Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01S—DEVICES USING THE PROCESS OF LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION [LASER] TO AMPLIFY OR GENERATE LIGHT; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN WAVE RANGES OTHER THAN OPTICAL
  • H01S3/00—Lasers, i.e. devices using stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet wave range
  • H01S3/10—Controlling the intensity, frequency, phase, polarisation or direction of the emitted radiation, e.g. switching, gating, modulating or demodulating
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01S—DEVICES USING THE PROCESS OF LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION [LASER] TO AMPLIFY OR GENERATE LIGHT; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN WAVE RANGES OTHER THAN OPTICAL
  • H01S3/00—Lasers, i.e. devices using stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet wave range
  • H01S3/005—Optical devices external to the laser cavity, specially adapted for lasers, e.g. for homogenisation of the beam or for manipulating laser pulses, e.g. pulse shaping
  • H01S3/0057—Temporal shaping, e.g. pulse compression, frequency chirping
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
  • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
  • G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
  • G03F7/70483—Information management; Active and passive control; Testing; Wafer monitoring, e.g. pattern monitoring
  • G03F7/7055—Exposure light control in all parts of the microlithographic apparatus, e.g. pulse length control or light interruption
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01S—DEVICES USING THE PROCESS OF LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION [LASER] TO AMPLIFY OR GENERATE LIGHT; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN WAVE RANGES OTHER THAN OPTICAL
  • H01S3/00—Lasers, i.e. devices using stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet wave range
  • H01S3/02—Constructional details
  • H01S3/03—Constructional details of gas laser discharge tubes
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01S—DEVICES USING THE PROCESS OF LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF RADIATION [LASER] TO AMPLIFY OR GENERATE LIGHT; DEVICES USING STIMULATED EMISSION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN WAVE RANGES OTHER THAN OPTICAL
  • H01S3/00—Lasers, i.e. devices using stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet wave range
  • H01S3/14—Lasers, i.e. devices using stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet wave range characterised by the material used as the active medium
  • H01S3/22—Gases
  • H01S3/223—Gases the active gas being polyatomic, i.e. containing two or more atoms
  • H01S3/225—Gases the active gas being polyatomic, i.e. containing two or more atoms comprising an excimer or exciplex

Definitions

• the present invention relates to pulse stretchers useful for lengthening the pulse of the output of a high power gas discharge laser system in order to reduce peak power of the pulse while delivering essentially the same dose, e.g., for uses as a pulsed light source, e.g., in integrated circuit manufacture photolithography.
• Pulse stretchers are well known as indicated by the above referenced patents and co-pending patent applications. While devices implemented according to aspects of the concept of the inventions disclosed in United States Published Patent Application No. 20050105579 noted above may be quite useful for the applications noted above and others, in particular the con-focal pulse stretcher has certain shortcomings for such uses that need improvement.
• a gas discharge laser system producing a laser output pulse and a method of operating such a system may comprise a pulse stretcher which may comprise a laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic directing a portion of the laser output pulse along a laser system output pulse optical axis and diverting a portion of the output pulse into an optical delay having an optical delay path and which may comprise a plurality of confocal resonators in series aligned to deliver an output of the optical delay to the laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic; an optical axis alignment mechanism comprising an radial mirror positioning mechanism operable to position the output of the optical delay to the align with the portion of the laser output pulse transmitted along the optical axis of the portion of the laser system output pulse transmitted by the laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic.
• the plurality of confocal resonators may comprise an even number of confocal resonators comprising a multiple of the even number of confocal resonator number of passes through such even number of mirror arrangement, e.g., four confocal resonators comprising a twelve pass mirror arrangement.
• Each of the plurality of confocal resonators may comprise a first concave mirror having a radius of curvature and a second concave mirror having the same radius of curvature and separated by the radius of curvature.
• At least one of the concave mirrors may comprise a spherical concave mirror.
• FIG. 1 shows a partially schematic cross-sectional view of a pulse stretcher according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 2 shows a partially schematic perspective view of the pulse stretcher according to FIG. 1 ;
• FIG. 6 illustrates partially schematically in cross section, e.g., the tilt tolerance of the pulse stretcher according to FIG.' s 1-2.
