Laser gas regeneration system and laser system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10879664-B2
Application number	US-201916375591-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2019
Priority date	Nov 29, 2016
Publication date	Dec 29, 2020
Grant date	Dec 29, 2020

Abstract

A laser gas regeneration system for an excimer laser includes a first pipe capable of supplying a laser chamber with a first laser gas, a second pipe capable of supplying the laser chamber with a second laser gas having a halogen gas concentration higher than that of the first laser gas, a third pipe allowing a gas exhausted from the laser chamber to pass therethrough, a gas refiner that refines the gas having passed through the third pipe, a branch that causes the refined gas to divide and flow into a fourth pipe and a fifth pipe, a first regenerated gas supplier that supplies the first pipe with a gas having divided and flowed into the fourth pipe, and a second regenerated gas supplier that adds a halogen gas to a gas having divided and flowed into the fifth pipe and supplies the second pipe with the halogen-added gas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laser gas regeneration system for an excimer laser including a first pipe configured to be capable of supplying a laser chamber with a first laser gas, a second pipe configured to be capable of supplying the laser chamber with a second laser gas having a halogen gas concentration higher than a halogen gas concentration of the first laser gas, and a third pipe configured to allow a gas exhausted from the laser chamber to pass therethrough, the laser gas regeneration system comprising:
a gas refiner that refines the gas having passed through the third pipe;
a branch that causes a gas having flowed into the gas refiner and having been refined by the gas refiner to divide and flow into a fourth pipe and a fifth pipe;
a first regenerated gas supplier that supplies the first pipe with a gas having divided and flowed into the fourth pipe; and
a second regenerated gas supplier that adds a halogen gas to a gas having divided and flowed into the fifth pipe and supplies the second pipe with the gas to which the halogen gas has been added.

2. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first valve that controls the first laser gas that flows into the first pipe from a first laser gas supply source containing the first laser gas;
a second valve that controls the gas that flows into the first pipe from the first regenerated gas supplier;
a third valve that controls the second laser gas that flows into the second pipe from a second laser gas supply source containing the second laser gas; and
a fourth valve that controls the gas that flows into the second pipe from the second regenerated gas supplier.

3. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second regenerated gas supplier includes a halogen gas supply source that supplies a third laser gas having a halogen gas concentration higher than the halogen gas concentration of the second laser gas and a halogen-added gas tank into which the gas having divided and flowed into the fifth pipe and the third laser gas flow, and the gases having flowed into the halogen-added gas tank are supplied to the second pipe via a sixth pipe.

4. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a first valve that controls the first laser gas that flows into the first pipe from a first laser gas supply source containing the first laser gas;
a second valve that controls the gas that flows into the first pipe from the first regenerated gas supplier;
a fifth valve that controls the gas that flows from the first laser gas supply source into the halogen-added gas tank; and
a sixth valve that controls the gas that flows through the fifth pipe into the halogen-added gas tank.

5. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 3 ,
wherein the halogen gas supply source includes a container that contains a metal fluoride and a heater that heats an interior of the container.

6. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 3 ,
wherein the second regenerated gas supplier further includes a seventh pipe connected to the halogen-added gas tank and a halogen gas trap and an exhaust pump disposed in the seventh pipe.

7. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 3 ,
wherein the gas refiner includes a recovery tank that recovers the gas having passed through the third pipe and a trap that refines a gas having passed through the recovery tank, and
the second regenerated gas supplier includes a seventh pipe connected to and between the halogen-added gas tank and the recovery tank and a halogen gas trap disposed in the seventh pipe.

8. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 3 ,
wherein the second regenerated gas supplier stores a predetermined amount of the third laser gas from the halogen gas supply source in the halogen-added gas tank before storing the gas having divided and flowed into the fifth pipe in the halogen-added gas tank.

9. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 3 ,
wherein the gas refiner includes a recovery tank that recovers the gas having passed through the third pipe and a trap that refines a gas having passed through the recovery tank, and
the second regenerated gas supplier causes part of the gas stored in the halogen-added gas tank to return to the recovery tank via a seventh pipe and a halogen gas trap disposed in the seventh pipe before storing the gas having divided and flowed into the fifth pipe in the halogen-added gas tank and then stores a predetermined amount of the third laser gas from the halogen gas supply source in the halogen-added gas tank.

10. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 3 ,
wherein the second regenerated gas supplier further includes a seventh pipe connected to the halogen-added gas tank and a halogen gas trap and an exhaust pump disposed in the seventh pipe,
the gas refiner includes a recovery tank that recovers the gas having passed through the third pipe and a trap that refines a gas having passed through the recovery tank, and
the second regenerated gas supplier causes part of the gas stored in the halogen-added gas tank to return to the recovery tank via the seventh pipe and the halogen gas trap before storing the gas having divided and flowed into the fifth pipe in the halogen-added gas tank, then exhausts another part of the gas stored in the halogen-added gas tank via the seventh pipe, the halogen gas trap, and the exhaust pump, and then stores a predetermined amount of the third laser gas from the halogen gas supply source in the halogen-added gas tank.

11. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second regenerated gas supplier includes a halogen gas supply source that supplies a third laser gas having a halogen gas concentration higher than the halogen gas concentration of the second laser gas and a plurality of halogen-added gas tanks into which the gas having divided and flowed into the fifth pipe and the third laser gas flow, and the gases having flowed into at least one of the plurality of halogen-added gas tanks are supplied to the second pipe via a sixth pipe.

12. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 11 ,
wherein the plurality of halogen-added gas tanks include a first halogen-added gas tank and a second halogen-added gas tank,
the gas storage in the first halogen-added gas tank through the fifth pipe and the gas supply from the second halogen-added gas tank to the sixth pipe are simultaneously performed, and
the gas storage in the second halogen-added gas tank through the fifth pipe and the gas supply from the first halogen-added gas tank to the sixth pipe are simultaneously performed.

13. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the gas refiner includes a recovery tank that recovers the gas having passed through the third pipe, a pressure boosting pump that boosts pressure of a gas having passed through the recovery tank, a boosted pressure gas tank that contains a gas having passed through the pressure boosting pump, and a trap that refines a gas having passed through the boosted pressure gas tank.

14. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the halogen gas contains fluorine gas.

15. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first laser gas contains at least one of krypton gas, neon gas, and helium gas.

16. The laser gas regeneration system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first laser gas contains at least one of argon gas, neon gas, and helium gas.

17. The laser gas regene

Assignees

• Gigaphoton Inc

Inventors

• Yashiro Masanori
• Tsushima Hiroaki
• Wakabayashi Osamu

Classifications

• C01B7/20 Primary

  Fluorine · CPC title

• H01S3/03

  of gas laser discharge tubes · CPC title

• H01S3/2258

  F2, i.e. molecular fluoride is comprised for lasing around 157 nm · CPC title

• H01S3/104

  in gas lasers · CPC title

• H01S3/08004

  incorporating a dispersive element, e.g. a prism for wavelength selection (H01S3/0811, H01S3/08022 take precedence) · CPC title