JPH05167160A - Gas laser equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select laser output direction so as to be right or left by using common components. CONSTITUTION:A housing 12 is constituted of a lower housing 56 and a detachable upper housing 54, and the front direction and the rear direction of the upper housing 54 are made exchangeable. A rear mirror box 32 and a front mirror box 34 are fixed to a discharge chamber 20 so as to be detachable and interchangeable. An optical resonator 24 is fixed to the upper housing 54 so as to be detachable and capable of reversed front to rear. When the output direction of laser light is changed, the fixing directions of the above components are reversed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas laser device, and more particularly to an excimer laser device in which a laser medium contains halogen gas such as fluorine gas or chlorine gas.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An excimer laser has attracted attention as a light source for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus (stepper) because the wavelength of an oscillation line is short and a large output can be obtained, and in recent years, the excimer laser apparatus has been remarkably developed. FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view of a conventional excimer laser device.

In FIG. 3, the excimer laser device 10 is shown.
Has a structure in which the housing 12 has a frame body in which a plurality of beam members and column members are welded and integrated with each other, and a metal surrounding plate is attached to the frame body. Board 14
Is provided to divide into an upper chamber 16 and a lower chamber 18. The housing 12 has an operation surface on the front side of the drawing and is openable / closable so that maintenance of the discharge chamber 20 housed in the upper chamber 16 and auxiliary devices described later can be performed.

The discharge chamber 20 contains a discharge tube containing a gas such as XeCl or XeF which is a laser medium. A thyratron 22, which is a high-voltage discharge switch, is provided on the discharge chamber 20 so that the laser medium in the discharge tube can be excited. Further, the upper chamber 16 is provided with an optical resonator 24.

The optical resonator 24 comprises a total reflection mirror 26 and an output mirror 28, and is fixed to a fixing plate (not shown) fixed to a supporting member 30 such as an invar rod. The total reflection mirror 26 is arranged so as to face a rear mirror box 32 provided on one side of the discharge chamber 20,
The output mirror 28 is arranged so as to face a front mirror box 34 provided on the other side of the discharge chamber 20. Then, the laser light 36 can be taken out only in the right direction in the drawing through a window (not shown) formed in the housing 12, as shown by the arrow.

Further, shelves 38 and 40 are provided on the upper inside of the upper chamber 16 on both sides in the axial direction of the laser beam 36. One of the shelves 38 has a booster 42 and a thyratron drive device 4
4 and so on. An inverter 46 is installed on the other shelf 40. The shelves 38, 40 on which these devices are arranged are provided at a position lower than the upper end of the thyratron 22 in order to effectively use the space of the upper chamber 16 and to downsize the excimer laser device 10. And
The discharge chamber 20 includes a booster 42 mounted on the shelf 38, a thyratron drive device 44, and an inverter 46 mounted on the shelf 40.
Since the size of and becomes larger, the fixed position is closer to the rear side (left side in the figure) than the center.

On the other hand, the lower chamber 18 has a thyratron 22.
Oil pump 48 for oil cooling the discharge chamber 2
An auxiliary device such as a water cooling pump 50 for water cooling 0 is accommodated, and a control device 52 is arranged.

[0008]

By the way, depending on how the stepper is installed, there are cases where the laser beam 36 is desired to be emitted to the right in FIG. 3 and cases where it is desired to be emitted to the left. Most of the plans for the installation location of the excimer laser device 10 are currently determined by giving priority to the placement of the stepper, that is, the emission direction of the laser light 36. For this reason, it is often necessary to open / close the housing 12 and orient the maintenance surface (front surface) toward the wall. However, since the excimer laser device 10 cannot perform maintenance from the back side, there is a problem that the space required for maintenance is significantly limited and work efficiency deteriorates. And if sufficient space for maintenance is taken, the space efficiency of the factory will be reduced.

