Patent ID: 6882704
Filing Date: 2005-04-19
Classification: H05G

Abstract:
1. A radiation source for generating extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation, wherein a hot plasma emitting the desired radiation is generated in a vacuum chamber, comprising: a plasma generation unit which is directly connected with the vacuum chamber for introducing high energy input which is supplied in a pulsed manner in order to generate hot plasma in a small spatial extension and with high density in a vacuum chamber; said vacuum chamber having an outlet opening for coupling out a light bundle for a specific application; a vacuum generation unit for generating a diluted gas atmosphere at defined pressure in the vacuum chamber and portions of the plasma generation unit; said vacuum generation unit furthermore having at least one vacuum pump, a pressure measuring device and a control for maintaining a suitable operating pressure for the generation of the plasma and EUV radiation, and an energy monitor unit for detecting the pulse energy of the emitted radiation; said energy monitor unit having a feedback to the energy input for regulating a pulse-to-pulse stability of the energy emission of the plasma, a radiation diagnosis unit for analyzing the actual radiation characteristic of the radiation emitted from the plasma and generating result data of the diagnosis for influencing the excitation conditions for the plasma, and a main control unit for controlling a defined quality of the coupled out light bundle as radiation pulses of application-specific pulse repetition rate, average energy emission and radiation intensity; said main control unit having interfaces to said units of the radiation source in order to detect at least their state of adjustment; and operator controls being provided for application-specific control in order to influence the radiation source depending upon transmitted status data, diagnosis data and application requirements that are entered.