Energetiq Technology (United States)

A broadband UV Laser-Driven Tunable Light Source (LDTLS^®), powered by a high-brightness Laser-Driven Light Source (LDLS^®) and operating in the wavelength range of 200nm to 770nm, is demonstrated for diamond inspection. Experimental results indicate an average in-band flux of 2.79mW using a 1.5mm core diameter fiber with a corresponding FWHM of 7.6nm, which can be adjusted by modifying the system's internal slits. The UV LDTLS offers continuous wavelength tuning across the UV spectral range of 200nm to 400nm, enabling precise detection of various internal defects and facilitating a comprehensive investigation of optimal conditions and the evolution of photoluminescence distribution. This capability supports detailed analysis and a deeper understanding of photoluminescence behavior, as exemplified by the fluorescence inspection of diamond samples under different wavelength outputs from the UV LDTLS, employing both imaging and illumination techniques.

We present a novel high-brightness broadband laser-driven pulsed source (LDPS) for various applications in semiconductor manufacturing. By focusing a pulsed laser beam to generate a high-brightness xenon plasma, this light source offers several advantages over traditional short-arc xenon flash lamps, including smaller plasma size, shorter pulse duration, higher peak brightness, improved pulse-to-pulse stability, and potentially longer operational life. These enhancements lead to higher temporal resolution, better signal-to-noise ratio, and more consistent performance, promising to significantly improve process control and efficiency. Our experimental results confirm its superior performance and the potential for substantial benefits in semiconductor manufacturing.

A high-brightness LDLS with manipulated spectral output is proposed and evaluated. Its design principle, features, radiance, and stability are presented alongside a comparison with a 30W deuterium light source.

The original EQ-10 electrodeless inductive Z-pinch EUV source has evolved in various directions, driven by customer demands. A high-frequency version (10 kHz instead of 3 kHz) was required for mirror testing. Experiments with helium addition elucidated the stability behavior of the source. In a non-EUV application, a version was produced to generate light at 2.88 nm, for use as a water window microscope illuminator. Some data at 6.7 nm has also been obtained. This chapter reviews the operating principles of the source and describes the performance in various applications.

The object of this review is to summarize the achievements of research on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak [Hutchinson et al., Phys. Plasmas 1, 1511 (1994) and Marmar, Fusion Sci. Technol. 51, 261 (2007)] and to place that research in the context of the quest for practical fusion energy. C-Mod is a compact, high-field tokamak, whose unique design and operating parameters have produced a wealth of new and important results since it began operation in 1993, contributing data that extends tests of critical physical models into new parameter ranges and into new regimes. Using only high-power radio frequency (RF) waves for heating and current drive with innovative launching structures, C-Mod operates routinely at reactor level power densities and achieves plasma pressures higher than any other toroidal confinement device. C-Mod spearheaded the development of the vertical-target divertor and has always operated with high-Z metal plasma facing components—approaches subsequently adopted for ITER. C-Mod has made ground-breaking discoveries in divertor physics and plasma-material interactions at reactor-like power and particle fluxes and elucidated the critical role of cross-field transport in divertor operation, edge flows and the tokamak density limit. C-Mod developed the I-mode and the Enhanced Dα H-mode regimes, which have high performance without large edge localized modes and with pedestal transport self-regulated by short-wavelength electromagnetic waves. C-Mod has carried out pioneering studies of intrinsic rotation and demonstrated that self-generated flow shear can be strong enough in some cases to significantly modify transport. C-Mod made the first quantitative link between the pedestal temperature and the H-mode's performance, showing that the observed self-similar temperature profiles were consistent with critical-gradient-length theories and followed up with quantitative tests of nonlinear gyrokinetic models. RF research highlights include direct experimental observation of ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) mode-conversion, ICRF flow drive, demonstration of lower-hybrid current drive at ITER-like densities and fields and, using a set of novel diagnostics, extensive validation of advanced RF codes. Disruption studies on C-Mod provided the first observation of non-axisymmetric halo currents and non-axisymmetric radiation in mitigated disruptions. A summary of important achievements and discoveries are included.