• FIG. 7 shows a measurement of the two dimensional spatial coherence of an output laser pulse passed through two pulse stretchers in series according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 8 shows a measurement of the two dimensional spatial coherence of an output laser pulse passed through a single pulse stretcher according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 9 shows a measurement of the two dimensional spatial coherence of an output laser pulse without any pulse stretching according to an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 10 shows a two dimensional measurement of the intensity distribution of an output laser pulse according to an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 11 shows schematically an example of an alignment technique useful with non-confocal pulse stretchers described in the present application and one or more of the above referenced patents and/or patent applications;
• FIG. 12 shows schematically aspects of an embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 13 shows schematically aspects of a problem with prior confocal lens pulse stretchers corrected according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 14 shows schematically aspects of an embodiment of the present inventions.
• an optical pulse stretcher for a laser light source e.g., a gas discharge laser light source, e.g., a KrF or ArF or molecular fluorine gas discharge laser, e.g., for use in integrated circuitry lithography illumination, which has a long optical delay, but is constrained to have a practical physical length, e.g., less than about 8 feet, e.g., in order to be mounted on existing laser frames or contained within a beam delivery unit and fit, e.g., in a fabrication facility clean room sub-floor room.
• a gas discharge laser light source e.g., a KrF or ArF or molecular fluorine gas discharge laser
• a practical physical length e.g., less than about 8 feet, e.g., in order to be mounted on existing laser frames or contained within a beam delivery unit and fit, e.g., in a fabrication facility clean room sub-floor room.
• Such a pulse stretcher is capable of, e.g., an optical pulse stretching having, e.g., an 80 ns delay from a physical length of about 2 meters and a total of 4 mirrors.
• the pulse stretcher disclosed e.g., does not suffer the focusing problems of, e.g., a Herriott Cell nor the re-entry and symmetry problems of, e.g., a White Cell.
• the design is so stable that it may require no adjustments for alignment.
• stability can be derived, e.g., from the fact that the design is essentially 4 confocal resonators, having, e.g., the re-entry characteristic of a confocal resonator. According, e.g., the beam will retrace its path no matter what the angle orientation exists between the two mirrors forming, e.g., the respective confocal resonator, as long as the beam intercepts the respective next mirror in the respective confocal resonator.
• This concept can be most easily identified by examining one section of the layout as shown in FIG.'s 3-6. Turning first to FIG.' s 1 and 2, however, there is shown a pulse stretcher 18 according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention.
• the pulse stretcher 1 1 may comprise, e.g., four focusing mirrors, e.g., concave spherical mirrors 20, 21, 22, 23, which may be, e.g., 10 cm in diameter, e.g., for handling adequately a beam size of e.g., 1.2 cm x 1.2 cm.
• Each of the mirrors 20, 21, 22 and 23 is separated by a radius of curvature of the spherical mirror preceding it in a respective confocal resonator cell and may have, e.g., a radius of curvature of, e.g., about 1.6 - 2 meters.
• the beam 1 can enter the delay path formed by the mirrors 20, 21, 22, 23 through a beam splitter (not shown in FIG.'s 1 and 2 for clarity reasons) and be incident at a first point 1 on the mirror 20.
• a beam splitter not shown in FIG.'s 1 and 2 for clarity reasons
• the reflected beam 2 is incident on point 2 on mirror 21, and from there, the reflected beam 3 returns to mirror 20 at point three.
• the reflected beam Ia is incident on point 4 on mirror 22 and from there the reflected beam 2a is incident on point 5 on mirror 23 and the reflected beam from point 5 on mirror 23 is returned to mirror 22 as reflected beam 3a incident on point 6 on mirror 22.
• a third confocal resonator cell is then set up as the beam reflected from point 6 on mirror 22, beam Ib reflected to point 7 on mirror 20 and from there is reflected as beam 2b incident on point 8 on mirror 21 and then returned to mirror 20 at point 9 on mirror 20 as beam 3b.
• the reflected beam from point 9 on mirror 20, beam, 1 c is incident on point 10 on mirror 22 and reflected from there as beam 2c to point 11 on mirror 23 and from there, reflected beam 3c is incident on point 12 on mirror 22 which is aligned to return reflected beam 1 ' to the beam splitter (not shown in FIG.'s land 2).