On the other hand, when a device that emits the laser beam 36 to the right side of the operation surface and a device that emits the laser beam 36 to the left side are manufactured, the discharge chamber 20 is not located in the center of the housing 12, so that the laser beam 36 is emitted to the right side. Since it is necessary to prepare a component and a component for left-sided emission, not only is it difficult to manage the component, but also the cost is increased.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and provides a gas laser device capable of selecting the emission direction of laser light to either left or right by using common components. It is an object.

[0011]

To achieve the above object, a gas laser device according to the present invention comprises an upper housing containing a discharge chamber and a lower housing containing auxiliary devices and control equipment. A housing in which the upper housing is detachable with respect to the lower housing and is replaceable in the front-rear direction; and an optical resonator in which the upper housing is replaceable in the front-rear direction and the discharge chamber is arranged inside. The discharge chamber is characterized in that the front side optical component provided on one side and the rear side optical component provided on the other side are interchangeably mountable.

When the discharge chamber is not located in the center of the upper housing, the upper housing is provided with a guide for fixing the discharge chamber at two different positions in the optical axis direction, and a resonator for fixing the optical resonator. The fixing portion is formed so as to correspond to the two chamber fixing positions. It should be noted that the discharge chamber may be provided with a positioning pin or a positioning hole at a mounting portion of the front side optical component or the rear side optical component.

[0013]

According to the present invention constructed as described above, the front and rear directions of the upper housing are changed and fixed to the lower housing depending on whether the emitting direction of the laser light is right or left. At the same time, the front side optical component and the rear side optical component of the discharge chamber are exchanged, and the front-back direction of the optical resonator is reversed. That is, the emitting direction of the laser light is changed by exchanging the mounting directions of the components forming the device.

When the discharge chamber cannot be attached to the center of the upper housing due to the equipments housed in the upper housing, the upper housing is used to fix the discharge chamber to two different positions in the optical axis direction. A guide is provided and the discharge chamber is moved along the guide and fixed. Then, the optical resonator is fixed to a resonator fixing portion provided corresponding to two different discharge chamber fixing positions. Accordingly, even when the discharge chamber cannot be attached to the center of the upper housing, it is possible to obtain a gas laser device in which laser light emission directions are opposite to each other using common components. If a positioning pin or a positioning hole is provided in the mounting portion of the front side optical component or the rear side optical component in the discharge chamber, it becomes easy to position and attach these optical components.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the gas laser device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The parts corresponding to the parts described in the above-mentioned prior art are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of a gas laser device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the housing 12 is composed of an upper housing 54 which constitutes the upper chamber 16 and a lower housing 56 which constitutes the lower chamber 18 (however, a frame plate is omitted in the figure and the frame member is omitted). Only shown). And the upper housing 5
Tongue portions 60a to 60d are provided at the lower ends of the four vertical frame members 58a to 58d, respectively. These tongues 6
0a to 60d are formed so as to be point-symmetric with respect to the center of the upper housing 54, and when the upper housing 54 is rotated 180 degrees as described later, the tongue 60a is located at the position of the tongue 60c. The tongue 60a is located at the position of the tongue 60a, and the tongues 60b and 60d are similarly formed.

On the other hand, the lower housing 56 comprises the frame 6
A ceiling of the lower housing 56 and a slab 64 that constitutes the floor surface of the upper housing 54 are fixed to the upper part of 2 by welding or the like. And the upper housing 54
Screws or bolts 66 through the tongues 60a-60d.
It is removably fixed to the slab 64 by. In addition, a fastening tongue portion may be formed at a position corresponding to the tongue portions 60a to 60d on the upper portion of the frame 62 of the lower housing 56.

The discharge chamber 20 has fixtures 68 on both sides.
Is provided and is fixed to the upper surface of the slab 64 using a plurality of screws or bolts 70 via the fixture 68. That is, in the slab 64, a long hole 72 is formed at a position corresponding to the screw hole of the fixture 68 or the insertion hole of the bolt 70. It can be fixed. The long hole 72 serves as a guide for moving the discharge chamber 20 in the optical axis direction and is formed along the optical axis.

