Efficient EUV collector designs
A collector that includes a laser produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultra violet (EUV) light source and a first optical path from the source to a mirror. The mirror is the first mirror that light emitted from the source and traveling along the first optical path impinges upon. The collector also includes a second optical path from the source to another mirror. The other mirror is the first mirror that light emitted from the source and raveling along the second path impinges upon. The mirror and the other mirror are oriented relative to the source such that light from the source traveling along the first optical path travels in a direction opposite to light traveling from the source along the second optical path. A collector having a discharge extreme ultra violet (EUV) light source.
The present application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/054,040, filed Feb. 8, 2005, entitled “EFFICIENT EUV COLLECTOR DESIGNS”. The U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/054,040 is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUNDIn the field of electronics, conductive and/or insulating features are formed on a substrate through photo-lithographic techniques. Essentially, an optical image that represents one or more patterns to be formed onto the substrate is directed onto a layer of photo resist that has been coated onto the substrate. A projection camera projects the optical image onto the photo resist layer from light that has been patterned in accordance with a mask.
In general, a primary measure of an electronic device's sophistication is its smallest feature size. The smallest feature size of an electronic device is largely determined by the sophistication of the lithography techniques and/or equipment employed in the device's manufacture. In particular, the shorter the wavelength of the light that is processed by the photo-lithographic equipment's projection camera optics, the smaller the smallest achievable feature size becomes.
Thus, in general, the smaller the wavelength of the light that is processed by the projection camera's optics, the more sophisticated the projection camera is deemed to be. Presently, considerable work is being done in the development of photo-lithographic equipment that processes light in the Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) spectra (a range approximately from 10 to 14 nm). Part of the challenge in designing EUV photo-lithographic equipment is designing that portion of the equipment that “pre-conditions” the EUV light prior to illuminating the mask and the entrance pupil of the projection camera.
A condenser is used to form light into the appropriate shape and uniformity at the projection camera entry pupil. The condenser can usually be viewed as containing two components: 1) a collector; and, 2) an illumination system. The collector is designed to collect photons from a light source. The illumination system crafts the light from the collector into the appropriate shape for illuminating the mask (arc field) and illuminating the entrance pupil of the projection camera.
An exemplary condenser originally described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,201 B1 (hereinafter, “Koch et. al.”) is shown in
A problem with EUV condensers is their expense. The cost of an EUV condenser is largely a function of the amount of photon energy that its light source emits. That is, the more photon energy that a light source emits, the more expensive the condenser.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:
In order to reduce the cost of an EUV condenser, more efficient collectors should be designed. By designing collectors that are capable of directing more photon energy from the light source into the illumination system, the amount of light energy needed from the source can be reduced; which, in turn, should lower the cost of the condenser as a whole because less expensive EUV sources can be used.
Two types of EUV light sources that are presently in common use are Laser Produced Plasma (LPP) sources and discharge sources.
Collector with LPP EUV Source
Another feature of the collector designs of
Specifically, note that each of the collector designs of
Referring to
According to the design of
The near grazing incidence angle of light (e.g., less than or equal to as 15° when measured against the reflective surface of the mirror 310) as it passes into grazing mirror 310 permits a high collection angle for each of mirrors 301 and 302 (e.g., in a range of 75° to 90°). The grazing incidence mirror 310 also conditions the illumination beam for the downstream mirrors of the illumination system. Also, related embodiments may only collect over approximately a hemisphere rather than a sphere (e.g., just mirror 302 is employed and not mirror 301).
In an embodiment, in order to ensure efficient reflectivity off of mirrors 301, 302, the angle of incidence at each of mirrors 301, 302 for non reflected light emanating from the source 305 is “normal” or “near normal” (e.g., less than or equal to 15° when measured against a ray that is normal to the reflecting surface of the mirror) across most, if not all, of the surface area of mirrors 301, 302). Graded reflective coatings on the mirror surfaces may permit more severe angles of incidence.
In an embodiment, the reflecting surface 303 of mirror 301 is approximately elliptical and the reflecting surface 304 of mirror 302 is approximately spherical. Mirror 302 may also be larger than mirror 301. In other or same embodiments, the collection angle for both mirrors 301, 302 ranges from 25° to 90°. Each of mirrors 301 and 302 may be annular to make room for the source 305 and any other fixtures. In the alternative, the surfaces may be biconic as used in lens optimization software design tools with the purpose of elongating the source image.
