Studies of extreme ultraviolet emission from laser produced plasmas, as sources for next generation lithography

The work presented in this thesis is primarily concerned with the optimisation of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoemission around 13.5 nm, from laser produced tin (Sn) plasmas. EUV lithography has been identified as the leading next generation technology to take over from the current optical lithography systems, due to its potential of printing smaller feature sizes on integrated circuits. Many of the problems hindering the implementation of EUV lithography for high volume manufacturing have been overcome during the past 20 years of development. However, the lack of source power is a major concern for realising EUV lithography and remains a major roadblock that must be overcome. Therefore in order to optimise and improve the EUV emission from Sn laser plasma sources, many parameters contributing to the make-up of an EUV source are investigated.Chapter 3 presents the results of varying several different experimental parameters on the EUV emission from Sn laser plasmas. Several of the laser parameters including the energy, gas mixture, focusing lens position and angle of incidence are changed, while their effect on the EUV emission is studied. Double laser pulse experiments are also carried out by creating plasma targets for the main laser pulse to interact with. The resulting emission is compared to that of a single laser pulse on solid Sn.Chapter 4 investigates tailoring the CO2 laser pulse duration to improve the efficiency of an EUV source set-up. In doing so a new technique for shortening the time duration of the pulse is described. The direct effects of shortening the CO2 laser pulse duration on the EUV emission from Sn are then studied and shown to improve the efficiency of the source.In Chapter 5 a new plasma target type is studied and compared to the previous dual laser experiments. Laser produced colliding plasma jet targets form a new plasma layer, with densities that can be optimised for re-heating with the main CO2 laser pulse.Chapter 6 will present some experiments carried out on laser produced gadolinium plasmas, with its photoemission around 6.7 nm seen as a potential beyond EUV source. Three different laser pulse durations and a range of laser intensities are utilised in experiments to try to optimise the in-band emission, while also observing the effect on ion emission from the plasma. Finally, the experiments presented in thesis and their results are summarised in Chapter 7, along with presenting possible future work