The disclosure relates to a mirror, an optical system and to a method for operating an optical system, such as for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus.
Microlithography is used for producing microstructured component parts, such as integrated circuits or LCDs. The microlithography process is performed in what is known as a projection exposure apparatus, which has an illumination device and a projection lens. The image of a mask (= reticle) that is illuminated via the illumination device is here projected onto a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer), which is coated with a light-sensitive layer (photoresist) and is arranged in the image plane of the projection lens, via the projection lens in order to transfer the mask structure onto the light-sensitive coating of the substrate.
In projection lenses designed for the EUV range, i.e., at wavelengths of, e.g., approximately 13 nm or approximately 7 nm, mirrors are used as optical components for the imaging process owing to the general lack of availability of suitable light-transmissive refractive materials.
As a result of absorption of the radiation emitted by the EUV light source among other reasons, the EUV mirrors can heat up and can undergo an associated thermal expansion or deformation, which in turn can negatively affect the imaging properties of the optical system.
Various approaches are known for avoiding surface deformations caused by heat inputs into an EUV mirror and optical aberrations associated therewith. It is known, inter alia, to use a material with ultra-low thermal expansion (“Ultra Low Expansion Material”), for example a titanium silicate glass sold by Corning Inc. with the name ULE™, as the mirror substrate material and to set what is known as the zero-crossing temperature in a region near the optical effective surface. At this zero-crossing temperature, which lies at around ϑ= 30° C. for example for ULE™, the coefficient of thermal expansion, in its temperature dependence, has a zero crossing in the vicinity of which no thermal expansion or only negligible thermal expansion of the mirror substrate material takes place.
Further approaches for avoiding surface deformations caused by heat inputs into an EUV mirror include active direct cooling. In this case, ensuring a sufficiently efficient heat dissipation while simultaneously safeguarding high precision in respect of the optical effect of the mirror, however, can represent a very demanding challenge with increasing power of the light source.
For example, a cooling channel through which cooling fluid flows during operation of the optical system or mirror can itself supply parasitic contributions to the deformation of the optical effective surface of the mirror. Such contributions can result, firstly, from temperature gradients which form in the mirror substrate (and can be pronounced in the case of a low thermal conductivity of the mirror substrate material) and which, by way of the thermal expansion in the mirror substrate material, ultimately can contribute to the deformation of the optical effective surface depending on the cooling channel geometry. Moreover, the mechanical pressure transferred from the flowing cooling fluid to the mirror substrate via the cooling channel wall can also cause an elastic expansion of the mirror substrate material, which can supply a parasitic deformation contribution, which can depend on the cooling channel geometry, of the optical effective surface. The above-described issues can become ever more severe with increasing source power since the cooling power which is used to avoid thermally induced deformations and which is to be input in the respective mirror can also increase in that case.
The present disclosure seeks to provide a mirror, an optical system and a method for operating an optical system, such as for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, which can facilitate an effective avoidance of thermally induced deformations while at least attenuating certain undesirable effects.
According to one aspect, the disclosure relates to a mirror, such as for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, wherein the mirror has an optical effective surface, comprising
According to this aspect, the disclosure involves the concept of using the above-discussed contribution of a fluid pressure and the force that acts on the mirror substrate via the respective channel wall as a result thereof and that causes the elastic deformation of the mirror substrate to the ultimately obtained deformation of the optical effective surface in a targeted manner, as it were as a desirable effect, in order thus, as a result, to provide an adaptive mirror and hence an additional degree of freedom when setting the system wavefront generated by the optical system including the mirror. In this case, the disclosure proceeds from the realization that a suitable configuration (which will be described in more detail below) of the cavities, for example in respect of their dimensions and their distance from the optical effective surface can bring about the possibility of generating a deformation profile that firstly still varies in a targeted local fashion by way of an independent pressure application to the individual cavities but that secondly — in the case of a sufficient mutual “overlap” of adjacent cavities in respect of their deformation contribution — still allows the generation of a quasi-continuous deformation profile.
According to an embodiment, at least a subset of these cavities have the same distance from the optical effective surface.
According to an embodiment, the plurality of cavities have pairs of cavities stacked above one another in the direction of the optical effective surface such that a contribution to the deformation of the optical effective surface by way of a force component acting along the optical effective surface is generable by applying different fluid pressure to the cavities of one and the same pair.
According to this approach it is likewise possible — as an alternative or in addition to the suitable dimensioning of the individual cavities — to promote a quasi-continuous deformation profile (within the meaning of avoiding locally strictly delimited deformation effects of the individual cavities in each case), wherein the disclosure in this case also makes use of the principle, underlying the “bimetal effect”, of generating deformations on account of mutually different expansions of two components affixed to one another in each case.
According to an embodiment, the fluid is a cooling fluid which flows through the cavities and serves to absorb the heat generated in the mirror substrate by electromagnetic radiation incident on the optical effective surface.
According to this approach, the fluid used to provide the desired deformation of the optical effective surface in the adaptive mirror according to the disclosure can serve as a cooling fluid at the same time. However, the disclosure is not restricted to this, and so the disclosure also provides embodiments without additional (cooling) functionality of the relevant fluid.
