Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05G—X-RAY TECHNIQUE
  • H05G2/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for producing X-rays, not involving X-ray tubes, e.g. involving generation of a plasma
  • H05G2/001—Production of X-ray radiation generated from plasma
  • H05G2/003—Production of X-ray radiation generated from plasma the plasma being generated from a material in a liquid or gas state
  • H05G2/005—Production of X-ray radiation generated from plasma the plasma being generated from a material in a liquid or gas state containing a metal as principal radiation generating component
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05G—X-RAY TECHNIQUE
  • H05G2/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for producing X-rays, not involving X-ray tubes, e.g. involving generation of a plasma
  • H05G2/001—Production of X-ray radiation generated from plasma
  • H05G2/008—Production of X-ray radiation generated from plasma involving an energy-carrying beam in the process of plasma generation

Definitions

• the invention relates to high-brightness radiation sources designed to generate soft X- ray, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation at wavelengths of approximately 0.4 to 200 nm and method of collecting radiation, which provide highly effective debris mitigation in large collection angle to ensure the long-term operation of the high-power light source and its integrated equipment.
• EUV extreme ultraviolet
• VUV vacuum ultraviolet
• Sources of radiation of soft X-ray, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) ranges of high intensity are used in many fields: for microscopy, biomedical and medical diagnostics, material testing, analysis of nanostructures, in atomic physics, and lithography.
• a plasma effectively emitting in the soft X-ray range (0.4-10 nm), EUV (10-20 nm) and VUV (20-120 nm) ranges can be obtained both by focusing the radiation of high-power lasers on the target and in the discharge.
• LPP laser-produced plasma
• LPP EUV light source is characterized by a high brightness.
• the debris generated as a by-product of the plasma during the radiation source operation, can be in the form of high-energy ions, neutral atoms or vapors and clusters of the plasma fuel material.
• Debris particles degrade the collector optics, which can consist of one or several collector mirrors located near the radiation source.
• high-velocity particles can damage the collector mirror and, possibly, other parts of the optical system located behind the collector mirror. This makes it urgent to develop debris-free high -brightness sources of shortwavelength radiation.
• a debris mitigation technique based on the use of auxiliary plasma generated along the path of a short wavelength radiation beam in a specially injected gas is disclosed in US patent 9268031 published on February 23, 2016. Debris that acquire an electric charge as a result of exposure to the auxiliary plasma are then deflected by a pulsed electric field. The method is effective for protection optical collector against ion/vapor fraction of debris, for example, in sources using xenon as plasma fuel.
• the main threat to the elements of the optical collector is the micro-droplet fraction of debris particles, against which this method is powerless.
• a debris mitigation method in LPP EUV radiation source using Sn droplet targets is known.
• the method involves using a magnetic mitigation of charged fraction of debris particles.
• the debris technique includes a foil traps and ports for supplying the protective flows of buffer gas, which provides a sufficiently effective trapping of neutral atoms and clusters of the liquid metal target material.
• a replaceable membrane of carbon nanotubes is installed in the path of the short-wavelength radiation beam.
• the debris shield, surrounding region of the emitting plasma is fixedly installed providing entering the laser beam into the region of the pulsed emitting plasma and exiting a short-wavelength radiation beam from it. It is also proposed to use a laser prepulse to suppress the ionic fraction of debris.
• Another proposed debris mitigation mechanism is to use a high repetition rate of laser pulses, for example, on the order of 1 MHz, in order to ensure the evaporation of microdroplets up to 0.1 pm in size resulting from the previous laser pulse by radiation and plasma of the subsequent pulse.
• This invention is aimed at solving a technical problem associated with a multiple increase in the average power of pure high-brightness sources of soft X-ray, EUV and VUV radiation while ensuring their commercial availability and economic operation.
• the technical result of the invention is the creation of high-powerful high-brightness sources of short-wavelength radiation with highly effective debris mitigation in a beam of shortwavelength radiation propagating in a large, preferably more than 0.25 sr, solid angle.
• a plasma short-wavelength radiation source with a collector module comprising an optical collector, positioned in a vacuum chamber with plasma emitting a short-wavelength radiation, further comprising a means for debris mitigation on a path of the short-wavelength radiation to the optical collector.
• the source is characterized the means for debris mitigation includes at least two casings arranged to output debris-free homocentric beams of the short- wavelength radiation coming to the optical collector, and outside each casing there are permanent magnets that create a magnetic field inside the casings, and a magnetic field formed by the permanent magnets removes charged fraction of debris particles from the homocentric beams to provide the debris-free homocentric beams.