On the other hand, a rear mirror box 3 for housing rear side optical components provided on both sides of the discharge chamber 20 in the optical axis direction.
The front mirror box 34 accommodating 2 and the front side optical components is provided with a flange 74, and is detachably fixed to the discharge chamber 20 by a screw 76 or the like via the flange 74. In addition, the flange 74,
A plurality of pin holes, into which the positioning pins 80 provided in the discharge chamber 20 can be inserted, are provided so that the positioning and the mounting can be easily performed when mounting each mirror box. Further, the rear mirror box 32 and the front mirror box 34 are formed with the screw holes and the positioning pin holes of the flange 74 at the same position so that they can be interchanged and mounted.

The total reflection mirror 26 and the output mirror 28 constituting the optical resonator 24 are attached to fixed plates 82 and 84. The fixing plates 82 and 84 are fixed to both ends of the pair of lower invar rods 86 and one unillustrated upper invar rod. Further, each invar rod penetrates a pair of rod support plates 88, 90 arranged on both sides of the discharge chamber 20, and is supported by the rod support plates 88, 90. The rod support plates 88 and 90 are
The screw 92 is detachably fixed to the slab 64 via a mounting hole that serves as a resonator fixing portion.
Further, as will be described later in detail, when the discharge chamber 20 is moved rightward in FIG. 1 along the long hole 72, the slab 64 has a resonance for replacing the front-rear direction of the optical resonator 24 and mounting it. Mounting holes 94a and 94b, which are device fixing portions, are formed. In addition, it is desirable that the surrounding plates (not shown) on both sides of the discharge chamber 20 of the upper housing 54 can be opened. Further, in FIG. 1, a thyratron provided above the discharge chamber 20 is omitted.

In the present invention configured as described above, for example, when it is desired to take out the laser light in the right direction of FIG. 1, the discharge chamber 20 and the optical resonator 24 are assembled as shown in FIG. The booster 42, the thyratron drive device 44, and the inverter 46 are arranged as shown in FIG. When it is desired to change the emission direction of the laser light to the left in FIG. 1, the vertical frame members 58a to 58a of the upper housing 54
Bolt 66 fixing 58d to lower housing 56
And remove the upper housing 54 from the lower housing 56.

After that, the screw 92 fixing the rod supporting plates 88 and 90 is loosened, and the optical resonator 24 is removed from the slab 64. Next, the bolt 70 that fixes the discharge chamber 20 is loosened, and the discharge chamber 20 is guided by the long hole 72.
1 to the right in FIG. 1, and the discharge chamber 20 is fixed to the slab 64 by tightening the bolt 70 at a predetermined position on the right end portion of the elongated hole 72. And the rear mirror box 32
The front mirror box 34 and the front mirror box 34 are removed from the discharge chamber 20, and the rear mirror box 32 and the front mirror box 34 are replaced with each other and fixed to the discharge chamber 20.

Next, the rod support plates 88 and 90 are attached to the slab 64 at the positions of the attachment holes 94a and 94b, and the optical resonator 24 is fixed. At this time, the front and rear directions of the optical resonator 24 are switched. That is, the rod support plate 88 is fixed at the position of the mounting hole 94b, the rod support plate 90 is fixed at the position of the mounting hole 94a, the output mirror 28 is on the left side of FIG. 1, and the total reflection mirror 26 is on the right side of FIG. (See FIG. 2).

After that, the front and rear directions of the upper housing 54 are reversed and fixed to the lower housing 56. That is,
The positions of the vertical frame members 58a and 58c and the positions of the vertical frame members 58b and 58d are replaced with each other and fixed. This allows the upper housing 5
The emission window (not shown) provided in FIG. 4 is on the left side of FIG. 1, and the arrangement relationship between the booster 42, the thyratron drive device 44, and the inverter 86 in the upper housing 54 is opposite to that of FIG. 3 as shown in FIG. The laser light 36 is emitted to the left in FIG. 2 as indicated by the arrow.

