A circulation mechanism includes a storage section, a supply pipe, a collection pipe, a circulation drive section, and a protective member. The storage section accommodates liquid metal. The supply pipe supplies the liquid metal accommodated in the storage section to a target mechanism. The collection pipe is communicated with the storage section and collects the liquid metal that has been drained away from the target mechanism into the storage section. The circulation drive section allows the liquid metal accommodated in the storage section to move to the supply pipe, and thus circulates the liquid metal to and from the target mechanism. The protective member is disposed to cover a portion of an inner wall of the collection pipe, the portion corresponding to a position at which the liquid metal flowing through the collection pipe collides with the liquid metal accommodated in the storage section.

Apparatus for and method of aligning optical components such as mirrors to facilitate proper beam alignment using an image integration optical system is used to integrate images from multiple optical features such as from both left mirror bank and right mirror bank to present the images simultaneously to the camera system. A fluorescent material may be used to render a beam footprint visible and the relative positions of the footprint and an alignment feature may be used to align the optical feature.

A system for deep ultraviolet (DUV) optical lithography includes an optical source apparatus including N optical oscillators, N being an integer number greater than or equal to two, and each of the N optical oscillators is configured to produce a pulse of light in response to an excitation signal; and a control system coupled to the optical source apparatus. The control system is configured to determine a corrected excitation signal for a first one of the N optical oscillators based on an input signal, the input signal including an energy property of a pulse of light produced by another one of the N optical oscillators.

A metrology system includes a light beam metrology apparatus configured to sense one or more aspects of an amplified light beam and to make adjustments to the amplified light beam based on the sensed one or more aspects; a target metrology apparatus configured to measure one or more properties of a modified target after a target has interacted with the amplified light beam, and to determine a moment when the modified target achieves a reference calibration state; and a control apparatus configured to: receive the reference calibration state and the moment at which the reference calibration state is achieved from the target metrology apparatus; determine a light beam calibration state of the amplified light beam based on the received reference calibration state and the moment at which the reference calibration state is achieved; and provide the light beam calibration state to the light beam metrology apparatus.

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for controlling a center wavelength. In one example, a method includes estimating a center wavelength error. The method also includes determining a first actuation amount for a first actuator controlling movement a first prism based on the estimated center wavelength error. The method also includes actuating the first actuator based on the actuation amount. The method also includes determining whether the first prism is off-center. The method also includes, in response to determining that the first prism is off-center, determining a second actuation amount for the first actuator and determining a third actuation amount for a second actuator for controlling movement of a second prism. The method also includes actuating the first actuator and the second actuator based on the second and third actuation amounts, respectively. The method finds application in multi-focal imaging operations.