Patent · US Active

Protection module for EUV lithography apparatus, and EUV lithography apparatus

US8698999B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by

2References

30Claims

0Family size

Assignee

Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH · DE

Inventors

Dirk Heinrich Ehm · Beckingen, DE
Timo Laufer · Stuttgart, DE
Ben Banney · Perth, AU
Jens Kugler · Heubach, DE
Ulrich Nieken · Neustadt, DE
Franz Keller · Stuttgart, DE

Key dates

Filing date	Mar 7, 2011
Grant date	Apr 15, 2014
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Nov 28, 2031

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG03F7/70983
WIPO fieldOptics
WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

In EUV lithography apparatuses (10), it is proposed, in order to lengthen the lifetime of contamination-sensitive components, to arrange them in a protection module. The protection module comprises a housing (23-29) having at least one opening (37-47), in which at least one component (13a, 13b, 15, 16, 18, 19) is arranged and at which one or more gas feeds (30-36) are provided in order to introduce a gas flow into the housing (23-29), which emerges through the at least one opening (37-47). In order to effectively prevent contaminating substances from penetrating into the protection module, a light source (48-56) is arranged at the at least one opening (37-47), which light source illuminates the opening (37-47) with one or more wavelengths by which the contaminating substances can be dissociated before they penetrate through the opening (37-47).

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.