| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 372057000 | Excimer or exciplex | 19 |
| 20080225921 | Projection Exposure System, Beam Delivery System and Method of Generating a Beam of Light - A beam delivery system of a projection exposure system comprises a laser generating a beam of laser light from a plurality of longitudinal laser modes in a cavity, wherein light generated by a single longitudinal laser mode has an average line width λ | 09-18-2008 |
| 20080240197 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EFFICIENTLY OPERATING A GAS DISCHARGE EXCIMER LASER - Systems and methods for efficiently operating a gas discharge excimer laser are disclosed. The excimer laser may include a chamber containing laser gases, first and second electrodes within the chamber, and a plurality of reflective elements defining an optical resonant cavity. The method may include setting the laser gases to a first pressure; after setting the gases to the first pressure, applying a first voltage to the electrodes, thereby propagating a laser beam in the optical resonant cavity; measuring energy of the beam; adjusting the first voltage until the energy of the beam is substantially equal to a target pulse energy; operating the laser for an amount of time; after the amount of time, measuring energy of the beam; and changing the pressure of the gases to a second pressure different from the first pressure. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080267242 | Laser system - A method/apparatus may comprise operating a line narrowed pulsed excimer or molecular fluorine gas discharge laser system by using a seed laser oscillator to produce an output which may comprise a first gas discharge excimer or molecular fluorine laser chamber; a line narrowing module; a laser amplification stage which may comprise a ring power amplification stage; the method of operation may the steps of: selecting a differential timing between an electrical discharge between a pair of electrodes in the first laser chamber and in the second laser chamber which at the same time keeps ASE below a selected limit and the pulse energy of the laser system output light beam of pulses essentially constant. | 10-30-2008 |
| 20080291962 | BANDWIDTH-LIMITED AND LONG PULSE MASTER OSCILLATOR POWER OSCILLATOR LASER SYSTEMS - Laser systems have a line-narrowed master oscillator and a power oscillator for amplifying the output of the master oscillator. The power oscillator includes optical arrangements for limiting the bandwidth of radiation that can be amplified. The limited amplification bandwidth of the power oscillator is relatively broad compared to that of the output of the master oscillator, but narrower than would be the case without the bandwidth limiting arrangements. The bandwidth narrowing arrangements of the power oscillator function primarily to restrict the bandwidth of amplified spontaneous emission generated by the power oscillator. | 11-27-2008 |
| 20090122825 | Laser system - A method/apparatus may comprise a seed laser oscillator producing an output which may comprise: a first gas discharge excimer or molecular fluorine laser chamber; a line narrowing module within a first oscillator cavity; a laser amplification stage receiving the output of the seed laser oscillator which may comprise: a ring power amplification stage; a coherence busting mechanism intermediate the seed laser oscillator and the ring power amplification stage which may comprise a beam splitter separating the seed laser output into a main beam and a beam entering an optical delay path which may have a delay length longer than the coherence length of a pulse in the seed laser output and may have a beam angular offset mechanism offsetting a delayed beam and the main beam. | 05-14-2009 |
| 20100027579 | LINEWIDTH-NARROWED EXCIMER LASER CAVITY - An excimer laser cavity is disclosed which includes at least one grating-prism (grism) and a wavelength-selective diffraction grating arranged in sequence. The grism grating surface faces the gain medium and produces an expanded beam which is diffracted on the same side of the prism grating surface normal as the incident beam. The expanded diffracted beam is transmitted through a second surface of the grism either to another grating surface of an additional grism or to a wavelength-selective diffraction grating operating in Littrow configuration. The laser produces a laser output beam with a narrow spectral linewidth which is suitable, in particular, for lithography applications. | 02-04-2010 |
| 20100098128 | GAS-DISCHARGE LASER - The proposed gas discharge laser comprises extended solid main discharge electrodes, at each of which at least one ultraviolet pre-ionizer is placed, a gas flow area being formed by means of dielectric gas flow guides and the work surfaces of main electrodes and the pre-ionizers being placed outside of the gas flow area for illuminating a space between the main discharge electrodes through a gap defined between the main electrodes and dielectric guides. The proposed invention makes it possible to design a gas discharge laser for a high pulse repetition frequency mode with high-quality laser radiation. | 04-22-2010 |
| 20100195692 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PURGING AND RECHARGING EXCIMER LASER GASES - A method of recharging an excimer laser Includes opening an outlet in a chamber containing spent laser gas at a first pressure, opening an inlet in the chamber, the inlet in communication with a laser gas container at a second pressure higher than the first pressure, and flowing fresh laser gas into the chamber and removing at least a portion of the spent laser gases from the chamber without using a vacuum pump. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100232469 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EFFICIENTLY OPERATING A GAS DISCHARGE EXCIMER LASER - Systems and methods for efficiently operating a gas discharge excimer laser are disclosed. The excimer laser may include a chamber containing laser gases, first and second electrodes within the chamber, and a plurality of reflective elements defining an optical resonant cavity. The method may include setting the laser gases to a first pressure; after setting the gases to the first pressure, applying a first voltage to the electrodes, thereby propagating a laser beam in the optical resonant cavity; measuring energy of the beam; adjusting the first voltage until the energy of the beam is substantially equal to a target pulse energy; operating the laser for an amount of time; after the amount of time, measuring energy of the beam; and changing the pressure of the gases to a second pressure different from the first pressure. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100309945 | BANDWIDTH-LIMITED AND LONG PULSE MASTER OSCILLATOR POWER OSCILLATOR LASER SYSTEMS - Laser systems have a line-narrowed master oscillator and a power oscillator for amplifying the output of the master oscillator. The power oscillator includes optical arrangements for limiting the bandwidth of radiation that can be amplified. The limited amplification bandwidth of the power oscillator is relatively broad compared to that of the output of the master oscillator, but narrower than would be the case without the bandwidth limiting arrangements. The bandwidth narrowing arrangements of the power oscillator function primarily to restrict the bandwidth of amplified spontaneous emission generated by the power oscillator. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20110164647 | EXCIMER LASER DEVICE - An excimer laser device capable of suppressing deterioration of optical elements provided in a laser chamber even if output energy per pulse is increased more than the conventional level, in which a width of a laser beam applied to the optical elements provided in the laser chamber is enlarged so as to reduce the energy density of the laser beam within such a range that a laser output of no less than a desired level is obtained. | 07-07-2011 |
| 20120219030 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PURGING AND RECHARGING EXCIMER LASER GASES - A method of recharging an excimer laser Includes opening an outlet in a chamber containing spent laser gas at a first pressure, opening an inlet in the chamber, the inlet in communication with a laser gas container at a second pressure higher than the first pressure, and flowing fresh laser gas into the chamber and removing at least a portion of the spent laser gases from the chamber without using a vacuum pump. | 08-30-2012 |
| 20120224600 | TWO-STAGE LASER SYSTEM FOR ALIGNERS - The invention relates to a two-stage laser system well fit for semiconductor aligners, which is reduced in terms of spatial coherence while taking advantage of the high stability, high output efficiency and fine line width of the MOPO mode. The two-stage laser system for aligners comprises an oscillation-stage laser ( | 09-06-2012 |
| 20120269223 | HIGH-PRECISION SYNCHRONIZATION OF PULSED GAS-DISCHARGE LASERS - Two excimer lasers have individual pulsing circuits each including a storage capacitor which is charged and then discharged through a pulse transformer to generate an electrical pulse, which is delivered to the laser to generate a light pulse. The time between generation of the electrical pulse and creation of the light pulse is dependent on the charged voltage of the capacitor. The capacitors are charged while disconnected from each other. The generation of the electrical pulses is synchronized by connecting the capacitors together for a brief period after the capacitors are charged to equalize the charging voltages. The capacitors are disconnected from each other before they are discharged. | 10-25-2012 |
| 20130039377 | GAS LASER APPARATUS EQUIPPED WITH POWER CALCULATION UNIT - Disclosed is a gas laser apparatus having: a first estimation unit which calculates an estimate of input power to the laser power supply device by using the output current value and output voltage value of the DC power supply unit and also using the efficiency of conversion from input power to output power by the DC power supply unit; a second estimation unit which calculates an estimate of input power to the driving device by using the output current value of the driving device; and a power calculation unit which calculates the power consumption value of the gas laser apparatus, based on the estimate of the input power to the laser power supply device and the estimate of the input power to the driving device. | 02-14-2013 |
| 20130089117 | ECHELLE DIFFRACTION GRATING, EXCIMER LASER, MANUFACTURING METHOD OF ECHELLE DIFFRACTION GRATING, AND ArF EXCIMER LASER - An Echelle diffraction grating has a Littrow configuration. Each grating includes a resin layer made of light curing resin and having a thickness between 2 μm and 10 μm, and a reflective coating layer formed on the resin layer, having a thickness between 120 nm and 500 nm, and made of aluminum. An apex angle between a blazed surface and a counter surface is between 85° and 90°. A first blaze angle is an angle that maximizes diffraction efficiency of a set blazed order for incident light of a wavelength of 193.3 nm. A blaze angle has an initial value of a second blaze angle smaller than the first blaze angle. 0.25°≦bd−ba≦1.2° is satisfied where bd denotes the first blaze angle and ba denotes the second blaze angle. | 04-11-2013 |
| 20130100980 | EXCIMER LASER APPARATUS AND EXCIMER LASER SYSTEM - An excimer laser apparatus includes a gas supply unit, connected to a first receptacle that holds a first laser gas containing halogen gas and a second receptacle that holds a second laser gas having a lower halogen gas concentration than the first laser gas, that supplies the first laser gas and the second laser gas to the interior of the laser chamber. Gas pressure control in which the gas supply unit supplies the second laser gas to the interior of the laser chamber or a gas exhaust unit partially exhausts gas from within the laser chamber, and partial gas replacement control in which the gas supply unit supplies the first laser gas and the second laser gas to the interior of the laser chamber and the gas exhaust unit partially exhausts gas from within the laser chamber sequentially, may be selectively performed. | 04-25-2013 |
| 20130223468 | EXCIMER LASER DEVICE - An excimer laser device capable of suppressing deterioration of optical elements provided in a laser chamber even if output energy per pulse is increased more than the conventional level, in which a width of a laser beam applied to the optical elements provided in the laser chamber is enlarged so as to reduce the energy density of the laser beam within such a range that a laser output of no less than a desired level is obtained. | 08-29-2013 |
| 20150333468 | FLOW GUIDE DEVICE FOR DUAL-ELECTRODE DISCHARGE CAVITY, DUAL ELECTRODE DISCHARGE CAVITY UTILIZE THE SAME AND EXCIMER LASER - The present disclosure proposes a flow guide device for a discharge cavity having a symmetrical configuration and including two pairs of electrodes; the flow guide device comprises two rotors which correspond to one pair of the two pairs of electrodes, respectively, installed positions of which are symmetrical about a symmetrical plane of the discharge cavity and is beneath the electrodes, a rotational axis of which is parallel to an axial direction of the electrodes which is parallel to a base plane of the discharge cavity, and the two rotors have opposite rotation directions and identical rotation speeds. The flow guide device further comprises a spoiler plate and a flow guide plate so that the discharge gas flow passes through the discharge cavity in a manner of high speed and uniform cycling when flowing through the discharge region. Thus, the discharge quality is guaranteed so as to improve the energy and reliability of the laser. | 11-19-2015 |