As described above, in the embodiment, the front and rear directions of the upper housing 54 and the optical resonator 24 are interchanged, and the total reflection mirror 26 and the output mirror 28 provided in the discharge chamber 20 are interchanged and exchanged. Thus, the laser light 36 can be selected and emitted in either the left or right direction. That is, the emission direction of the laser light 36 can be selected by mounting the same component, the component specification can be simplified, the component management can be facilitated, and the cost of the excimer laser device 10 can be reduced. Since the emitting direction of the laser beam 36 can be changed depending on the assembling method, many excimer laser devices 10 can be used.
When arranging, the maintenance areas for a plurality of units can be shared, and the degree of freedom in installation can be increased and efficient arrangement can be achieved.

Further, since the discharge chamber 20 is moved along the elongated hole 72, the discharge chamber 20 is placed at the center of the upper housing 54 in relation to the inverter 46 and the thyratron drive device 44 as shown in FIG. Even when it cannot be installed, the discharge chamber 20 may be moved in accordance with the front-back direction of the upper housing 54, and it is possible to easily cope with the case where the emitting direction of the laser light 36 needs to be changed due to, for example, a layout change in a factory. can do. The rear mirror box 32 and the front mirror box 34 are attached to the discharge chamber 20 by
Since positioning is performed by the positioning pin 80 provided in the discharge chamber 20, positioning adjustment can be performed easily and securely,
It is possible to speed up the assembly.

In the above embodiment, the tongue portions 60a to 60d are provided below the vertical frame members 58a to 58d forming the upper housing 54, and the tongue portions 60a to 60d are provided.
Although the case where 0d is fixed by the screw or the bolt 66 has been described, the beam may be passed to the lower portion between the vertical frame members 58a to 58d and fixed via the beam. By providing the beams between the vertical frame members 58a to 58d in this manner, the strength of the upper housing 54 can be improved.

In the above embodiment, the case where the positioning pin 80 is provided in the discharge chamber 20 has been described, but a positioning hole may be formed on the discharge chamber 20 side and the positioning pin may be provided in the mirror box. Further, although the excimer laser device 10 has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention can also be applied to other gas laser devices such as Co ₂ .

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily change the emission direction of laser light by changing the mounting direction of the parts constituting the device, and the laser light can be emitted from the same part. Since it is possible to obtain a device having different emitting directions, it is possible to easily manage the parts and reduce the cost of the device.

Further, the upper housing is provided with a guide for fixing the discharge chamber at two different positions in the optical axis direction, and the discharge chamber is moved along the guide to be fixed. Even if the discharge chamber cannot be attached to the center of the upper housing due to the parts arranged in the above, the emitting direction of the laser light can be easily changed. Further, when the discharge chamber is provided with the positioning pin or the positioning hole for mounting the front side optical component or the rear side optical component, positioning and mounting of these optical components become easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of a gas laser device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram in the case of changing the emission direction of laser light according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a conventional excimer laser device.

[Explanation of Codes] 10 Excimer Laser Device 12 Housing 20 Discharge Chamber 24 Optical Resonator 26 Total Reflection Mirror 28 Output Mirror 32 Rear Side Optical Parts (Rear Mirror Box) 34 Front Side Optical Parts (Front Mirror Box) 54 Upper Housing 56 Lower Housing 72 Guide (long hole) 80 Positioning pins 94a, 94b Resonator fixing part (mounting hole)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An upper housing containing a discharge chamber and a lower housing containing auxiliary devices and control equipment, wherein the upper housing is formed so as to be removable from the lower housing and replaceable in the front-rear direction. The discharge chamber includes a housing and an optical resonator provided in the upper housing so as to be interchangeable in the front-rear direction and in which the discharge chamber is arranged. The discharge chamber includes a front side optical component provided on one side and another side. The gas laser device is characterized in that the rear side optical component provided on the rear side is interchangeably mountable. 2. The upper housing is provided with a guide for fixing the discharge chamber at two different positions in the optical axis direction, and the optical resonator is fixed in correspondence with the two chamber fixing positions. 2. The gas laser device according to claim 1, wherein a resonator fixing portion is formed. 3. The gas laser device according to claim 1, wherein the discharge chamber is provided with a positioning pin or a positioning hole at a mounting portion of the front side optical component or the rear side optical component.