• an outer surface of each casing contains two first faces extended substantially parallel to a direction of short-wavelength radiation propagation from the plasma and parallel to a vertical or to another chosen direction.
• each casing includes two second faces extended substantially parallel to the direction of short-wavelength radiation propagation from the plasma and substantially perpendicular to the two first faces of the casing.
• an area of first faces of each casing is greater than an area of the rest of the casing surface, and the permanent magnets are substantially in contact with the first faces of each casing.
• an area of the first faces of each casing is less than an area of the rest of the surface of the casing, and the permanent magnets are located on the surface of the casings outside their first faces.
• an angle between the two first faces of each casing is less than 30 degrees.
• an angle between adjacent faces of the two adjacent casings is from 3 to 10 degrees.
• the permanent magnets located on a most distant from each other parts of the most distant from each other casings, are connected by a magnetic core.
• the optical collector contains several mirrors installed in the path of each of the debris-free homocentric beams of the short-wavelength radiation.
• a reflecting surface of all mirrors form a spheroid, in one focus of which is the plasma and in another focus is a focal point of all mirrors of an optical collector.
• the means for debris mitigation include membranes based on carbon nanotubes (CNT) installed between each casing and the optical collector in paths of the beams of short-wavelength radiation.
• CNT carbon nanotubes
• the means for debris mitigation include protective gas flows, directed inside each casing into the plasma, while each CNT membrane simultaneously serves as a casing window for an exit of the debris-free homocentric beam of the shortwavelength radiation and a gas shutter preventing an exit of the protective gas through it.
• the permanent magnets are located along an entire length of the casings.
• the means for debris mitigation include foil plates placed in each of the casings and oriented in radial directions with respect to the plasma, substantially perpendicular to magnetic field lines.
• the plasma can be selected from a group consisting of: laser-produced plasma, z-pinch plasma, plasma focus, discharge -produced plasma, laser-initiated discharge-produced plasma.
• the plasma is laser-produced plasma of a liquid metal target supplied by a rotating target assembly to a focus area of a laser beam.
• the target is a molten metal layer, formed by centrifugal force on a facing to an axis of rotation surface of an annular groove, implemented in the rotating target assembly.
• the invention in another aspect, relates to method of collecting radiation comprising: collecting by an optical collector radiation emitted by plasma at a plasma formation location, and directing at least a portion of the radiation to a focal point, wherein the emitted by plasma radiation is guided through at least two casings equipped by means for debris mitigating and arranged to form debris-free homocentric beams of the short-wave radiation coming out of casings to the optical collector.
• each casing there are permanent magnets that create a magnetic field inside the casings, and a magnetic field formed by the permanent magnets mitigates charged fraction of debris particles and other debris mitigation techniques, including protective gas flow, foil trap, CNT membrane are also used in each casing to provide the debris-free homocentric beams.
• permanent magnets that create a magnetic field inside the casings, and a magnetic field formed by the permanent magnets mitigates charged fraction of debris particles and other debris mitigation techniques, including protective gas flow, foil trap, CNT membrane are also used in each casing to provide the debris-free homocentric beams.
• the optical collector contains several mirrors installed in the path of each of the debris-free homocentric beams and a reflecting surfaces of all mirrors lie on the surface of the ellipsoid or modified ellipsoid, in one focus of which is the plasma, and in another focus is a focal point of all mirrors of an optical collector.
• FIG. 3 Fig. 4 - schematic diagrams of a laser-produced plasma radiation source with a rotating target assembly.
• a plasma radiation source comprises a vacuum chamber 1 with a region of pulsed high- temperature plasma 2 emitting short-wavelength radiation.
• the debris particles which include vapors, ions and clusters of the plasma-forming material, are generated in plasma region.
• the plasma radiation source further comprises a collector module consisting of an optical collector 3 and of means 4 for debris mitigation placed on the path of the short-wavelength radiation beam 5 directed from plasma 2 to the optical collector 3.
• Optical collector redirects the short-wavelength radiation to an intermediate focus and then to the optical system operating with short-wavelength radiation.
• the means 4 for debris mitigation includes at least two casings 6 arranged to output debris-free homocentric beams 7 of the short-wavelength radiation coming to the optical collector 3, preferably consisting of several mirrors 8.
• Characteristic plasma size is of about 0,1 mm (measured as the FWHM of the free electron density or the FWHM of the brightness profile of the light emitting plasma region) therefore, the plasma radiation source can be considered quasi-point, and radiation beams, coming out from it, homocentric.
