Control system for a plurality of deep ultraviolet optical oscillators

A method of controlling a plurality of optical oscillators in a deep ultraviolet (DUV) optical system, the DUV optical system including a control system, the method comprising:

• a step performed by the control system of monitoring the DUV optical system and making a condition determination whether a condition exists;
• a step performed by the control system of determining if any of the plurality of optical oscillators are in a waiting state based at least in part on the condition determination;
• and
• a step performed by the control system of performing a calibration action in a subset of the plurality of optical oscillators that are in the waiting state, wherein one or more of the optical oscillators that are not in the waiting state continue to produce an exposure beam while the control system performs the calibration action.

A method of controlling a plurality of optical oscillators in a deep ultraviolet (DUV) optical lithography system, the DUV optical system including a control system, the method comprising:

• a step performed by the control system of receiving a request for an exposure beam configured to provide a requested dose of DUV light to a wafer;
• a step performed by the control system of making a cold start determination of whether a cold start condition exists;
• and
• a step performed by the control system based at least in part on the cold start determination of:
• activating more than a nominal number of optical oscillators, the nominal number of optical oscillators being a number of optical oscillators capable of providing the requested dose under steady-state conditions;
• and
• directing a light beam from each of the activated optical oscillators toward a scanner apparatus to provide the exposure beam during a cold start period.

An optical source system comprising:

• N optical oscillators, wherein N is an integer number that is greater than or equal to two;
• a beam combiner configured to produce an exposure beam from one or more light beams received from one or more of the N optical oscillators;
• and
• a control system configured to control the plurality of optical oscillators to determine which M of the plurality of optical oscillators produce light for the exposure beam, wherein M is an integer that is greater than or equal to one and is less than or equal to N,
• the control system being further configured to determine whether a condition exists in the optical source system, and to perform a calibration action in one or more of the plurality of optical oscillators if the condition exists, and
• wherein the calibration action adjusts a property of a light beam emitted by the one of the plurality of optical oscillators, and the property comprises a center wavelength, an energy, or a spectral bandwidth.

An optical source system comprising:

• N optical oscillators, wherein N is an integer number that is greater than or equal to two;
• a beam combiner configured to produce an exposure beam from one or more light beams received from one or more of the N optical oscillators;
• and
• a control system configured to control the plurality of optical oscillators to determine which M of the plurality of optical oscillators produce light for the exposure beam, wherein M is an integer that is greater than or equal to one and is less than or equal to N,
• wherein the optical oscillators produce light beams having different center wavelengths.