Gigaphoton Inc. presents a Sn-LPP EUV light source for mask inspection tools. It is based on a minimum-mass Sn droplet generator with an in-line Sn fuel supply system, a double-pulse laser irradiation scheme with precise shooting control and a debris mitigation technology with H2 buffer-gas flow. A brightness of 120W/mm2 sr at the plasma point without reflectivity degradation of the EUV collector mirror after 500 hours continuous operation has been demonstrated with a very low EUV energy 3σ-value of 5%.
We report the status of the CO2-Sn-LPP (Laser-produced-plasma) EUV light source development at Gigaphoton. It is the high power 13.5nm light source solution for the manufacturing of semiconductor pattern below 7nm. Our original technologies are a combination of a pulsed CO2 laser with Sn droplets, dual wavelength laser application and Sn debris mitigation with a magnetic field. Providing high EUV power with high operation availability is a requirement for the EUV light source system. With above technologies, we have demonstrated a collector mirror reflectivity degradation rate of less than -0.5%/Bp at an average power of 125W at IF during a week of operation. We also achieved an in-band power of 270W under dose-controlled operation and demonstrated a power scalability up to 365W. To achieve higher availability, we improved the two main factors that limit the operation availability, that are the lifetime of the droplet generator and of the collector mirror. We are developing a new long-lifetime droplet generator with an in-situ Sn fuel supply system. With this technology, we have demonstrated stable droplet generation continuously for more than 2000 hours. The mirror lifetime is determined by the reflectivity degradation of the multilayer coating, due to hydrogen blistering, oxidation, as well as sputtering, implantation, and deposition by Sn ions, Sn atoms, and Sn fragments. Since our magnetic mitigation scheme works effectively for lower energy ions, we developed advanced pre-pulse laser irradiation to suppress the generation of high-energy ions from the Sn plasma without loss of the high EUV Conversion Efficiency of ~6%. An in-situ shooting control system, which was developed for newly optimized laser conditions, remarkably improved the EUV energy and dose error 3σ by 50%. With this new shooting control technology, we demonstrated fragment-free EUV sample mirrors after a medium-term test at the EUV research source.
The extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source has been developed together with the lithography EUV scanner. As tool with a 10 W EUV light source, ASML shipped the “a-demo tool” in 20071) and Nikon shipped EUV-1 in 20082). Then ASML developed the b-tool, NXE-3100, at the beginning of 2011 with a 100 W EUV light source.3)4) Requirement of the EUV exposure tool is now covered by the g-tool; NXE3300 (for high volume manufacturing (HVM))5). The required EUV power is 250 W clean power (after purifying infrared (IR) and deep ultra violet (DUV) spectra) at intermediate focus (IF). However, the demonstrated power level was around 80 W6)7) in 2013.
Gigaphoton Inc. has been developing a CO2-Sn-LPP (LPP: Laser Produced Plasma) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source system for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) semiconductor lithography. Original technologies and key components of this source include a high-power carbon dioxide (CO2) laser with 15 ns pulse duration, a short wavelength solid-state pre-pulse laser with 10 ps pulse duration, a highly stabilized small droplet (DL) target, a precise DL-laser shooting control system and unique debris mitigation technology with a magnetic field. In this paper, an update of the development progress of the total system and of the key components is presented.
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