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US 2026/0310088 A1Published application
Method and apparatus for mitigating tin debris
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsCheng Hung TSAI, Sheng-Kang YU, Shang-Chieh CHIEN, Heng-Hsin LIU, Li-Jui CHEN
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Abstract
Microwave heating of debris collecting vanes within the source vessel of a lithography apparatus is used to accomplish uniform temperature distribution in order to reduce fall-on contamination and formation of clogs on the inner and outer surfaces of the vanes.
Claims20
An extreme ultra violet (EUV) lithography method, comprising:
- generating tin debris within a source vessel;
- collecting the tin debris on at least one vane disposed within the source vessel;
- and
- performing at least one warm cycle and at least one hot cycle in the source vessel using a microwave generator, the at least one warm cycle having a first temperature range and the at least one hot cycle having a second temperature range greater than the first temperature range,
- wherein the microwave generator is at least one of a klystron, a magnetron, and a solid state microwave power generator (SSPG).
2 more elements
An extreme ultra violet (EUV) lithography method, comprising:
- supplying tin droplets into a source chamber having one or more exhaust openings;
- irradiating the tin droplets with a laser to generate a plasma that emits EUV light and produces tin debris;
- directing the tin debris toward a plurality of hollow vanes;
- collecting the tin debris on the plurality of hollow vanes;
- applying microwave radiation from a microwave generator to the plurality of hollow vanes to maintain a temperature of the hollow vanes ranging from 150° C. to 400° C. to melt the tin debris;
- and
- collecting the melted tin debris from the plurality of hollow vanes in a droplet catcher.
4 more elements
An extreme ultra violet (EUV) lithography apparatus, comprising:
- a plasma chamber;
- a plurality of hollow vanes configured to collect debris generated in the plasma chamber, the vanes having a drip pin configured to allow melted debris to form droplets;
- a droplet catcher;
- a gutter configured to direct the droplets to the droplet catcher;
- and
- a microwave generator configured to heat the plurality of hollow vanes with microwave radiation.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.