Patent ID: 6490306
Filing Date: 2002-12-03
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
An excimer or molecular fluorine laser, comprising:an oscillator for generating a pulsed sub-0.6 nm, sub-250 nm laser beam, including: a laser tube including a discharge chamber filled with a laser gas mixture at least including molecular fluorine and a buffer gas; a plurality of electrodes in the discharge chamber connected to a pulsed discharge circuit for energizing the gas mixture; a resonator surrounding the gas mixture for generating a pulsed sub-250 nm laser beam; and a line-narrowing unit for narrowing the bandwidth of said laser, said line-narrowing unit including a beam expander and a grating and narrowing said bandwidth to less than 0.6 pm, and an amplifier for increasing an energy of the pulsed sub-0.6 pm, sub-250 nm laser beam, including a laser tube including a discharge chamber filled with a laser gas mixture at least including molecular fluorine and a buffer gas; a plurality of electrodes in the discharge chamber connected to a pulsed discharge circuit for energizing the gas mixture at times when pulses of the sub-250 nm laser beam generated by the oscillator are present within the discharge chamber; and a resonator surrounding the gas mixture for generating a laser beam.