• each casing 6 there are permanent magnets 9 that create a magnetic field inside the casings 6, and a magnetic field formed by the permanent magnets 9 removes charged fraction of debris particles from the homocentric beams 7 to provide the debris-free homocentric beams.
• the outer surface of each casing 6 contains two first faces 10 extended substantially parallel to a direction of short-wavelength radiation propagation from the plasma 2 and parallel to a vertical or to another chosen direction.
• each casing 6 outside each casing 6 are permanent magnets 9, which create a magnetic field inside the casings 6, the magnetic induction vectors of which are directed substantially perpendicular to the optical axis of the casings.
• the permanent magnets 9 are located along an entire length of the casings 6.
• the means 4 for debris mitigation in accordance with the present invention are a multi-section system that allows to significantly increase the solid angle of collection of short-wavelength plasma radiation, while maintaining the high effective debris mitigation.
• An increase in the collection solid angle makes it possible to significantly (several times) increase the collected power of short-wavelength radiation and thereby increase the efficiency of using of such type radiation sources in almost all areas of applications.
• the permanent magnets 9, located on a most distant from each other first faces 10 of the most distant from each other casings 6, are connected by a magnetic core 11.
• the magnetic core 11, preferably made of magnetically soft steel, makes it possible to reduce the loss of the magnetic field because of scattering by concentrating it in the magnetic core, and thereby increase it in the volume of each casing, increasing the efficiency of magnetic debris mitigation.
• each casing 6 includes two second faces 12 extended substantially parallel to the direction of short-wavelength radiation propagation from the plasma 2 and substantially perpendicular to the two first faces 10 of the casing.
• first and second faces 10, 12 in the radial directions with respect to the plasma 2 provides high geometric transparency of the multi sectional debris mitigation system.
• the angle between adjacent faces of the two adjacent casings 6 is in the range from 3 to 10 degrees.
• area of first faces 10 of each casing 6 is greater than an area of the rest of the casing 6 surface, and the permanent magnets 9 are substantially in contact with the first faces 10 of each casing 6.
• the area of the first faces 10 of each casing 6 can be less than an area of the rest of the surface of the casing, and the permanent magnets 9 can be located on the surface of the casings 6 outside their first faces 10, for example, on large second faces 12 of each casing 6.
• the means 4 for debris mitigation preferably include membranes 13 from carbon nano tubes installed between each casing 6 and the mirror 8 of the optical collector 3 in the paths of the homocentric beams 7.
• the CNT - membranes preferably have a thickness in the range of 20 to 100 nm, which ensures their high strength and high transparency in the range of wavelengths shorter than 20 nm. So CNT membranes 13 provide the exit of the homocentric beams 7 due to their high transparency in the wavelength range shorter than 20 nm. At the same time, the CNT membranes 13 prevent the passage of debris particles through them, providing debris -free homocentric beams 7 of short-wavelength radiation.
• the means for debris mitigation include protective gas flows, directed inside each casing 6 into the plasma, while each CNT membrane 13 simultaneously serves as a casing window for an exit of the debris-free homocentric beam 7 of the short-wavelength radiation and a gas shutter preventing an exit of the protective gas through it.
• Providing an average vacuum in the casings at a protective gas pressure of about 20 Pa allows to increase the number of collisions between gas molecules and debris particles scattered from the plasma region and, thereby deflecting them from rectilinear motion.
• the use of a CNT membrane as a gas seal allows the use of increased pressure only within the casings, and not along the entire path of propagation of homocentric beams 7 to the consumer optics. This reduces the loss of short-wavelength radiation due to absorption in the gas.
• CNT membranes 13 are not used, since their transparency in the indicated range sharply decreases with increasing radiation wavelength.
• the optical collector 3 contains several mirrors 8, while the reflecting surface of all mirrors belongs to the ellipsoid of revolution or in other words spheroid 15, in one focus of which is the region of pulsed emitting plasma 2, and in the other - the focus point 16 of the mirrors 8 of the optical collector 3.
• the production of such mirrors is very expensive, since the roughness of the collector mirror substrates is only 0.2- 0.3 nm, and the cost of such mirrors, especially with an aspherical profile, grows with an increase in their size according to a law 2-3 times stronger than an increase in area. So, the use of several identical mirrors 8 significantly reduces the cost of the optical collector.
• the pulsed emitting plasma can be selected from the group consisting of: laser-produced plasma, z-pinch plasma, plasma focus, discharge-produced plasma, laser-triggered discharge plasma.
