EFFICIENT, RELIABLE ARF LASER DRIVERS FOR 193 NM PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS EFFORT IS TO DEVELOP NEW ARF LASER TECHNOLOGY FOR USE IN 193 NM PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS. THESE LITHOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS WILL ENABLE COST-EFFECTIVE FABRICATION OF MILITARY APPLICATION SPECIFIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS WITH FEATURE SIZES AT OR BELOW 0.25FM. IN THE PROPOSED PROGRAM, NEW ALL-SOLID-STATE ARF LASER DRIVER TECHNOLOGY WILL BE DEVELOPED TO REPLACE THYRATRON-BASED DRIVERS USED IN CURRENT, COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE ARF LASERS. THIS NEW ALL-SOLID-STATE TECHNOLOGY WILL EXTEND DRIVER LIFETIME BY A FACTOR OF 20 (TO 6 X 10(10) SHOTS) AND WILL FEATURE NOVEL CIRCUITS WHICH RECOVER ENERGY REFLECTED FROM THE TIME-VARYING DISCHARGE LOAD. THE RECOVERED ENERGY WILL BE STORED AND THEN REUSED ON THE NEXT DISCHARGE PULSE. THESE ENERGY RECOVERY CIRCUITS WILL EXTEND LASER DISCHARGE ELECTRODE LIFE AND INCREASE OVERALL LASER EFFICIENCY. THIS NEW DRIVER WILL ALSO BE DESIGNED TO INCREASE ARF LASER REPETITION RATE FROM 400 PPS TO 1000 PPS, INCREASE LASER DUTY FACTOR AND THEREBY EXTEND THE LIFE OF THE DEEP-UV LASER RESONATOR OPTICS. THIS ALL-SOLID-STATE ARF LASER DRIVER TECHNOLOGY IS BASED ON SCR-COMMUTATED, NONLINEAR MAGNETIC PULSE COMPRESSION COUPLED WITH A NOVEL FRACTIONAL-TURN TRANSFORMER WHICH ENABLES AN EXTREMELY COMPACT, LOW COST, MODULAR DESIGN. IN THE PHASE I EFFORT, FINAL DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS FOR THIS DRIVER WILL BE ESTABLISHED AND A DETAILED ENGINEERING DESIGN OF THE DRIVER WILL BE COMPLETED. IN THE PHASE II EFFORT, THIS DRIVER WILL BE FABRICATED AND EXTENSIVELY TESTED. THE NEW ALL-SOLID-STATE PULSED POWER TECHNOLOGY TO BE DEVELOPED IN THIS EFFORT WILL EXTEND ARF LASER DRIVER LIFETIME BY A FACTOR OF 20 OVER PREVIOUS THYRATRONBASED DESIGNS, EXTEND LASER DISCHARGE ELECTRODE LIFETIME AND OPTICS LIFETIME AND INCREASE LASER POWER AND EFFICIENCY. POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDE USE OF THESE DRIVERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIABLE RARE GAS HALIDE LASERS FOR METALWORKING (WELDING, CUTTING, HEAT TREATING), MEDICINE (NEUROSURGERY LITHOTRIPSY, ANGIOPLASTY, CORNEAL SCULPTING) AND DEEP-UV PROJECTION LITHOGRAPHY.