• FIG.s 3-6 illustrates the effect within a single confocal resonance cell of misalignment from perfect alignment, e.g., as illustrated in FIG.'s 1-2. Because of, e.g., this property, the 12 pass design 18 will always be aligned as long as the mirrors, e.g., mirrors 20, 21, 22, 23 are positioned well enough to redirect the beam from a first mirror in a respective confocal resonator cell to the correct opposing mirror.
• FIG. 3 there is shown, e.g., a first of the confocal resonance cells according to FIG.s 1 and 2, showing, e.g., beams 1, 2 and 3 in a first confocal resonance cell as shown, e.g, in FIG.' s 1 and 2, e.g., with the mirrors 20 and 21 aligned so that, e.g., the full extent of mirror 20 is used to separate points 1 and 3 and showing the reflection from point 2 on mirror 21 returning to point 3 on mirror 2o, from which it is reflected to point 4 on mirror 22 (not shown in FIG.'s 3-5).
• FIG. 4 three is shown according to an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention the effect of, e.g., a small misalignment of mirror 20, e.g., a 1.5° tilt, such that, e.g., the point 2 on mirror 21 to which beam 2 travels from point 1 on mirror 20, due to the misalignment is displaces almost completely across the face of the mirror 21 , but remaining on the face of the mirror 21.
• a small misalignment of mirror 20 e.g., a 1.5° tilt
• FIG. 5 three is illustrated schematically, e.g., the effect of a misalignment of mirror 21 according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention wherein the beam 2 is incident on mirror 21 at a point 2 displaces across the face of mirror 21, also displacing the point 3 on mirror, similarly to FIG. 4, but with the beam 1 a reflected from point 3 on mirror 20 in FIG. 5 again returning to the proper point 4 on mirror 22 (not shown in FIG. 5.)
• FIG.' s 4 and 5 illustrate, e.g., that despite misalignment of mirror 20 with respect to mirror 21, which can include misalignment of both from the perfect alignment, illustrated schematically in FIG.' s 1-3, the beam reflects back upon itself and so long as it remains within the confines of the surface of the mirror 20 (the first mirror of the respective confocal resonator) the exit beam from the respective confocal resonator will arrive at the proper place on the next mirror in sequence, e.g., mirror 22 (not shown in FIG.' s 4 and 5).
• FIG. 6 there is shown schematically the operation of the entire pulse stretcher according to an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention with, e.g., a slight tilt in a mirror 20, 21, 22 or 23, e.g., mirror 21.
• Fig. 6 shows that despite the misalignment the last beam 1 ' remains perfectly aligned with the beam splitter (not shown) output of the delay path for the pulse stretcher 18 according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention.
• a single pulse stretcher of the type described according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention may stretch a typical excimer or other fluorine gas discharge laser, e.g., a molecular fluorine gas discharge laser, having a pulse duration of the output laser pulse of on the order of about 40 ns having, e.g., a Tis of on the order of about, e.g., 8 ns, to a pulse having several peaks not greater than, e.g., about 40% of the input peak power to the pulse stretcher 18 according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention, and having, e .g., a Tis of on the order of about 45 ns.
• a typical excimer or other fluorine gas discharge laser e.g., a molecular fluorine gas discharge laser
• having a pulse duration of the output laser pulse of on the order of about 40 ns having, e.g., a Tis of on the order of about, e.g., 8
• a method of scanning the laser beam and calculating weighted average of the spatial coherence is proposed, e.g., for measuring more accurately the spatial coherence of an output laser beam pulse as is pertinent to proper performance of the output laser beam pulse in properly serving the function of, e.g., an integrated circuit lithography tool light source, e.g., a DUV light source.
• This scanning means of estimation of output laser pulse coherence produced data illustrated, e.g., in FIG.' s 7-9, showing respectively the information regarding two dimensional beam coherency for, respectively an unstretched pulse, i.e., a pulse not passed through applicants' assignee's OpuS (FIG. 7), a pulse passed through a single stage pulse stretcher, e.g., applicants * assignee's OpuS, and an output laser pulse beam passed through a two stage Opus.
• the output laser pulse has a peak contrast of about, e.g., 0.3, and a weighted average overall of about, e.g., 0.11.
