Research and development of a high-power EUV light source are very important in EUV lithography to overcome the stochastic effects for a higher throughput and finer patterning in future. We have designed and studied a high-power EUV free-electron laser (FEL) based on energy-recovery linac (ERL) for future lithography. The EUV-FEL light source has many advantages such as extremely high EUV power without tin debris, narrow spectral bandwidth, upgradability to a Beyond EUV (BEUV) FEL, polarization controllability for high-NA lithography, low power consumption and low construction and running costs per scanner, as compared to the laser-produced plasma (LPP) source used for the present EUV lithography exposure tool. Demonstration of proof of concept (PoC) of the EUV-FEL has made progress using the IR-FEL in the Compact ERL (cERL) at High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK). We also show future plans of remaining R&D items such as a main-linac cavity system with lower power consumption, improvements of the electron gun system for stable operation of 10-mA beam current and a compact variably-polarizing undulator with a lower cost to realize the EUV-FEL light source. After these R&Ds, we can start to build a prototype EUV-FEL smoothly and quickly.
An ERL-based EUV-FEL can provide EUV power of more than 1 kW for multiple scanners to overcome stochastic effects with a higher throughput. An IR-FEL project started at the KEK cERL as a NEDO project in order to develop high-power IR lasers for high-efficiency laser processing, and it can demonstrate proof of concept of the EUV-FEL for future lithography. The IR-FEL was constructed in May 2020 and commissioned in June to July 2020 and in February to March 2021. We will briefly review the EUV-FEL and present the construction and commissioning of the cERL IR-FEL for realizing the EUV-FEL for future lithography.
An ERL(energy recovery linac)-based EUV-FEL can provide EUV power of more than 1 kW for multiple scanners to overcome stochastic noise and to achieve higher throughput. An IR-FEL project started at the KEK cERL for the purpose of developing high-power IR lasers for high-efficiency laser processing, and it can demonstrate proof of concept of the EUV-FEL for future lithography. We will briefly review the EUV-FEL and present construction and commissioning of the cERL IR-FEL including future work.
An EUV-FEL is one of the promising candidates for the future high power EUV light source of more than 1 kW. While the design study on the FEL light source has been progressed, a most important milestone should be a real demonstration of the high repetition rate ERL-based FEL light production. In FY2019, a real Mid-Infrared FEL (MIR-FEL) project based on the compact ERL in KEK started and the beam commissioning was started from the beginning of March 2020. At the conference, the present results obtained from the MIR-FEL and the expected remained-study-works on future EUV-FEL will be presented.
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