Vacuum chamber arrangement for charged particle beam generator
AssigneeASML Netherlands B.V.
InventorsAlexander Hendrik Vincent Van Veen, Willem Henk Urbanus, Marco Jan-Jaco Wieland
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Abstract
The invention relates to charged particle beam generator comprising a charged particle source for generating a charged particle beam, a collimator system comprising a collimator structure with a plurality of collimator electrodes for collimating the charged particle beam, a beam source vacuum chamber comprising the charged particle source, and a generator vacuum chamber comprising the collimator structure and the beam source vacuum chamber within a vacuum, wherein the collimator system is positioned outside the beam source vacuum chamber. Each of the beam source vacuum chamber and the generator vacuum chamber may be provided with a vacuum pump.
Claims20
A collimator electrode stack, comprising:
- a plurality of stacked collimator electrodes for collimating a charged particle beam along an optical axis, wherein each collimator electrode of the plurality of stacked collimator electrodes comprises an electrode body with an electrode aperture for permitting passage of the charged particle beam, wherein the electrode bodies are mutually spaced along an axial direction that is substantially parallel with the optical axis, and wherein the electrode apertures are coaxially aligned along the optical axis;
- and
- a stack support system for supporting the collimator electrode stack with respect to an external reference frame, and connected to a lateral region of the collimator electrode stack.
A charged particle beam generator, comprising:
- a beam source for generating a charged particle beam along an optical axis;
- and
- a collimator electrode stack comprising:
- a plurality of stacked collimator electrodes for collimating the charged particle beam along the optical axis, wherein each collimator electrode of the plurality of stacked collimator electrodes comprises an electrode body with an electrode aperture for permitting passage of the charged particle beam, wherein the electrode bodies are mutually spaced along an axial direction that is substantially parallel with the optical axis, and wherein the electrode apertures are coaxially aligned along the optical axis;
- and
- a stack support system for supporting the collimator electrode stack with respect to an external reference frame, and connected to a lateral region of the collimator electrode stack,
- wherein a first collimator electrode of the collimator electrodes is provided at an upstream end of the collimator electrode stack, wherein the beam source is provided upstream of the first collimator electrode, and wherein the beam source and the electrode apertures of the collimator electrodes are coaxially aligned along the optical axis.
A charged particle lithography system for processing a target, the system comprising:
- a vacuum chamber enclosing a carrier frame;
- and
- a charged particle beam generator accommodated by the carrier frame, the charged particle beam generator comprising:
- a beam source for generating a charged particle beam along an optical axis;
- and
- a collimator electrode stack comprising:
- a plurality of stacked collimator electrodes for collimating the charged particle beam along the optical axis, wherein each collimator electrode of the plurality of stacked collimator electrodes comprises an electrode body with an electrode aperture for permitting passage of the charged particle beam, wherein the electrode bodies are mutually spaced along an axial direction that is substantially parallel with the optical axis, and wherein the electrode apertures are coaxially aligned along the optical axis;
- and
- a stack support system for supporting the collimator electrode stack with respect to the carrier frame, and connected to a lateral region of the collimator electrode stack,
- wherein a first collimator electrode of the collimator electrodes is provided at an upstream end of the collimator electrode stack, wherein the beam source is provided upstream of the first collimator electrode, and wherein the beam source and the electrode apertures of the collimator electrodes are coaxially aligned along the optical axis,
- wherein the stack support system of the collimator electrode stack comprises three stack support members, each stack support member of the three stack support members being connected to a mid-region of the collimator electrode stack at a first end, and to the carrier frame at a second end.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.