Calibration of photoelectromagnetic sensor in a laser source

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9239269-B1
Application number	US-201414330526-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 14, 2014
Priority date	Jul 14, 2014
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

In a laser-produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) system, laser pulses are used to produce EUV light. To determine the energy of individual laser pulses, a photoelectromagnetic (PEM) detector is calibrated to a power meter using a calibration coefficient. When measuring a unitary laser beam comprising pulses of a single wavelength, the calibration coefficient is calculated based on a burst of the pulses. A combined laser beam has main pulses of a first wavelength alternating with pre-pulses pulses of a second wavelength. To calculate the energy of the main pulses in the combined laser beam, the calibration coefficient calculated for a unitary laser beam of the main pulses is used. To calculate the energy of the pre-pulses in the combined laser beam, a new calibration coefficient is calculated. When the calculated energy values drift beyond a pre-defined threshold, the calibration coefficients are recalculated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
an energy monitor within a laser-produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) system, the energy monitor configured to measure a laser beam comprising pre-pulses and main pulses separated by a length of time, the energy monitor comprising:
a power meter configured to sense an average power of the series of laser pulses over a defined period of time, and
a photoelectromagnetic (PEM) detector configured to provide a voltage signal depicting a temporal profile of the first pre-pulse separated from the first main pulse by the length of time during a portion of the defined period of time;

a calibration module configured to determine a power of the first main pulse based on a main pulse calibration coefficient and a pulse integral of a portion of the voltage signal corresponding to the first main pulse, to determine a power of the first pre-pulse based on the average power and the power of the first main pulse, and to determine a pre-pulse calibration coefficient based on the power of the first pre-pulse and an integral of a portion of the voltage signal corresponding to the first pre-pulse; and
a single pulse energy calculation (SPEC) module configured to determine an energy of a second pre-pulse based on the pre-pulse calibration coefficient and a pulse integral of a portion of a second voltage signal provided by the PEM detector corresponding to the second pre-pulse, and to determine an energy of a second main pulse based on the main pulse calibration coefficient and a pulse integral of a portion of the second voltage signal to the second main pulse.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a recalibration module configured to calculate an energy of the laser beam over a second defined period of time based on the second voltage signal provided by the PEM.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the recalibration module is further configured to compare the calculated energy of the laser beam to the average power sensed by the power meter over the second defined period of time and to instruct to the calibration module to update the pre-pulse calibration coefficient based on the comparison.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the recalibration module is configured to instruct the calibration module to update the pre-pulse calibration coefficient if the comparison exceeds a threshold.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the calibration module is configured to determine the power of the first pre-pulse by subtracting the power attributable to the main pulses during the defined period of time from the average power over the defined period of time.

6. A method comprising:
receiving a measurement of a laser beam comprising pre-pulses and main pulses using an energy monitor within a laser-produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) system, the measurement of the laser beam comprising: an average power of the series of laser pulses over a defined period of time measured using a power meter, and a first voltage signal depicting a temporal profile of a first pre-pulse of the pre-pulses separated from a first main pulse of the main pulses by a length of time, the first voltage signal provided by a photoelectromagnetic (PEM) detector;
determining a power of the first main pulse based on a main pulse calibration coefficient and an integral of a portion of the first voltage signal corresponding to the first main pulse;
determining a power of the first pre-pulse based on the average power and the power of the first main pulse;
determining a pre-pulse calibration coefficient based on the power of the first pre-pulse and an integral of a portion of the first voltage signal corresponding to the first pre-pulse;
determining an energy of a second pre-pulse based on the pre-pulse calibration coefficient and an integral of a portion of a second voltage signal provided by the PEM detector corresponding to the second pre-pulse; and
determining an energy of a second main pulse based on the main pulse calibration coefficient and an integral of a portion of the second voltage signal corresponding to the second main pulse.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising calculating an energy of the laser beam over a second defined period of time based on the second voltage signal provided by the PEM.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising comparing the calculated energy of the laser beam to the average power over the second defined period of time and updating the pre-pulse calibration coefficient based on the comparison.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein updating of the pre-pulse calibration coefficient is based on the comparison exceeding a threshold.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the power of the first pre-pulse is performed by subtracting the power attributable to the main pulses during the defined period of time from the average power over the defined period of time.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon, the instructions executable by one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving a measurement of a laser beam comprising pre-pulses and main pulses using an energy monitor within a laser-produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) system, the measurement of the laser beam comprising: an average power of the series of laser pulses over a defined period of time measured using a power meter, and a first voltage signal depicting a temporal profile of a first pre-pulse of the pre-pulses separated from a first main pulse of the main pulses by a length of time, the first voltage signal provided by a photoelectromagnetic (PEM) detector;
determining a power of the first main pulse based on a main pulse calibration coefficient and an integral of a portion of the first voltage signal corresponding to the first main pulse;
determining a power of the first pre-pulse based on the average power and the power of the first main pulse;
determining a pre-pulse calibration coefficient based on the power of the first pre-pulse and an integral of a portion of the first voltage signal corresponding to the first pre-pulse;
determining an energy of a second pre-pulse based on the pre-pulse calibration coefficient and an integral of a portion of a second voltage signal provided by the PEM detector corresponding to the second pre-pulse; and
determining an energy of a second main pulse based on the main pulse calibration coefficient and an integral of a portion of the second voltage signal corresponding to the second main pulse.

Assignees

• Asml Netherlands Bv

Inventors

• Liu Rong
• Rafac Robert J
• Myers David Wayne
• Bergstedt Robert A
• Mckenzie Paul Alexander

Classifications

• G01J11/00 Primary

  Measuring the characteristics of individual optical pulses or of optical pulse trains · CPC title

• G01J1/4257

  applied to monitoring the characteristics of a beam, e.g. laser beam, headlamp beam (monitoring arrangements for lasers in general H01S3/0014) · CPC title

• G01J2001/4238

  Pulsed light · CPC title

• G01J1/429

  applied to measurement of ultraviolet light (using counting tubes G01T) · CPC title

• H01S5/042

  Electrical excitation {; Circuits therefor (monolithically integrated laser drive components H01S5/0261)} · CPC title