• the pulsed high temperature plasma is the laser plasma of a liquid metal target material delivered by a rotating target assembly to the focusing region of the laser beam, as detailed in Patent Application 20200163197 published on May 21, 2020 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entireties.
• the target 17 is a molten metal layer formed by centrifugal force on the surface of the annular groove 19 of the rotating target assembly 20 facing the axis of rotation 18.
• An isometric view of a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown schematically in Fig. 4.
• Vacuum chamber 1 is pumped out by an oil-free pumping system -5 -8 to a pressure below 10’ ... 10’ mbar, removing gaseous components such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, etc., capable of interacting with the liquid metal target material.
• Target 17 the material of which belongs to the group of non-toxic low-melting metals, including Sn, Li, In, Ga, Pb, Bi, Zn and their alloys, is delivered by a rotating target assembly into the interaction zone with a focused laser beam 21.
• the target is exposed to a focused pulsed laser beam 21 with a high pulse repetition rate in the range from 1 kHz to 1 MHz.
• short-wavelength radiation of the laser plasma is generated in the soft X-ray and/or EUV and/or VUV spectral ranges.
• permanent magnets 9, Fig. 4 create a constant magnetic field, preferably directed perpendicular to the axis of the homocentric beams.
• charged fractions of debris particles mainly ions
• colliding either with the inner walls of the casings 6 or with plates 22 specially placed in the casings, Fig. 3 are trapped by them.
• Plates 22 mounted in casings 6 are directed radially to the plasma 2 and preferably perpendicular to the lines of magnetic field created by magnets 9. Plates 22 allow more efficient capture of high-speed charged particles, because the higher the speed of the particles, the smaller the transverse distance they deflect under the influence of the magnetic field.
• This protective gas flows prevent the movement of the ion/vapor fraction of debris particles, depositing them on the walls of the casings 6 and plates 22, protecting the CNT membranes 13 from debris. Due to their high transparency in the wavelength range shorter than 20 nm, CNT membranes provide the exit of a short-wavelength beam to the mirrors 8 of the optical collector 3. At the same time, CNT membranes 13 prevent the passage of debris through them, providing reliable protection for each mirror 8. Additionally, effective debris mitigation in the casings 6 is ensured by organizing directed flows of protective gas supplied through the gas inlets 14. Shielding gas streams protect CNT membranes 13 from ion/vapor fraction of debris, increasing their service life.
• the method comprises collecting by an optical collector 3 short-wavelength radiation emitted by plasma 2 at a plasma formation location, and directing at least a portion of the radiation to a focal point 16, Fig. 2.
• the emitted by plasma 2 radiation beam 5 is guided through at least two casings 6 integrated with means 4 for debris mitigating 4 and arranged to form debris-free homocentric beams 7 of the short-wave radiation coming out of casings 6 to the optical collector 3.
• each casing permanent magnets 9 creating a magnetic field inside the casings 6 are used for mitigation charged fraction of debris particles and other debris mitigation techniques, including protective gas flow, foil trap, CNT membrane are also used in each casing to provide the debris-free homocentric beams 7.
• the optical collector 3 preferably contains several mirrors 8 installed in the path of each of the debris-free homocentric beams 7 and a reflecting surfaces of all mirrors lie on the surface of the ellipsoid 15 or modified ellipsoid, in one focus of which is the plasma 2, and in another focus 16 is a focal point of all mirrors 8 of an optical collector 3.
• the modified ellipsoid shape may be used for providing improved intensity uniformity of collected radiation in the far field compared with a perfect ellipsoid shape.
• the present invention makes it possible to create debris-free, powerful, high- brightness sources of soft X-ray, EUV and VUV radiation with a long lifetime and ease of use.
• the proposed devices are intended for a number of applications, including microscopy, materials science, X-ray diagnostics of materials, biomedical and medical diagnostics, inspection of nano- and microstructures, including actinic mask defect inspection for EUV lithography.

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
• Exposure And Positioning Against Photoresist Photosensitive Materials (AREA)
• X-Ray Techniques (AREA)
• Plasma Technology (AREA)

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• 2021
  • 2021-08-26 WO PCT/RU2021/050277 patent/WO2022050875A1/en unknown
  • 2021-08-26 EP EP21864799.8A patent/EP4209120A4/de active Pending
  • 2021-08-26 JP JP2023514896A patent/JP7549313B2/ja active Active
  • 2021-08-26 CN CN202180054712.XA patent/CN116195369B/zh active Active

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