Apparatus for generating extreme ultra-violet beam using multi-gas cell modules

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9844125-B2
Application number	US-201514979729-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2015
Priority date	Dec 26, 2014
Publication date	Dec 12, 2017
Grant date	Dec 12, 2017

Abstract

Provided is an extreme ultra-violet (EUV) beam generation apparatus using multi-gas cell modules in which a gas is prevented from directly flowing into a vacuum chamber by adding an auxiliary gas cell serving as a buffer chamber to a main gas cell, a diffusion rate of the gas is decreased, a high vacuum state is maintained, and a higher power EUV beam is continuously generated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An extreme ultra-violet (EUV) beam generation apparatus using multi-gas cell modules, the apparatus comprising:
a main gas cell module disposed in a vacuum chamber for generating an EUV beam and including a main housing configured to form the entirety of a body thereof,
a laser incident path formed on a first side surface of the main housing to pass a laser beam which is transmitted through a plurality of optical members included in the vacuum chamber to be incident,
an EUV emission path formed on a second side surface of the main housing to communicate with the laser incident path on a coaxial line so as to emit an EUV beam, which is generated by interacting the laser beam incident through the laser incident path with an external inert gas, to the second side surface of the main housing, and
a gas supply flow path formed on a third side surface of the main housing to communicate with the laser incident path or the EUV emission path so as to supply the external inert gas to the laser incident path or the EUV emission path;
a plurality of first auxiliary gas cell modules coupled to a first side surface of the main gas cell module, each individual first auxiliary gas cell module comprising:
a first auxiliary housing configured to form the entirety of a body of the first auxiliary gas cell module thereof that is coupled to the first side surface of the main gas cell module by a fixative,
a laser incident extending path formed on a first side surface of the first auxiliary housing to communicate with the laser incident path on a coaxial line so as to transmit the incident laser beam to the laser incident path, to the laser incident path, and
a first gas discharge flow path formed on a second side surface of the first auxiliary housing to communicate with the laser incident extending path so as to discharge the inert gas supplied to the laser incident path to an outside of the vacuum chamber through the laser incident extending path; and

a plurality of second auxiliary gas cell modules coupled to a second side surface of the main gas cell module, each individual second auxillary gas cell module comprising:
a second auxiliary housing configured to form the entirety of a body of the second auxiliary gas cell module thereof that is coupled to the second side surface of the main gas cell module by a fixative,
an EUV emission extending path formed on a first side surface of the second auxiliary housing to communicate with the EUV emission path on a coaxial line so as to emit the EUV beam received from the EUV emission path into the vacuum chamber, and
a second gas discharge flow path formed on a second side surface of the second auxiliary housing to communicate with the EUV emission extending path so as to discharge the inert gas supplied to the EUV emission path to the outside of the vacuum chamber through the EUV emission extending path,

wherein the inert gas is supplied from the outside of the vacuum chamber to the gas supply flow path through a gas supply port and a gas supply pipe which are connected to an end of the gas supply flow path, and the inert gas is discharged to the outside of the vacuum chamber through first and second gas discharge ports and first and second gas discharge pipes which are respectively connected to ends of the first and second gas discharge flow paths.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least two of the first and second auxiliary gas cell modules extend and are respectively coupled to the first and second side surfaces of the main gas cell module.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a pressure controller provided at any one portion of the gas supply port, the gas supply pipe, and a portion therebetween and configured to control a pressure and a flow rate of the inert gas according to an intensity of the laser beam.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a pressure adjusting valve provided at any one portion of the first and second gas discharge ports, the first and second gas discharge pipes, a portion between the first and second gas discharge ports, and a portion between the first and second gas discharge pipes and configured to adjust a pressure of the inert gas using an aperture principle.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein diameters of the laser incident path and the EUV emission path of the main gas cell module, and diameters of the laser incident extending path and the EUV emission extending path of the first and second auxiliary gas cell modules are formed to be smaller than a diameter of the gas supply flow path of the main gas cell module and diameters of the first and second gas discharge flow paths of the first and second auxiliary gas cell modules.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inert gas includes at least any one of helium (He), neon (Ne), and argon (Ar).

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an auxiliary housing configured to be included in the first and second auxiliary gas cell modules and having a diameter of a hole smaller than or equal to diameters of the laser incident path, the laser incident extending path, and the EUV emission extending path as required.

Assignees

• Korea Inst Sci & Tech

Inventors

• Jhon Young Min
• Kim Yong Soo
• Ahn Joon Mo
• Seo Min Ah
• Kim Jae Hun
• Park Min Chul
• Byun Young Tae
• Kim Chul Ki
• Lee Seok
• Woo Deok Ha

Classifications

• H05G2/00 Primary

  Apparatus or processes specially adapted for producing X-rays, not involving X-ray tubes, e.g. involving generation of a plasma (X-ray lasers H01S4/00) · CPC title

• H05G2/003 Primary

  the plasma being generated from a material in a liquid or gas state · CPC title

• H05G2/008

  involving an energy-carrying beam in the process of plasma generation · CPC title