In the paper we report about the progress made at XTREME technologies in the development of EUV sources based on gas discharge produced plasma (GDPP) technologies and laser produced plasma (LPP) technologies.First prototype xenon GDPP sources of the type XTS 13-35 based on the Z-pinch principle with 35 W power in 2π sr have been integrated into micro-exposure tools from Exitech, UK. Specifications of the EUV sources and experience of integration as well as data about component and optics lifetime are presented.In the source development program for Beta exposure tools and high volume manufacturing exposure tools both tin and xenon have been investigated as fuel for the EUV sources. Development progress in porous metal cooling technology as well as pulsed power circuit design has led to GDPP sources with xenon fuel continuous operating with an output power of 200 W in 2π sr at 4500 Hz repetition rate. With tin fuel an output power of 400 W in 2π sr was obtained leaving all other conditions unaltered with respect to the xenon based source. The performance of the xenon fueled sources is sufficiently good to fulfill all requirements up to the beta tool level.For both the xenon and the tin GDPP sources detailed data about source performance are reported, including component lifetime and optics lifetime. The status of the integration of the sources with grazing incidence collector optics is discussed. Theoretical estimations of collection efficiencies are compared with experimental data to determine the loss mechanisms in the beam path. Specifically contamination issues related to tin as target material as well as debris mitigation in tin sources is addressed.As driver lasers for the LPP source research diode-pumped Nd:YAG lasers have been used to generate EUV emitting plasma. As target material xenon has been employed. Conversion efficiencies have been measured and currently the maximum conversion efficiency amounts to 1 %. The laser driver power of 1.2 kW is currently achieved with a masteroscillator power-amplifier industrial Nd:YAG laser configuration. With this laser, xenon based EUV sources have achieved 10 W EUV power at 13.5 nm emitted into 2π sr solid angle.For the xenon LPP sources detailed data about the achieved source performance including component lifetime and optics lifetime are reported. The status of the integration of the sources with normal incidence collector optics is shown.The potentials and limits of Z-pinch GDPP and LPP EUV source technologies to achieve high volume manufacturing specifications are discussed in this paper.
With the progress of mask writer technology, 50 KV electron beam writers always perform with better pattern fidelity and critical dimension (CD) control than traditional laser raster-scan writers because laser spot size is confined by the laser longer wavelength relative to electron beam. As far as Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) pattern fidelity is concerned, critical masks with OPC process have to choose Variable-Shape-Beam (VSB) electron beam writer presently.However, the over-aggressive OPC fragmentation induces data volume abrupt explosion, longer writing time, higher mask cost and even mask quality degradation 1 .Micronic Sigma7500 laser writer introduces a novel imaging system combining partial coherent light and DUV spatial light modulation (SLM) to generate a high-quality pattern image 2 . The benefit of raster-scan laser writer is high throughput with consistent writing time regardless of pattern geometry, complexity and data size. However, pattern CD accuracy still needs improvement. This study is to evaluate jog CD control capability of Sigma7500 on OPC typical line-and-space test patterns with different orientations of 0°, 90°, 45° and 135°. In addition, mask CD uniformity and OPC jog height linearity will also be demonstrated.
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