Claims
- 1. A gas discharge laser system, comprising:
a discharge chamber containing a laser gas mixture including a constituent gas which is subject to depletion; a plurality of electrodes connected to a power supply circuit for providing a driving voltage to said electrodes as a pulsed discharge to energize said laser gas mixture; a resonator surrounding said discharge chamber for generating a pulsed laser beam; a gas supply unit connected to said discharge chamber; and a processor for controlling gaseous flow between said gas supply unit and said discharge chamber, wherein said gas supply unit and said processor are configured to permit between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar of said constituent gas to inject into said discharge chamber at selected intervals, and wherein an amount of constituent gas injected is varied based on a value of the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy.
- 2. The laser system of claim 1, wherein the processor determines within which of a plurality of ranges the driving voltage currently lies within and determines said amount of constituent gas to be injected based on this driving voltage range determination.
- 3. The laser system of claim 2, wherein said ranges are adjusted based on aging of at least one component of the laser system.
- 4. The laser system of claim 3, wherein said at least one component is one of an optical component and a component of the discharge chamber.
- 5. The laser system of claim 2, wherein said amount of constituent gas to be injected differs between at least two voltage ranges.
- 6. The laser system of claim 1, wherein said amount of constituent gas injected is varied based on a calculated amount of the constituent gas in the gas mixture after a previous injection.
- 7. The laser system of claim 6, wherein said calculated amount of said constituent gas in the gas mixture is based on a measured pressure in an accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injected.
- 8. The laser system of claim 7, wherein said calculated amount is also based on measured temperatures in said accumulator and said discharge chamber.
- 9. A gas discharge laser system, comprising:
a discharge chamber containing a laser gas mixture including a constituent gas which is subject to depletion; a plurality of electrodes connected to a power supply circuit for providing a driving voltage to said electrodes to generate a pulsed discharge to energize said laser gas mixture; a resonator surrounding said discharge chamber for generating a pulsed laser beam; a gas supply unit connected to said discharge chamber; and a processor for controlling gaseous flow between said gas supply unit and said discharge chamber, wherein said gas supply unit and said processor are configured to permit between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar of said constituent gas to inject into said discharge chamber at selected intervals, and wherein said intervals are varied based on a value of the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy.
- 10. The laser system of claim 9, wherein the processor determines within which of a plurality of ranges the driving voltage currently lies within and determines said interval between injections based on this driving voltage range determination.
- 11. The laser system of claim 10, wherein said ranges are adjusted based on aging of at least one component of the laser system.
- 12. The laser system of claim 11, wherein said at least one component is one of an optical component and a component of the discharge chamber.
- 13. The laser system of claim 10, wherein said interval between injections differs between at least two voltage ranges.
- 14. The laser system of claim 9, wherein the interval between injections is varied based on a calculated amount of the constituent gas in the gas mixture after a previous injection.
- 15. The laser system of claim 14, wherein said calculated amount of said constituent gas in the gas mixture is based on a measured pressure in an accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injected.
- 16. The laser system of claim 15, wherein said calculated amount is also based on measured temperatures in said accumulator and said discharge chamber.
- 17. A gas discharge laser system, comprising:
a discharge chamber containing a laser gas mixture including a constituent gas which is subject to depletion; a plurality of electrodes connected to a power supply circuit for providing a driving voltage as a pulsed discharge to energize said laser gas mixture; a resonator surrounding said discharge chamber for generating a pulsed laser beam; a gas supply unit connected to said discharge chamber; and a processor for controlling gaseous flow between said gas supply unit and said discharge chamber, wherein said gas supply unit and said processor are configured to permit between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar of said constituent gas to inject into said discharge chamber at selected intervals, and wherein an amount of constituent gas injected is varied based on a calculated amount of constituent gas injected in a previous injection.
- 18. The laser system of claim 17, wherein said gas supply unit of said laser system includes an accumulator, and said calculated amount of said constituent gas in the gas mixture is based on a measured pressure in said accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injected.
