Breakthrough in the EUVL

EUV source development has focused on plasmas generated by laser (LPP) or discharge (DPP) pulses. In both LPP and DPP, the mirror responsible for collecting the light is directly exposed to the plasma and is therefore vulnerable to damage from the high-energy ions and other debris.

The important achievements of NANO-UV's scientists and technologists are the combination of these two costly components into one functional unit: intrinsic Source Collector Module (i-SoCoMo™). Typically 20 MW of electrical power is delivered into a plasma, which produces an intense burst of EUV photons. Concurrently, an intrinsic plasma structure is created to collect the photons and deliver them to the right point. This is the indestructible PlasmaLens™.

These breakthrough technologies have enormous positive implications for EUVL HVM and metrology industries:

  • High power and high brightness
  • Debris Reduction (essentially, debris elimination)
  • Reliability
  • Process Reproducibility
  • Low Cost of Ownership
  • Minimized downtime.
  • ... and practical Multiplexing (read on)

The multiplexing concept

Source power output is an important factor for EUVL HVM. Today however, the power output of commercially available sources is insufficient to what is needed by the semi-conductor manufacturing industry. While our single source is much brighter than competitive Laser Produced Plasma (LPP) and Discharged Produced Plasma (DPP), it does not have the overall power needed to expose the resist. However, the modularity and compact design of our i-SoCoMoTM units enables us to put many of these together, to get the right power output needed for HVM.

The sources are operated in parallel in a multiplexed fashion. This increases source uniformity by improving the effective repetition rate. This solution provides 120 W at the intermediate focus (IF) with a 100 units multiplexed source, the HYDRA-100.

More importantly, the strength of the NANO-UV's multiplexed plasma source lies in its ability to operate even when one source fails, with only a small perturbation on the total output. This can be compensated by increasing the operating voltage of the remaining sources, unlike the failure of a single source, which brings the whole production to a halt. The HYDRA approach offers many operational advantages.