• FIG. 7 shows that the horizontal and vertical coherency is low, with, e.g., most of the beam being in regions 52 (0-0.125) as indicated in the bar graph to the right of the illustration or region 54 ((0.125-0.250), with some small portions of the beam in region 50 (0.250-0.375), and some further still smaller portions in other ranges, which are due to boundary effects of the measurement setup.
• These measurements were taken with a 2X OpuS pulse stretcher and a 4x Opus pulse stretcher in place in the beam path.
• FIG. 8 there is shown an illustration of the beam becoming more coherent, particularly as measured in the x-axis, including much more of the beam in range 50 (0.250-0.375) and also including still further areas in range 56 (0.375- 0.500). These measurements were taken with only a 2X OpuS in place in the beam path.
• the beam is even more coherent when both pulse stretchers are out of the beam path, now including a more definite distribution of more or less equal areas in the ranges 50-54 and distributed more or less symmetrically about the vertical centerline axis of the beam along the x-axis and further now including a significant portion in range 58 (0.500-0.625) with some small portions of the beam in the ranges 70 (0.625-0.750), 72 (0.750-0.875) and 74 (0.875-1.000).
• Coherency is being measured through the diffraction fringes set up by the beam passing through the pin holes across the beam profile, with the more coherent light in the laser beam resulting in more fringes and more contrast.
• the maximum contract increased to 0.48 and the overall weighted average increased to 0.22 and for FIG. 9, the maximum contract increased to 0.58 and the overall weighted average to 0.37. This amounts to, e.g., an almost one half increase in the maximum contrast and an almost two thirds decrease in overall weighted average.
• the pulse stretcher has not only the beneficial results of increasing pulse length and decreasing peak pulse intensity, resulting in higher Tis but also is a very efficient reducer of spatial coherence in the output laser light beam.
• FIG. 10 there is shown a beam intensity profile in two dimensions, including, e.g., intensities ranging from 10-308.8 arbitrary units of scale, in region 100, generally around the periphery of the beam profile to 2101- 2400 arbitrary units of scale (region 114) generally at the center of the beam profile, with regions 102 (308.8-607.5), 104 (607.5-906.3), 106 (906.3-1205), 108 (1205- 1504), 108 (1504-1803), 112 (1803-2101) and 114 (2101-2400) generally from the periphery to the center of the beam profile.
• regions 102 (308.8-607.5
• 104 607.5-906.3
• 106 906.3-1205
• 108 (1205- 1504
• 112 1803-2101
• 114 2101-2400
• FIG. 11 there is shown schematically an alignment technique useful with pulse stretchers referred to in one or more of the above referenced U.S. patents and pending applications.
• confocal 200 ns OPUS e.g., as disclosed in United States Published Patent Application No. 20050105579 noted above
• a confocal pulse stretcher such as noted above, can be an excellent instrumentality for stretching pulses.
• the confocal design can be utilized to provide a very stable beam which is very insensitive to input beam pointing variations.
• the technique of so-called z shifting of the last OPUS mirror used in other forms of 2X or 4X pulse stretchers, such as those sold in or with applicant's assignee's laser systems, e.g., ELS 7XXX or XLA IXX, 2XX or 3XX has been found not to work in the confocal design. As shown, e.g., in FIG.
• FIG. 12 there is shown schematically such a confocal pulse stretcher 230 as disclosed, e.g., in the United States Published Patent Application No. 20050105579 noted above, with certain improvements. Since the mirrors 230 a- d of a confocal pulse stretcher 230 may not be independently adjustable, z shifting would not work. In addition, such a confocal design is very sensitive to the radius of curvature of the mirrors, e.g., 230a-d. Therefore, a standard, e.g., +2 % mirror radius of curvature tolerance could lead to a non-manufacturable design.
• a standard, e.g., +2 % mirror radius of curvature tolerance could lead to a non-manufacturable design.
• the proposed changes to the earlier described confocal pulse stretcher can result in a confocal pulse stretcher (OPuS) useful for both photolithography and for producing a long pulse that is well suited for crystal growth in excimer laser crystallization.
• OPS confocal pulse stretcher
• FIG.' s 12-!4 according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention applicants propose to provide a compensating plate 250 as shown in Figure 12, and in more detail in FIG. 14.