The disclosure also relates to an optical system comprising a mirror having the above-mentioned features. The optical system can be, for example, a projection lens or an illumination device of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus
According to a further aspect, the disclosure also relates to a method for operating an optical system, wherein the optical system has at least one mirror with an optical effective surface and a mirror substrate, wherein at least one cooling channel is arranged in the mirror substrate;
For example, according to this aspect the disclosure involves the concept of, in an optical system comprising a mirror that is actively cooled by way of at least one cooling channel through which cooling fluid flows, avoiding or at least reducing unwanted contributions of this cooling channel and, for example, of its cooling channel geometry to the ultimately caused deformation of the optical effective surface of the mirror, by virtue of suitably varying the two parameters of “cooling fluid temperature” and “cooling fluid pressure” in such a way depending on the respective source power (i.e. the power of the light source) that the above-described parasitic effects (that is to say, firstly, the effect of a temperature gradient forming within the mirror substrate and, secondly, the effect of mechanical pressure exerted by the flowing cooling fluid by way of the cooling channel wall) can be “balanced” with respect to one another.
Here, the disclosure can use as a starting point the idea that a thermally induced surface deformation of a mirror which is impinged with electromagnetic (e.g., EUV) radiation during operation and which is actively cooled by way of at least one cooling channel through which cooling fluid flows can ultimately be determined by the three parameters of “source power”, “cooling fluid temperature” and “cooling fluid pressure”, wherein a minimization of thermally induced surface errors of the optical effective surface of the mirror and wavefront aberrations of the optical system resulting therefrom can be obtained by way of different suitable combinations of values (i.e., the different “value triples”) of the parameters of source power, cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure.
By way of example, if an increased source power involves lowering the cooling fluid temperature, what a suitable additional adjustment of the cooling fluid pressure can achieve is that the respective parasitic contributions to the surface deformation of cooling fluid pressure and cooling fluid temperature are just balanced out with respect to one another such that, as a result, a minimal thermally induced disturbance or deformation of optical effective surface is maintained.
According to an embodiment, the variation of cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure is implemented at least in part on the basis of a preliminary calibration, within the scope of which combinations of the respective values of power of the light source, cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure that are suitable for this compensation are ascertained for the purposes of generating a lookup table.
Expressed differently, the variation of cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure can be implemented on the basis of a previously recorded characteristic, in which a variable characteristic for the respective residual disturbance or the surface error is specified (e.g., as an RMS value) for different value triples of the parameters of power of the light source, cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure. Then, should a change of two parameters (e.g., power of the light source and cooling fluid temperature) be used during the operation of the optical system or mirror, it is possible on the basis of this characteristic to directly ascertain, on the basis of the preliminary calibration, the value that should be chosen for the respective remaining parameter (e.g., the cooling fluid pressure) in order to reset the surface error to a value of nearly zero as a result.
According to a further embodiment, this ascertainment is implemented at least in part on the basis of wavefront measurements in the optical system and/or interferometric measurements of the figure of the mirror.
According to a further embodiment, this ascertainment of cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure is implemented at least in part on the basis of the simulation.
According to an embodiment, the variation of cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure is implemented at least in part on the basis of measurements of the current wavefront properties carried out during the ongoing operation of the optical system.
According to an embodiment, the mirror is designed for an operating wavelength of less than 30 nm, for example less than 15 nm.
According to an embodiment, the optical system is a projection lens or an illumination device of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus.
Further, the disclosure also relates to an optical system comprising
According to an embodiment, the device is configured to vary cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure based on a lookup table containing different combinations of the respective values of power of the light source, cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure.
According to an embodiment, the device is configured to vary cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure based on a characteristic obtained by simulation and/or measurement or calibration, the characteristic specifying a respective resultant deformation of the optical effective surface of the mirror for different combinations of the values of the parameters of power of the light source, cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure. The optical system can for example comprise a memory or storage in which such a recorded characteristic (or characteristic map) is stored.
Further configurations of the disclosure can be gathered from the description and the dependent claims.
The disclosure is explained in greater detail below on the basis of exemplary embodiments illustrated in the accompanying figures.
In the figures:
According to
Here, a reticle 7 arranged in the object field 5 is exposed. The reticle 7 is held by a reticle holder 8. The reticle holder 8 is displaceable by way of a reticle displacement drive 9, for example in a scanning direction. For purposes of explanation, a Cartesian xyz-coordinate system is depicted in
The projection lens 10 serves for imaging the object field 5 into an image field 11 in an image plane 12. A structure on the reticle 7 is imaged onto a light-sensitive layer of a wafer 13 that is arranged in the region of the image field 11 in the image plane 12. The wafer 13 is held by a wafer holder 14. The wafer holder 14 is displaceable by way of a wafer displacement drive 15, for example along the y-direction. The displacement on the one hand of the reticle 7 by way of the reticle displacement drive 9 and on the other hand of the wafer 13 by way of the wafer displacement drive 15 can take place in such a way as to be synchronized with one another.
