Dual pulse driven extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation source utilizing a droplet comprising a metal core with dual concentric shells of buffer gas

摘要

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation source pellet includes at least one metal particle embedded within a heavy noble gas cluster contained within a noble gas shell cluster. The EUV radiation source assembly can be activated by a sequential irradiation of at least one first laser pulse and at least one second laser pulse. Each first laser pulse generates plasma by detaching outer orbital electrons from the at least one metal particle and releasing the electrons into the heavy noble gas cluster. Each second laser pulse amplifies the plasma embedded in the heavy noble gas cluster triggering a laser-driven self-amplifying process. The amplified plasma induces inter-orbital electron transitions in heavy noble gas and other constitute atoms leading to emission of EUV radiation. The laser pulsing units can be combined with a source pellet generation unit to form an integrated EUV source system.

主权项

1. An apparatus for generating an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation, said apparatus comprising:
an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation source pellet generator configured to generate EUV radiation pellets containing:
at least one metallic particle;a heavy noble gas cluster embedding said at least one metallic particle; anda noble gas shell cluster embedding said heavy noble gas cluster and containing a cluster of a light noble gas selected from He, Ne, and Ar; and at least one irradiation source, wherein each of said at least one irradiation source is configured to irradiate a laser beam toward a path of said EUV radiation pellets.