Laser-sustained plasma light source
AssigneeKLA-Tencor Corporation
InventorsIlya Bezel, Anatoly Shchemelinin, Yanming Zhao, Gildardo R. Delgado
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Abstract
A laser sustained plasma light source having a cell formed as a continuous tube with a circular cross section, a gas volume contained within the cell, at least one laser directed into the gas volume, for sustaining a plasma within the gas volume, the plasma producing a light, where the gas volume is heated as it leaves the plasma, cools as it circulates around the continuous tube of the cell, and reenters the plasma cooler than when it left the plasma and in a laminar flow, and a reflector for collecting the light and providing the light to a desired location.
Claims9
A laser sustained plasma light source, comprising:
- a cell formed as a continuous tube with a circular cross section,
- a gas volume contained within the cell,
- at least one laser directed into the gas volume, for sustaining a plasma within the gas volume, the plasma producing a light, where the gas volume is heated as it leaves the plasma, cools as it circulates around the continuous tube of the cell, and reenters the plasma cooler than when it left the plasma and in a stable laminar flow, and
- a reflector for collecting the light and providing the light to a desired location.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.