Extreme ultraviolet source with magnetic cusp plasma control
09544986 ยท 2017-01-10
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
H05G2/007
ELECTRICITY
H05G2/005
ELECTRICITY
International classification
Abstract
A laser-produced plasma extreme ultraviolet source has a buffer gas to slow ions down and thermalize them in a low temperature plasma. The plasma is initially trapped in a symmetrical cusp magnetic field configuration with a low magnetic field barrier to radial motion. Plasma overflows in a full range of radial directions and is conducted within a cone-shaped sheet to an annular beam dump.
Claims
1. An extreme ultraviolet light source comprising: a chamber; a source of droplet targets; one or more lasers focused onto the droplets in an interaction region; a flowing buffer gas; a reflective collector element to redirect extreme ultraviolet light to a point on the collector optical axis which is an exit port of the chamber; an annular beam dump disposed around the collector optical axis; a magnetic field provided by two sets of opposed magnetic field generators that create an asymmetrical magnetic cusp with magnetic well conforming to the inside shape of the collector, wherein the laser-plasma interaction takes place at or near the zero magnetic field point of the cusp and heat and target material particles are removed to a beam dump via magnetically guided plasma flow in a cone-shaped plasma sheet with cone axis parallel to the optical axis.
2. An extreme ultraviolet source as in claim 1, wherein the flowing buffer gas comprises one of argon, helium or hydrogen.
3. An extreme ultraviolet source as in claim 1, wherein the flowing buffer gas comprises a mixture of two or more gases selected from the set argon, helium and hydrogen.
4. An extreme ultraviolet source as in claim 1, in which the cusp contains a plasma whose temperature is set to a specified level through variation of the buffer gas flow rate into the chamber.
5. An extreme ultraviolet source as in claim 4, in which the buffer gas flow rate into the chamber is controlled via use of data from a sensor of cusp plasma temperature.
6. An extreme ultraviolet source as in claim 4, in which the cusp plasma temperature is set within the range 1 electron volt to 3 electron volts.
7. An extreme ultraviolet source as in claim 4, in which the cusp plasma density lies within the range 510.sup.14 electrons cm.sup.3 and 210.sup.15 electrons cm.sup.3.
8. An extreme ultraviolet source as in claim 1, in which the buffer gas flow rate lies in the range 10.sup.21 to 10.sup.22 atoms or molecules per second.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(16) Herein the corresponding like elements of different realizations of the invention are labeled similarly across the drawing set, and will not always be listed in their entirety.
(17) We describe the underlying magnetic field configuration in its first, symmetric, embodiment with reference to
(18) More detail on the central region of the cusp is given in
(19) This value B.sub.0 exceeds the central value B.sub.M half way between A and B. When the cusp axial field exceeds its radial field in this manner, then plasma leakage dominates at the circle of positions defined by all possible locations of the center of line AB around rotation axis 1. Plasma outflow from this locus then follows radial field lines toward the gap between coils 30 and 40 and enters the annular plasma beam dump.
(20) With the above description of the cusp field in place, we show in
(21) In prior work [11] the laser has been applied as two separate pulses, a pre-pulse and a main pulse, where the pre-pulse evaporates and ionizes the tin droplet and the main pulse heats this plasma ball to create the high ionization states that yield EUV photons. When the pre-pulse is a picosecond laser pulse it ionizes very effectively [12] and creates a uniform pre-plasma to be heated by the main pulse, which is of the order of 10-20 nsec duration. Complete ionization via the pre-pulse is a very important step toward capture of (neutral) tin atoms which, if not ionized, will not be trapped by the magnetic field and could coat the collection optic. The pre-pulse laser may be of different wavelength to the main pulse laser. In addition to magnetic capture of ionized tin in the cusp field, there is also a flowing buffer gas to sweep neutral tin atoms toward the plasma dump, as discussed below.
(22) In
(23) In operation, this embodiment has a stream of argon atoms entering for example through the gap between coil 10 and collection optic 110, to establish an argon atom density of approximately 210.sup.15 atoms cm.sup.3 in front of collection optic 110. A stream of droplets is directed toward region 60 and irradiated by one or more laser pulses to generate EUV light. Plasma ions from the interaction can have an energy up to 5 keV [14] and are slowed down by collisions with argon atoms at the same time as they are directed in curved paths by the cusp field, with the result that a thermalized plasma, more than 99.9% argon and less than 0.1% tin ions, accumulates in the cusp central region. After a short period of operation (less than 10.sup.3 sec) the accumulated thermal plasma density, and by implication its pressure, exceeds the pressure of the containment field B.sub.M at the waist of the cusp (discussed above in relation to
(24) A further embodiment of the invention is shown in
(25) We describe the underlying magnetic field configuration in its second major, near-symmetric, embodiment with reference to
(26) More detail on the central region of the cusp is given in
(27) Values B.sub.0 and B.sub.1 both exceed the lowest radial magnetic field B.sub.M between A and B. When the cusp axial fields both exceed its radial field in this manner, then plasma leakage dominates at the circle of positions defined by all possible locations of the lowest field point on line AB around rotation axis 1. Plasma outflow from this locus then follows radial field lines toward (and between) coils 30 and 40.
