Plasma and Fusion Research

Volume 4, 048 (2009)

Review Articles

Laser Production of Extreme Ultraviolet Light Source for the Next Generation Lithography Application
Shinsuke FUJIOKA, Hiroaki NISHIMURA, Katsunobu NISHIHARA, Noriaki MIYANAGA, Yasukazu IZAWA, Kunioki MIMA, Yoshinori SHIMADA1) and Atsushi SUNAHARA1)
Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, 2-6 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, Japan
1)
Institute for Laser Technology, 2-6 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, Japan
(Received 25 August 2008 / Accepted 24 August 2009 / Published 5 November 2009)

Abstract

Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is a technology to be used in mass production of the next-generation semiconductor devices. Critical issues in the development of a Sn-based EUV source are in achieving a high conversion efficiency (CE) of incident laser energy into EUV light, reducing debris emanating from light source plasmas, and suppressing out-of-band radiation beside the EUV light. The minimum-mass target, which contains the minimum number of Sn atoms required for sufficient EUV radiation, is a solution to these critical issues. One practical-minimum mass target is a pure Sn microdroplet. Laser-driven expansion of a pure Sn microdroplet is proposed to solve the considerable mismatch between the optimal laser spot diameter (300 µm) and the diameter (20 µm) of microdroplets containing the minimum-mass Sn fuel for generating the required EUV radiant energy (10 mJ/pulse). An expanded microdroplet was irradiated with a CO2 laser pulse to generate EUV light. A combination of low density and long scale length of the expanded microdroplet leads to a higher EUV energy CE (4%) than that (2.5%) obtained from planar Sn bulk targets irradiated by a single CO2 laser pulse. This scheme can be used to produce a practical EUV light source system with an EUV CE of 3.9%.

Keywords

extreme ultraviolet light, laser-produced plasma, x-ray radiation source

DOI: 10.1585/pfr.4.048

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This paper may be cited as follows:

Shinsuke FUJIOKA, Hiroaki NISHIMURA, Katsunobu NISHIHARA, Noriaki MIYANAGA, Yasukazu IZAWA, Kunioki MIMA, Yoshinori SHIMADA and Atsushi SUNAHARA, Plasma Fusion Res. 4, 048 (2009).