Patent ID: 6504860
Filing Date: 2003-01-07
Classification: G03F,H01S

Abstract:
A gas discharge laser system comprising:A) a gas discharge laser comprising: 1) line narrowing components for narrowing bandwidth of laser beams produced by said laser contained in a sealed line narrowing chamber having a purge inlet port and a purge outlet port; 2) an output coupler contained in a sealed output coupler chamber having a purge inlet port and a purge outlet port; and 3) a wavemeter contained in a sealed wave meter chamber having a purge inlet port and a purge out let port B) a purge gas source; and C) a component purge system comprising: 1) a distribution system comprising purge lines for directing said purge gas from said purge gas source filter to the inlet port of each of said line narrowing chamber, said output coupler chamber and said wavemeter chamber; 2) a purge monitoring system providing one or more signals indicative of the effectiveness of the component purge system; and 3) a processor configured to control laser timeout duration based on said one or more signals from said purge monitoring system.