(28) One embodiment of the near-symmetrical cusp system is illustrated in
(29) A buffer gas chosen from the set hydrogen, helium and argon is flowed through the chamber at a density sufficient to slow down fast ions from the laser-plasma interaction, but not absorb more than 50% of the extreme ultraviolet light as it passes from the plasma region to an exit port of the chamber. Absorption coefficients for these gases are discussed in [15]. An argon buffer is preferred for the reasons discussed, and typically may be provided in the density range between 110.sup.15 and 410.sup.15 atoms cm.sup.3.
(30) In operation, this embodiment has a stream of argon atoms 200 entering for example through the gap between coil 10 and collection optic 110, to establish an argon atom density of approximately 210.sup.15 atoms cm.sup.3 in front of collection optic 110. A stream of droplets is directed toward region 60 and irradiated by one or more laser pulses to generate EUV light. Plasma ions from the interaction can have an energy up to 5 keV [14] and are slowed down by collisions with argon atoms at the same time as they are directed in curved paths by the cusp field, with the result that a thermalized plasma, more than 99.9% argon and less than 0.1% tin ions, accumulates in the cusp central region. After a short period of operation (less than 10.sup.3 sec) the accumulated thermal plasma density, and by implication its pressure, exceeds the pressure of the containment field B.sub.M at the waist of the cusp (discussed above in relation to
(31) The presence of a plasma flow causes neutral argon atoms to be entrained in the flow, and pumped effectively into beam dumps 140 and vacuum pumps 150. The plasma is more than 99.9% argon when tin droplet size of 20 micron diameter is used at a repetition frequency of 100 kHz as discussed above.
(32) System elements of the above embodiments are drawn in
(33) Additional system elements of the above embodiments are drawn in
(34) Devices that generate a suitable cusp magnetic field are a) combinations of current-carrying coils, examples of which are described herein, b) permanent magnets, and c) current-carrying coils that induce magnetism in shaped yokes of soft magnetic material. Each of these may be incorporated separately, or together in any combination, to form a magnetic field generator. Examples of purely current-carrying generators are given above. Examples of the latter two types of generator will now be discussed.
(35)
(36)
(37) A further embodiment of the invention, that provides improved extreme ultraviolet light collection efficiency, is illustrated in
(38) In operation, the buffer gas is ionized to plasma by the exhaust energy of the laser-plasma interaction at position 60 and this plasma, shown in vertical shading, is trapped within magnetic well 500 shown in cross section by vertical stripe shading, with overflow into cone-shaped plasma sheet 440. The magnetic well is a volume defined by a closed surface of constant magnetic field that has a lesser value of magnetic field at all points within that volume. Plasma overflows from containment in a magnetic well via the points of least containment field. In this case the overflow locus is a circle lying on the cone-shaped plasma sheet. The magnetic field design is asymmetrical and is such that the plasma exhaust, carrying buffer gas and target material atoms and ions, overflows into and is guided in, cone-shaped sheet 440 past the forward-projecting edge of optical element 400 toward annular beam dump 140. The shape of magnetic well 500 can be distorted to conform to the inner shape of collector 400 via relatively stronger field generation at magnetic field generators 340 and 360, and weaker generation at generators 330 and 350. Here the term conform is used in a loose sense to indicate that the magnetic well is smaller than the collector surface but has the same general shape where they are closest to each other. It may be advantageous to have the target material droplet stream (not shown) enter via a hole in collector 400, and to have unused droplets exit through a second hole in the collector. Also, droplet position monitoring may require additional small holes in the collector.
