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US 12,007,694 B2Granted
Lithography apparatus and method
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsWei-Chun Yen, Chi Yang, Sheng-Kang Yu, Shang-Chieh Chien, Li-Jui Chen, Heng-Hsin Liu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an embodiment, a method includes: heating a byproduct transport ring of an extreme ultraviolet source, the byproduct transport ring disposed beneath vanes of the extreme ultraviolet source; after heating the byproduct transport ring for a first duration, heating the vanes; after heating the vanes, cooling the vanes; and after cooling the vanes for a second duration, cooling the byproduct transport ring.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- generating a plasma with an extreme ultraviolet source, a byproduct of the plasma being distributed on vanes of the extreme ultraviolet source during generation of the plasma;
- heating a byproduct transport ring of the extreme ultraviolet source, the byproduct transport ring disposed beneath the vanes of the extreme ultraviolet source, wherein the byproduct transport ring is heated to a first temperature, the first temperature less than a melting point of the byproduct;
- after heating the byproduct transport ring for a first duration, heating the vanes;
- after heating the vanes, cooling the vanes;
- and
- after cooling the vanes for a second duration, cooling the byproduct transport ring.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- generating a plasma in a processing chamber by striking a tin droplet with a laser beam as the tin droplet is shot across a light collector, a byproduct of the tin droplet distributed on a vane in the processing chamber, an upper temperature of an upper portion of the vane being greater than a lower temperature of a lower portion of the vane during generation of the plasma, the lower portion of the vane being disposed closer to the light collector than the upper portion of the vane;
- reducing a difference between the upper temperature and the lower temperature by heating the lower portion of the vane;
- after reducing the difference between the upper temperature and the lower temperature, melting the byproduct of the tin droplet on the vane by heating the upper portion of the vane and the lower portion of the vane;
- and
- evacuating the melted byproduct of the tin droplet from the processing chamber.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a plasma generator;
- a light collector;
- a byproduct transport ring above the light collector, the byproduct transport ring comprising a first heating element;
- a vane above the byproduct transport ring, the byproduct transport ring being disposed between the vane and the light collector;
- a second heating element extending along a length of the vane;
- a controller configured to:
- generate a plasma above the light collector with the plasma generator, a plasma generation byproduct distributed on the vane;
- heat the first heating element of the byproduct transport ring to reduce a temperature difference between an upper portion and a lower portion of the vane;
- and
- after reducing the temperature difference, heat the second heating element to melt the plasma generation byproduct distributed on the vane.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.