Magnetic switch with impedance control for an optical system
AssigneeCymer, Inc.
InventorsChangqi You, Paul Christopher Melcher, Yuda Wang
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Abstract
One or more properties of an electrical quantity are determined based on one or more operating characteristics of an optical system that includes a laser system; an impedance of a magnetic core of a magnetic switching network is adjusted by providing the electrical quantity to a coil that is magnetically coupled to the magnetic core; and after adjusting the impedance of the magnetic core, a pulse of light is produced. Producing the pulse of light includes: saturating the magnetic core such that an electrical pulse is provided to an excitation mechanism of the laser system.
Claims25
A system comprising:
- a first optical subsystem configured to produce a pulsed seed light beam, the first optical subsystem comprising:
- a first chamber configured to hold a first gaseous gain medium;
- and
- a first excitation mechanism in the first chamber;
- a second optical subsystem configured to produce a pulsed output light beam based on the pulsed seed light beam, the second optical subsystem comprising:
- a second chamber configured to hold a second gaseous gain medium;
- and
- a second excitation mechanism in the second chamber;
- a first magnetic switching network configured to activate the first excitation mechanism, wherein activating the first excitation mechanism causes the first optical subsystem to produce a pulse of the pulsed seed light beam;
- a second magnetic switching network configured to activate the second excitation mechanism, wherein activating the second excitation mechanism causes the second optical subsystem to produce a pulse of the pulsed output light beam;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- adjust an impedance of one or more magnetic cores in the first magnetic switching network based on a first indication, wherein the first indication comprises an indication of one or more operating characteristics of one or more of the first optical subsystem and the first magnetic switching network;
- and
- adjust an impedance of one or more magnetic cores in the second magnetic switching network based on a second indication, wherein the second indication comprises an indication of one or more operating characteristics of one or more of the second optical subsystem and the second magnetic switching network.
A control system comprising:
- a monitoring module configured to access one or more operating characteristics of an optical system, the optical system comprising an optical source and a magnetic switching network;
- and
- a command module, the command module configured to:
- control a power supply to provide an electrical quantity to an electrical network that is magnetically coupled to the magnetic switching network,
- wherein the magnetic switching network is configured to provide an excitation pulse to the optical source,
- the electrical quantity places a magnetic core of the magnetic switching network in a non-saturation or reverse saturation state, and
- one or more properties of the electrical quantity are based on the one or more operating characteristics of the optical system.
A method comprising:
- determining one or properties of an electrical quantity based on one or more operating characteristics of an optical system that comprises a laser system;
- adjusting an impedance of a magnetic core of a magnetic switching network by providing the electrical quantity to a coil that is magnetically coupled to the magnetic core;
- and
- after adjusting the impedance of the magnetic core, producing a pulse of light, wherein producing the pulse of light comprises:
- saturating the magnetic core such that an electrical pulse is provided to an excitation mechanism of the laser system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.