Bright new multiplexed light sources

Nano-UV announced the launch of its new EUV sources to its HYDRA^TM product range recently.

HYDRA^TM – ABI (Actinic Blank Inspection), HYDRA^TM - AIMS (Aerial imaging measurement system) and HYDRA^TM – APMI (Actinic Patterned Mask Inspection) have all been developed to meet the demanding specifications set by the requirements of the actinic inspection tools needed for next generation semiconductor wafer fabrication and the 22 nm node and below, using EUVL technologies.

These source development breakthroughs have been made possible by the unique impulse micro discharge plasma and photon collecting technology i-SoCoMo^TM, which powers the new GEN II HYDRA^TM source units. The configurable design philosophy adopted in HYDRA^TM, makes possible the unprecedented high levels of EUV brightness from the small footprint systems, along with their high reliability, scalability and cost effectiveness. The spatial and time multiplexing of the source units makes these the brightest EUV sources available, even exceeding that attainable at large synchrotron facilities.

• The HYDRA^TM- ABI has been optimised to meet the system requirements of next generation mask blank actinic inspection tools. Exploiting the shorter wavelengths and brightness of HYDRA^TM - ABI, makes possible the detection of defect structures in mask blanks corresponding to printed features sizes of 5 nm at the wafer. Good signal levels and hence discrimination of defect regions are achievable by using the combined brightness of four i-SoCoMo^TM units running in a multiplexed mode in HYDRA^TM - ABI. This total pulsed rate of 12 kHz provides the required brightness levels for blank mask inspection, making the HYDRA^TM - ABI the only off-the-shelf source solution for mask blank inspection available today.
• The HYDRA^TM- AIMS utilises a 12 way multiplexing technology where each  i-SoCoMo^TM unit runs at 5 kHz. This now fills the gap in the infrastructure of EUV lithography processes technology by providing a convenient source technology for the next generation of Aerial Mask Inspection Tools.
• The HYDRA^TM- APMI has been tailored to meet the requirements of Aerial Patterned Mask Inspection tools. This is achieved by the multiplexed operation of eight i-SoCoMo^TM units where the goal is to be able to detect patterned mask defects at the 22 nm node and below.