• Such an arrangement can be utilized to solve the problem of overlapping the output beam 252 with the beam 254 exiting the pulse stretcher, such that the delayed beam 254 essentially fully overlaps the main beam 252, e.g., in both position and angle.
• applicants also propose, as illustrated schematically in FIG. 12, to provide for at least one mirror 230a-d to be adjustable in position in a radial direction, e.g., to solve the problem of the confocal pulse stretcher being un-aligned due, e.g., to incorrect radius of curvature for the mirrors, though still within achievable manufacturing tolerance.
• This is shown in Figure 12.
• Applicants have found that it is sufficient to adjust one mirror axially to compensate for variation in radius of curvature of all mirrors. More than one mirror may be so adjusted also by radial adjustment or otherwise.
• FIG. 13 there is shown a beam splitter that introduces the laser output light beam 262 into the delay path, e.g., by reflecting part of the beam 262 as beam 264.
• the remainder of the beam passes through the beam splitter 260 and forms output beam 270 with a slight refraction in the beam splitter 260.
• the beam 274 returning from the delay path to the beam splitter 260 may be aligned with the beam 264 leaving the beam splitter 260 and entering the delay path but the internal reflection in the beam splitter will misalign the beams 270 and 276 as illustrated schematically in FIG. 13.
• FIG. 14 shows schematically the effect of introducing a compensating wedge 280.
• the compensating wedge can translate the output beam 282 from the compensating wedge 280 which enters the compensating wedge as beam 274 aligned with the beam 264 entering the delay path, sufficiently to align the internally reflected beam 282 with the main output beam 270 from the pulse stretcher. It will be understood that this beam 270 may also enter into a subsequent pulse stretcher.
• a gas discharge laser system producing a laser output pulse and a method of operating such a system may comprise a pulse stretcher which may comprise a laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic directing a portion of the laser output pulse along a laser system output pulse optical axis and diverting a portion of the output pulse into an optical delay having an optical delay path and which may comprise a plurality of confocal resonators in series aligned to deliver an output of the optical delay to the laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic; an optical axis alignment mechanism comprising an radial mirror positioning mechanism operable to position the output of the optical delay to the align with the portion of the laser output pulse transmitted along the optical axis of the portion of the laser system output pulse transmitted by the laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic.
• the respective confocal mirror may comprise a mounting that holds the mirror in its aligned position, e.g., with the radius of curvature.
• the mounting plate may be mounted in a frame by at least one adjustable mounting mechanism, e.g., aligned with the radius of curvature of the confocal mirror, the adjustable mounting mechanism may comprise, e.g., a threaded attachment, e.g., with threads having a pitch, e.g., in the mm range, and which, when the threaded attachment is rotated, serves to move the mounting plate with respect to the adjustable mounting mechanism, thus selectively positioning the respective confocal mirror along its radius of curvature.
• the plurality of confocal resonators may comprise an even number of confocal resonators comprising a multiple of the even number of confocal resonator number of passes through such even number of mirror arrangement, e.g., four confocal resonators comprising a twelve pass mirror arrangement.
• Each of the plurality of confocal resonators may comprise a first concave mirror having a radius of curvature and a second concave mirror having the same radius of curvature and separated by the radius of curvature.
• At least one of the concave mirrors may comprise a spherical concave mirror.
• the positioning mechanism may comprise a means for adjusting the position of the respective mirror in a radial direction away from the center of the sphere forming to focus of the spherical shape of the confocal mirror.
• the gas discharge laser system producing a laser output pulse may comprise a pulse stretcher which may comprise a laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic transmitting a portion of the laser output pulse along a laser system output pulse optical axis and diverting a portion of the output pulse into an optical delay having an optical delay path and which may comprise a plurality of confocal resonators in series aligned to deliver an output of the optical delay to the laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic; an optical axis altering mechanism comprising an optically transmissive optical element operable to position the output of the optical delay to align with the portion of the laser output pulse transmitted along the optical axis of the portion of the laser system output pulse transmitted by the laser output pulse optical delay initiating optic.
• the transmissive optical element may comprise a generally flat optical element.
• the optically transmissive element comprises a wedge optical element.

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• 2006
  • 2006-03-31 US US11/394,512 patent/US7415056B2/en active Active
• 2007
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  • 2007-03-23 JP JP2009502878A patent/JP5738528B2/ja active Active
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