- 19. The laser system of claim 18, wherein said calculated amount is also based on measured temperatures in said accumulator and said discharge chamber.
- 20. A gas discharge laser system, comprising:
a discharge chamber containing a laser gas mixture including a constituent gas which is subject to depletion; a plurality of electrodes connected to a power supply circuit for providing a driving voltage as a pulsed discharge to energize said laser gas mixture; a resonator surrounding said discharge chamber for generating a pulsed laser beam; a gas supply unit connected to said discharge chamber; and a processor for controlling gaseous flow between said gas supply unit and said discharge chamber, wherein said gas supply unit and said processor are configured to permit between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar of said constituent gas to inject into said discharge chamber at selected intervals, and wherein said intervals are varied based on a calculated amount of constituent gas injected in a previous injection.
- 21. The laser system of claim 20, wherein said gas supply unit of said laser system includes an accumulator, and said calculated amount of said constituent gas in the gas mixture is based on a measured pressure in said accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injected.
- 22. The laser system of claim 21, wherein said calculated amount is also based on measured temperatures in said accumulator and said discharge chamber.
- 23. A method for controlling a composition of a gas mixture within a discharge chamber of a gas discharge laser system, comprising the steps of:
monitoring an input driving voltage of a pulse power circuit of the laser; monitoring a second parameter indicative of the concentration of a constituent gas of the gas mixture; determining an amount of constituent gas between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar to be injected into said discharge chamber based on a value of the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy; and injecting said amount of said constituent gas into said discharge chamber at selected intervals when a predetermined value of said second parameter is reached.
- 24. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of determining within which of a plurality of ranges the driving voltage currently lies within, and wherein said amount of constituent gas determining step determines said amount based on this driving voltage range determination.
- 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of adjusting said ranges based on aging of at least one component of the laser system.
- 26. The method of claim 25, wherein said at least one component is one of an optical component and a component of the discharge chamber.
- 27. The method of claim 24, wherein said amount of constituent gas to be injected differs between at least two voltage ranges.
- 28. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of varying said amount of constituent gas injected based on a calculated amount of the constituent gas in the gas mixture after a previous injection.
- 29. The method of claim 28, wherein said calculated amount of said constituent gas in the gas mixture is based on a measured pressure in an accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injected.
- 30. The method of claim 29, wherein said calculated amount is also based on measured temperatures in said accumulator and said discharge chamber.
- 31. A method for controlling a composition of a gas mixture within a discharge chamber of a gas discharge laser system, comprising the steps of:
monitoring an input driving voltage of a pulse power circuit of the laser; monitoring a second parameter indicative of the concentration of a constituent gas of the gas mixture; determining an interval value of said second parameter between which injections into the discharge chamber of said constituent gas between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar are performed based on a value of the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy; and injecting said constituent gas into said discharge chamber at said interval when a predetermined value of said second parameter based on said predetermined interval is reached.
- 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of determining within which of a plurality of ranges the driving voltage currently lies within, and wherein said interval determining step includes determining said interval between injections based on this driving voltage range determination.
- 33. The method of claim 32, further comprising the step of adjusting said ranges based on aging of at least one component of the laser system.
- 34. The method of claim 33, wherein said at least one component is one of an optical component and a component of the discharge chamber.
- 35. The method of claim 32, wherein said interval between injections differs between at least two voltage ranges.
- 36. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of varying said interval between injections based on a calculated amount of the constituent gas in the gas mixture after a previous injection.
- 37. The method of claim 36, wherein said calculated amount of said constituent gas in the gas mixture is based on a measured pressure in an accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injected.
- 38. The method of claim 37, wherein said calculated amount is also based on measured temperatures in said accumulator and said discharge chamber.
- 39. A method for controlling a composition of a gas mixture within a discharge chamber of a gas discharge laser system, comprising the steps of:
monitoring a parameter indicative of the concentration of a constituent gas of the gas mixture; determining a next amount of constituent gas between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar to be injected into said discharge chamber based on a calculated amount of said constituent gas injected in a previous injection; and injecting said next amount of said constituent gas into said discharge chamber at selected interval amounts of said second parameter.