(39) In a further embodiment of the invention the flowing buffer gas may comprise a mixture of two or more gases taken from the set hydrogen, helium and argon. The use of a mixture enables additional performance beyond use of a single species. For example, a dominant argon buffer can supply the fundamental plasma braking effect [34] while a small addition of hydrogen can provide tin scavenging off a collector optic to maintain its high reflectivity [35,36,37]. In prior work [12] there has been 100% hydrogen usage for reasons to do with its better stopping power [38] as a neutral gas, for fast tin ions, than for example argon. This comparison is made after the relative densities of the two gases have been adjusted to give constant EUV optical transmission. When plasma electrons are the dominant braking agent [34], the nature of the ions in the plasma is not of primary importance and the advantages of relegating hydrogen to a minority species are many:
(40) a. Although injected as molecular hydrogen (H.sub.2), the source plasma conditions at (approximately) density 10.sup.15 electrons cm.sup.3 and temperature 2 eV cause rapid dissociation of H.sub.2 into H atoms. These can re-combine to H.sub.2 on surfaces with release of heat, or they can participate in chemical reactions to form hydrides such as stannane (SnH.sub.4). Because dissociation is on such a large scale, it becomes difficult to predict the heat load on any part of the surface in contact with the exhaust flow.
b. It is desirable that tin or other target material be condensed and recycled. Reactions into stannane and other hydrides can occur on surfaces or in the chamber volume, leading to downstream deposition on cool surfaces and even decomposition on hot surfaces. Lack of specificity makes it difficult to define a tin recycling stream that is close to 100% accurate and effective.
c. Hydrogen is explosive when mixed with air [38] leading to the need for severe handling precautions that add additional complexity and cost to an EUV source running on hydrogen alone.
(41) Further realizations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art and such additional embodiments are considered to be within the scope of the following claims.
REFERENCES
(42) 1. EUV Sources for Lithography Ed V. Bakshi, SPIE Press, Bellinghaven, Wash. 2005. 2. U.S. Pat. No. 7,479,646 McGeoch, Jan. 20, 2009 3. U.S. Pat. No. 8,269,199 McGeoch, Sep. 18, 2012 4. U.S. Pat. No. 8,440,988 McGeoch, May 14, 2013 5. U.S. Pat. No. 8,569,724 McGeoch, Oct. 29, 2013 6. U.S. Pat. No. 8,592,788 McGeoch, Nov. 26, 2013 7. M. McGeoch Proc. Sematech Intl. EUV Lithography Symp., Toyama, Japan 28 Oct. 2013 8. M. Richardson et al., J. Vac. Sci. Tech. 22, 785 (2004) 9. Y. Shimada et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 051501 (2005) 10. S. Fujioka et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 235004 (2005) 11. S. Fujioka et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 241502 (2008) 12. H. Mizoguchi et al, Proc SPIE 2014 13. D. Brandt et al., Proc SPIE 2014 14. S. S. Harilal et al., Phys. Rev. E69 026413 (2004) 15. S. S. Harilal et al., Appl. Phys. B86, 547-553 (2007) 16. U.S. Pat. No. 7,271,401 Imai et al., Sep. 18, 2007 17. U.S. Pat. No. 7,705,533 Komori et al., Apr. 27, 2010 18. U.S. Pat. No. 7,999,241 Nagai et al, Aug. 16, 2011 19. U.S. Pat. No. 8,143,606 Komori et al., Mar. 27, 2012 20. U.S. Pat. No. 8,492,738 Ueno et al., Jul. 23, 2013 21. U.S. Pat. No. 8,507,883 Endo et al., Aug. 13, 2013 22. U.S. Pat. No. 8,569,723 Nagai et al., Oct. 29, 2013 23. U.S. Pat. No. 8,586,953 Komori et al., Nov. 19, 2013 24. U.S. Pat. No. 8,586,954 Asayama et al., Nov. 19, 2013 25. U.S. Pat. No. 8,629,417 Nagai et al., Jan. 14, 2014 26. U.S. Pat. No. 8,710,475 Komori et al., Apr. 29, 2014 27. U.S. Pat. No. 8,519,366 Bykanov et al., Aug. 27, 2013 28. U.S. Pat Appl. 20140021376 Komori et al. date 29. U.S. Pat Appl. 20110170079 Banine et al, Jul. 14, 2011 30. U.S. Pat. No. 7,271,401 Imai et al., Sep. 18, 2007 31. U.S. Pat. No. 7,705,533 Komori et al., Apr. 27, 2010 32. U.S. Pat. No. 7,671,349 Bykanov et al., Mar. 2, 2010 33. U.S. Pat. No. 8,198,615 Bykanov et al., Jun. 12, 2012 34. McGeoch Cusp plasma control for the tin LPP source Proc. SPIE Advanced Lithography San Jose February 2016 35. U.S. Pat No. 7,462,850 Banine et al., Dec. 9, 2008 36. U.S. Pat No. 7,598,503 Van Herpen et al., Oct. 6, 2009 37. U.S. Pat No. 8,624,208 Nagai et al., Jan. 7, 2014 38. U.S. Pat No. 8,785,892 Ershov et al. Jul. 22, 2014