The optical design of
Again, in an embodiment, in order to ensure efficient reflectivity off of mirrors 401, 402, the angle of incidence at each of mirrors 401, 402 for non reflected light emanating from the source 405 is “normal” or “near normal” (e.g., less than or equal to 15° when measured against a ray that is normal to the reflecting surface of the mirror) across most, if not all, of the surface area of mirrors 401, 402. Also, again, graded reflective coatings on the mirror surfaces may permit more severe angles of incidence.
In an embodiment, the reflecting surface of mirror 401 is approximately elliptical and the reflecting surface of mirror 402 is approximately spherical. Mirror 402 may also be larger than mirror 401. In other or same embodiments, the collection angle for both mirrors 401, 402 ranges from 45° to 85°. Each of mirrors 401 and 402 may be annular to make room for the source 405 and any other fixtures.
Light that impinges upon regions 602 and 603 directly from source 601 form reflected beams 613 and 614, respectively. These beams focus to focus point 610. Light that impinges upon regions 604 and 605 directly from source 601 form reflected beams that pass through focus point 611 and continue forward to form reflected beams 615 and 616. Reflected beam 615 impinges upon reflecting surface 608 and converges after its reflection at focal point 610. Similarly, reflected beam 616 impinges upon reflecting surface 609 and converges after its reflection at focal point 610.
Note also a degree of stability against movement of the source 601 is likely to result from the perspective of image 610 because a number of light beams that experience an odd number of reflections in reaching source 610 will be compensated for by a number of light beams that experience an even number of reflections in reaching source 610.
Light that impinges upon region 606 directly from the source 601 reflects back to regions 603 and 605. The light that reflects to region 603 behaves as described above for region 603, and, the light that reflects to region 605 behaves as described above for region 605. Similarly, light that impinges upon region 607 directly from the source 601 reflects back to regions 602 and 604. The light that reflects to region 602 behaves as described above for region 602, and, the light that reflects to region 604 behaves as described above for region 604. Note that the diagram in
According to at least one implementation, regions 602 and 603 are part of the same annular reflective component. In combination, regions 604 and 605 may also be formed from a same, second annular reflective component that is coupled next to the annular component that forms regions 602 and 603. Alternatively, regions 604 and 605 may be formed with different reflective components with respect to one another; and/or, may be formed from the same reflective component that forms regions 602 and 603 (either as a whole or respectively). Regions 606 and 607 may be part of the same reflective component that regions 604 and 605 are formed with (either as a whole or respectively); or, may be formed with different components from those that form regions 604 and 605. Regions 606 and 607 may also be formed from the same annular reflective component or may be separate with respect to one another.
Collector with Discharge EUV Source
Known prior art collectors that collect EUV energy from a discharge source collect the EUV light at high “grazing” angles of incidence. Grazing angles of incidence can have poor collection efficiency given that they only collect at a collection angle no more than 45°. As such, in order to enhance the efficiency of a discharge source collector, a “normal” or “near-normal” angle of incidence is used at the collector's reflective surfaces.
The design of
According to the design of
Here, because the side view of
The approach of
In both the designs of
Koch et al. (discussed in the background) reveals that a faceted mirror can be used in the collector. The reflective surface of a faceted mirror is made of smaller discrete reflective surfaces that are positioned to break an incident beam into a plurality of smaller beams.
Presently, it has been realized that the use of faceted mirrors in the collector can be used to reduce the number of optical components in the illumination system; and, moreover, the use of faceted mirrors can be used to compensate for variations in the source's illumination properties.
Recall that the original purpose of the illumination system is to effectively break down the light from the collector into a plurality of beams in order to form light of the proper shape and uniformity at the mask plane and also to properly fill the entrance pupil of the projection camera. With one or more of the mirrors 1010, 1011, 1012 in the collector 1001 being faceted, the illumination system 1002 receives light from the collector 1001 already broken down into a plurality of beams.
As such, one of the faceted mirrors in the illumination system (notably mirror 206) can be eliminated. The elimination of the reflecting mirror improves the collection efficiency of the condenser as a whole because the light will experience one less reflection and reflections are less than 100% efficient (i.e., a reflection involves some light loss, so with each reflection along the optical channel the amount of light that is lost through the channel increases).