- 40. The method of claim 39, wherein said next amount of said constituent gas is between 0.001 mbar and 0.02 mbar.
- 41. The method of claim 40, further comprising the step of monitoring an input driving voltage of a pulse power circuit of the laser, and determining said amount of constituent gas based further on a value of said input driving voltage.
- 42. The method of claim 40, further comprising the step of measuring a pressure within an accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injection, and wherein said calculated amount of said constituent gas in the gas mixture is based on the measured pressure in the accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injected.
- 43. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of measuring a temperature in said accumulator and a temperature in said discharge chamber, and wherein said calculated amount is also based on the measured temperatures in said accumulator and said discharge chamber.
- 44. A method for controlling a composition of a gas mixture within a discharge chamber of a gas discharge laser system, comprising the steps of:
monitoring a parameter indicative of the concentration of a constituent gas of the gas mixture; determining an interval value of said parameter between which injections of the constituent gas between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar into said discharge chamber are performed, said interval value being based on a calculated amount of said constituent gas injected in a previous injection; and injecting said constituent gas into said discharge chamber at said interval value of said parameter.
- 45. The method of claim 44, wherein said injection of said constituent gas is between 0.001 mbar and 0.02 mbar.
- 46. The method of claim 45, further comprising the step of monitoring an input driving voltage of a pulse power circuit of the laser, and determining said interval value based further on a value of said driving voltage.
- 47. The method of claim 46, further comprising the step of measuring a pressure in an accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injected, and wherein said calculated amount of said constituent gas in the gas mixture is based on said measured pressure in said accumulator from which constituent gas was previously injected.
- 48. The method of claim 47, further comprising the step of measuring a temperature in said accumulator and a temperature within said discharge chamber, and wherein said calculated amount is also based on the measured temperatures in said accumulator and said discharge chamber.
- 49. A gas discharge laser system, comprising:
a discharge chamber containing a laser gas mixture including a constituent gas which is subject to depletion; a plurality of electrodes connected to a power supply circuit for providing a driving voltage to said electrodes as a pulsed discharge to energize said laser gas mixture; a resonator surrounding said discharge chamber for generating a pulsed laser beam; a gas supply unit connected to said discharge chamber; and a processor for controlling gaseous flow between said gas supply unit and said discharge chamber, wherein said gas supply unit and said processor are configured to permit an amount of the gas mixture between 5% and 70% of the total gas mixture to be exchanged during a partial new fill procedure at selected intervals, and wherein the partial new fill procedure is initiated based on a value of the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy being above a threshold voltage.
- 50. The laser system of claim 49, wherein the amount of the gas mixture exchanged in the partial new fill procedure is between 5% and 50%.
- 51. The laser system of claim 49, wherein the amount of the gas mixture exchanged in the partial new fill procedure is between 20% and 50%.
- 52. The laser system of claim 49, wherein the amount of the gas mixture exchanged in the partial new fill procedure is substantially 1 bar.
- 53. A method for controlling a composition of a laser gas mixture in a discharge chamber of a gas discharge laser system, comprising the steps of:
monitoring an input driving voltage of a pulse power circuit of the laser; injecting a selected amount of a constituent gas into the discharge chamber at selected intervals when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is at or below a first threshold value; and exchanging an amount of the gas mixture between 5% and 70% of the total gas mixture during a partial new fill procedure when the driving voltage is above a second threshold value higher than said first threshold value.
- 54. The method of claim 53, wherein the selected amount of the constituent gas injected in the injecting step is between 0.001 mbar and 0.02 mbar.
- 55. The method of claim 54, further comprising a second injecting step, which is performed when the driving voltage is between the first and second threshold values, wherein an amount of constituent gas injected is between 0.02 mbar and 0.2 mbar.