Energetiq Technology has been shipping the EQ-10 Electrodeless Z-pinchTM light source since 1995. The source is currently being used for metrology, mask inspection, and resist development. Energetiq's higher brightness source has been selected as the source for pre-production actinic mask inspection tools. This improved source enables the mask inspection tool suppliers to build prototype tools with capabilities of defect detection and review down to 16nm design rules. In this presentation we will present new source technology being developed at Energetiq to address the critical source brightness issue. The new technology will be shown to be capable of delivering brightness levels sufficient to meet the HVM requirements of AIMS and ABI and potentially API tools. The basis of the source technology is to use the stable pinch of the electrodeless light source and have a brightness of up to 100W/mm(carat)2-sr. We will explain the source design concepts, discuss the expected performance and present the modeling results for the new design.

With EUV Lithography readying for production, the need for commercially available actinic mask inspection tools is critical. A key to developing a successful tool is a reliable high brightness EUV light source. The Energetiq EQ-10 is a commercially available EUV light source, with demonstrated reliability of over 15 sources in the field. It is being used today for laboratory based actinic mask blank inspection at Selete 4 . Results will be presented from a program to optimize the EQ-10 for higher brightness. The platform used for this work is a new version of the EQ-10. The redesigned source demonstrates increased EUV power and brightness compared to the standard EQ-10. The program aims to optimize source operating conditions and pinch geometries of the new source to maximize brightness.

We describe a microfluidic scheme based on remotely controlled self-assembled containers that allows spatio-temporal control over nanoliter-scale chemical reactions. We discuss finite-element simulations of the inductive coupling of radio-frequency radiation to the containers; this coupling enables remotely triggered release of chemical reactants. We demonstrate on-demand chemical release from stationary and mobile containers patterned with different porosities. We also explore reactions between chemicals released from two containers that form liquid products and deposit solid precipitates. We argue that these remotely controlled metallic containers provide an attractive platform for carrying out reconfigurable microfluidics ldquowithout channels.rdquo.

A system for photo-chemical analysis of EUV lithography processes has been developed. This system has consists of 3 units: (1) an exposure that uses the Z-Pinch (Energetiq Tech.) EUV Light source (DPP) to carry out a flood exposure, (2) a measurement system RDA (Litho Tech Japan) for the development rate of photo-resists, and (3) a simulation unit that utilizes PROLITH (KLA-Tencor) to calculate the resist profiles and process latitude using the measured development rate data. With this system, preliminary evaluation of the performance of EUV lithography can be performed without any lithography tool (Stepper and Scanner system) that is capable of imaging and alignment. Profiles for 32 nm line and space pattern are simulated for the EUV resist (Posi-2 resist by TOK) by using VLES that hat has sensitivity at the 13.5nm wavelength. The simulation successfully predicts the resist behavior. Thus it is confirmed that the system enables efficient evaluation of the performance of EUV lithography processes.

Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) is the leading technology for patterning at the 32 nm technology node and be-yond. EUVL light at 13.5 nm is used to print circuits. This light is produced by heating fuel (Xe, Sn) in EUV sources to a very high temperature by using either magnetic compression or laser irradiation. Today EUV source power remains the number one concern for implementation of EUVL in high volume manufacturing. Over the last few years, much pro-gress has been made in EUV source performance and availability. Today, alpha level high power (~10 W) EUV sources have been integrated in alpha level EUVL scanners. Medium and low power EUV sources are used for in-house metrol-ogy and performance studies on EUV mask blanks, EUV masks, photoresists, and optical elements. These compact dis-charge sources with medium power in the range of 10-100 mW/sr/2% bandwidth and low power EUV tubes are being used by various RD today, these low power EUV sources are instrumental in allowing in-house R&D projects. In this paper, the latest status of high power EUV sources, low and medium power metrology sources, and some of their appli-cations are described.