Vessel for extreme ultraviolet radiation source
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsSsu-Yu Chen, Che-Chang Hsu, Chi Yang, Shang-Chieh Chien, Li-Jui Chen, Po-Chung Cheng
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A source for generating extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation includes a chamber enclosing a low pressure environment. A gas inlet is configured to provide a cleaning gas in the chamber. A plurality of exhaust ports, each having a corresponding gate valve including a scanner gate valve corresponding to an exhaust port separating the chamber from an EUV scanner are provided to the chamber. A pressure sensor is disposed inside the chamber and adjacent to the scanner gate valve. A controller is configured to control the gate valves other than the scanner gate valve based on an output of the pressure sensor.
Claims20
A method of operating an EUV light generation apparatus, wherein the EUV light generation apparatus includes a vessel having a gas inlet, an interface port to be connected to a scanner, a gate valve disposed at the interface port and an exhaust port, the method comprising:
- generating EUV light while supplying a gas from the gas inlet and exhausting the gas from the exhaust port;
- stopping the EUV light generation;
- after stopping the EUV light generation, increasing a flow rate of the exhaust gas exhausted from the exhaust port;
- and
- after increasing the flow rate, closing the gate valve.
A method of operating an EUV light generation apparatus, wherein the EUV light generation apparatus includes a vessel having a gas inlet, an interface port connected to a scanner, a gate valve disposed at the interface port and an exhaust port, the method comprising:
- generating EUV light while supplying a gas from the gas inlet and exhausting the gas from the exhaust port;
- stopping the EUV light generation;
- after stopping the EUV light generation, monitoring a pressure turbulence adjacent to a scanner gate valve;
- and
- after determining that the pressure turbulence exceeds a threshold, increasing a flow rate of the exhaust gas exhausted from the exhaust port.
An apparatus for generating extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation, comprising:
- a chamber;
- an EUV vessel disposed in the chamber, wherein the EUV vessel comprising:
- a gas inlet configured to provide a cleaning gas into the EUV vessel;
- an interface port to be connected to a scanner;
- a gate valve disposed at the interface port and an exhaust port;
- and
- a controller configured to control the gate valve to suppress airflow from the gate valve toward the collector mirror.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.