- 56. The method of claim 53, further comprising a second injecting step, which is performed when the driving voltage is between the first and second threshold values, wherein an amount of constituent gas injected is between 0.001 and 0.02 mbar at selected intervals that are smaller than said selected intervals of injections in the first injecting step.
- 57. The method of claim 53, wherein the amount of the gas mixture exchanged in the partial new fill procedure is between 5% and 50%.
- 58. The method of claim 53, wherein the amount of the gas mixture exchanged in the partial new fill procedure is between 20% and 50%.
- 59. The method of claim 53, wherein the amount of the gas mixture exchanged in the partial new fill procedure is substantially 1 bar.
- 60. A method for controlling a composition of a laser gas mixture in a discharge chamber of a gas discharge laser system, comprising the steps of:
monitoring an input driving voltage of a pulse power circuit of the laser; injecting a selected amount of a constituent gas between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar into the discharge chamber at first intervals, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is at or below a first threshold value; and injecting a same selected amount of the constituent gas into the discharge chamber at second intervals smaller than said first intervals to increase a concentration of said constituent gas in the discharge chamber at said smaller intervals compared with said first intervals, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is above the first threshold value.
- 61. The method of claim 60, wherein the amount injected is between 0.001 mbar and 0.02 mbar.
- 62. A method for controlling a composition of a laser gas mixture in a discharge chamber of a gas discharge laser system, comprising the steps of:
monitoring an input driving voltage of a pulse power circuit of the laser; injecting a first amount of a constituent gas between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar into the discharge chamber at selected intervals, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is at or below a first threshold value; and injecting a second amount larger than the first amount of the constituent gas into the discharge chamber at said selected intervals to increase a concentration of said constituent gas in the discharge chamber at smaller intervals compared with said injecting said first amount at said selected intervals, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is above the first threshold value.
- 63. The method of claim 62, wherein the amount injected is between 0.001 mbar and 0.02 mbar.
- 64. A method for controlling a composition of a laser gas mixture in a discharge chamber of a gas discharge laser system, comprising the steps of:
monitoring an input driving voltage of a pulse power circuit of the laser; injecting a first amount of a constituent gas between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar into the discharge chamber at selected intervals, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is at or below a first threshold value; injecting a second amount of gas into the discharge chamber together with releasing a similar amount of gas to reduce a contaminant concentration in the gas mixture, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is above the first threshold value and below a second threshold value; and injecting a third amount of gas larger than the second amount into the discharge chamber together with releasing a similar amount of gas to reduce a contaminant concentration in the gas mixture more so than in said second amount injection and release step, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is above the second threshold value.
- 65. The method of claim 64, wherein the amount injected is between 0.001 mbar and 0.02 mbar.
- 66. A method for controlling a composition of a laser gas mixture in a discharge chamber of a gas discharge laser system, comprising the steps of:
monitoring an input driving voltage of a pulse power circuit of the laser; injecting a first amount of a constituent gas between 0.0001 mbar and 0.2 mbar into the discharge chamber at first intervals, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is at or below a first threshold value; and injecting a second amount of gas into the discharge chamber together with releasing a similar amount of gas at second intervals to reduce a contaminant concentration in the gas mixture, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is below a second threshold value; and injecting the second amount of gas into the discharge chamber together with releasing a similar amount of gas at third intervals smaller than said second intervals to reduce a contaminant concentration in the gas mixture at said smaller intervals than in said second amount injection and release step at said second intervals, when the driving voltage applied to achieve a predetermined output pulse energy is above the second threshold value.
- 67. The method of claim 66, wherein the amount injected is between 0.001 mbar and 0.02 mbar.
PRIORITY
[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/171,717, filed Dec. 22, 1999, and this application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/447,882, filed Nov. 23, 1999, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/124,785, filed Mar. 17, 1999, wherein the above application are assigned to the same assignee as the present application and are hereby incorporated by reference.
Provisional Applications (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60171717 |
Dec 1999 |
US |
|
60124785 |
Mar 1999 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09447882 |
Nov 1999 |
US |
Child |
09734459 |
Dec 2000 |
US |