Referring back to
As a consequence it is possible to stabilize (in terms of position) the source image 311 created by the collector. That is, because of the opposite magnification (e.g., “positive” and “negative”) from the different beams of light, should the source 305 “move”, the beams that are magnified positively will move in one direction while beams that are magnified negatively will move in the opposite direction. As such, the position of the source image 311 should remain somewhat fixed as a consequence of the built-in compensation. Similar compensation techniques can be achieved with discharge source collectors having one or more faceted mirrors.
For any of the mirrors described above, the materials that could be used to form their respective reflective surfaces may include: Gold, Aluminum, Platinum, Chromium, Nickel, Molybdenum, Silicon, Beryllium, Palladium, Tungsten, Ruthenium, Rhodium, Lithium.
A reflective mask lithography system 1100 is shown in
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
Claims
1-52. (canceled)
53. A collector comprising:
- a laser produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultra violet (EUV) light source;
- a first optical path from said source to a mirror, said mirror being the first mirror that light emitted from said source and traveling along said first optical path impinges upon; and
- a second optical path from said source to another mirror, said another mirror being the first mirror that light emitted from said source and traveling along said second path impinges upon, said mirror and said another mirror oriented relative to said source such that light from said source traveling along said first optical path travels in a direction opposite to light traveling from said source along said second optical path.
54. The collector of claim 53, wherein said mirror is further positioned to reflect light traveling along said first optical path to said another mirror.
55. The collector of claim 54, further comprising a third mirror positioned to receive light reflected from said another mirror that traveled along said first and second paths.
56. The collector of claim 55, wherein said first mirror is faceted.
57. The collector of claim 55, wherein said another mirror is faceted.
58. The collector of claim 55, wherein the reflecting surface of said mirror is spherical or approximately spherical and the reflecting surface of said another mirror is elliptical or approximately elliptical.
59. The collector of claim 55, wherein the collection angle of at least one of the mirrors is between 45° to 90° inclusive.
60. The collector of claim 54, wherein the reflecting surface of said mirror is spherical and the reflecting surface of said another mirror is elliptical.
61. The collector of claim 54, wherein the collection angle of at least one of the mirrors is between 25° to 90° inclusive.
62. The collector of claim 53, wherein said mirror is smaller than said another mirror.
63. The collector of claim 53, wherein said collector is positioned to emit light into an illumination system, said illumination system to form a light beam from a plurality of light beams.
64. The collector of claim 63, wherein said illumination system is positioned to emit said light beam into a projection camera.
65. The collector of claim 64, wherein at least one of said mirrors is faceted and said illumination system comprises only one mirror.
66. The collector of claim 53, wherein said collector forms a plurality of beams with one or more of said mirrors being faceted so as to form opposite versions of said source image, said opposite versions positioned to compensate for any movement of said source.
67. A collector comprising:
- a laser produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultra violet (EUV) light source;
- a mirror being the first mirror that light emitted from said source and traveling to said mirror impinges upon; and
- a second mirror positioned to receive light from said mirror at an angle of incidence less than or equal to 15° when measured against the reflecting surface of said second mirror.
68. The collector of claim 67, further comprising a third mirror being the first mirror that light emitted from said source and traveling to said third mirror impinges upon.
69. The collector of claim 67, wherein said mirror is faceted, and wherein the collection angle of said mirror is between 45° to 90° inclusive.
70. A method comprising:
- emitting light from a laser produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultra violet (EUV) light source;
- reflecting said light from a mirror into a second mirror, said mirror being the first mirror that said light mirror impinges upon after being emitted from said light source; and
- receiving said light at said second mirror at an angle of incidence less than or equal to 15° when measured against the reflecting surface of said second mirror.
71. The method of claim 70, further comprising:
- emitting other light from said laser produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultra violet (EUV) light source;
- reflecting said other light from a third mirror to said mirror, said third mirror being the first mirror that said other light mirror impinges upon after being emitted from said light source.
72. The method of claim 70, wherein said reflecting further comprises breaking said light down into individual beams as a consequence of said mirror being faceted.
73. The method of claim 70, further comprising receiving said light at said mirror over a collection angle at a collection range between 45° to 90° inclusive.
Type: Application
Filed: May 22, 2008
Publication Date: Oct 30, 2008
Inventor: Jose Sasian (Tucson, AZ)
Application Number: 12/154,375
International Classification: G02B 17/06 (20060101);