The radiation source 3 is an EUV radiation source. The radiation source 3 emits, for example, EUV radiation, which is also referred to below as used radiation or illumination radiation. For example, the used radiation has a wavelength in the range of between 5 nm and 30 nm. The radiation source 3 can be for example a plasma source, a synchrotron-based radiation source or a free electron laser (FEL). The illumination radiation 16 emanating from the radiation source 3 is focussed by a collector 17 and propagates through an intermediate focus in an intermediate focal plane 18 into the illumination optical unit 4. The illumination optical unit 4 comprises a deflection mirror 19 and, disposed downstream thereof in the beam path, a first facet mirror 20 (having schematically indicated facets 21) and a second facet mirror 22 (having schematically indicated facets 23).
The projection lens 10 comprises a plurality of mirrors Mi (i= 1, 2, ...), which are consecutively numbered in accordance with their arrangement in the beam path of the projection exposure apparatus 1. In the example illustrated in
During operation of the microlithographic projection exposure apparatus 1, the electromagnetic radiation incident on the optical effective surface of the mirrors is partly absorbed and, as explained in the introduction, results in heating and an associated thermal expansion or deformation, which can in turn result in an impairment of the imaging properties of the optical system. The concept according to the disclosure can thus for example be applied advantageously to any mirror of the microlithographic projection exposure apparatus 1 of
The disclosure is not limited to the application in a projection exposure apparatus that is designed for operation in the EUV range. For example, the disclosure can also advantageously be applied in a projection exposure apparatus that is designed for operation in the DUV range (that is to say at wavelengths of less than 250 nm, for example less than 200 nm), or in a different optical system.
In exemplary embodiments, the distance of the individual cavities 110 or pockets from the optical effective surface can range from 2 mm to 100 mm, for example from 3 mm to 50 mm, such as from 5 mm to 20 mm. Moreover, purely by way of example, the lateral dimensions of the cavities 110 or pockets may range from 5 mm to 150 mm. Likewise in purely exemplary fashion (and without the disclosure being restricted thereto), the lateral dimensions of the cavities 110 or pockets can be chosen depending on the mirror size, for example in such a way that of the order of 80% of the lateral cross-sectional area of the mirror 100 is “covered” by cavities or pockets and so the remaining 20% of the lateral mirror area correspond to the interstices between the cavities 110 or pockets.
The disclosure has no further restrictions in respect of the geometry of the individual cavities 110 or pockets, with however rounded structures as illustrated in
In embodiments of the disclosure the individual cavities 110 or pockets can for example have the same distance from the optical effective surface in each case (such that the arrangement of the cavities 110 in the depths of the mirror substrate 101 follows the surface form or the profile of the optical effective surface).
The mirror 100 is manufactured in such a way that the mirror substrate 101 can be assembled from separate mirror substrate parts, into which in turn the boundary surfaces of the cavities 110 to be formed in the finished mirror have been incorporated.
The fluid which is applied to the cavities 110 or pockets within the adaptive mirror 100 according to the disclosure can - without the disclosure being restricted thereto - be a cooling fluid for example, wherein the respective fluid temperature can be set, for example depending on the source power in the optical system, in order to avoid or reduce unwanted thermally induced deformations of the mirror 100 on account of the impingement thereof with electromagnetic radiation. However, the disclosure is not restricted thereto. In this respect,
To simplify the manufacturing process, the fluid inlets 210a of the cavities 210 as per
An impingement of the cavities 410, 411 respectively belonging to one and the same pair with different fluid pressures as indicated in
In respect of the cavities to which fluid is applied and which are located within the mirror substrate, the disclosure is not restricted to the pocket-shaped geometry chosen as per
In the case of a configuration of the fluid as a cooling fluid that flows through the mirror substrate of a mirror there is, according to a further aspect of the present disclosure, a suitable variation of firstly the cooling fluid temperature and secondly the cooling fluid pressure depending on the respective source power of the source generating the electromagnetic radiation incident on the mirror, in such a way that parasitic effects of firstly a temperature gradient forming within the mirror substrate and secondly a mechanical pressure exerted by the flowing cooling fluid by way of the cooling channel wall balance one another. Expressed differently, a suitable adjustment of the cooling fluid pressure can avoid that a change in the cooling fluid temperature (e.g., rendered desirable as a consequence of an increasing source power) leads to an unwanted parasitic deformation contribution as a result of the temperature gradient forming within the mirror substrate.
In this case, an appropriate characteristic can be recorded (by simulation and/or measurement or calibration), for example in advance, in embodiments of the disclosure, the characteristic specifying the respective resultant disturbance or deformation of the optical effective surface of the mirror for different combinations of the values of the parameters of source power, cooling fluid temperature and cooling fluid pressure. As a result, this can achieve an efficient avoidance of thermally induced deformations, even in the case of high source powers, since parasitic contributions of the cooling channels through which cooling fluid flows in each case can be effectively avoided, even in the case of an increase in the cooling power to be introduced into the respective mirror.
Even though the disclosure was described using specific embodiments, a person skilled in the art will be able to see numerous variations and alternative embodiments, for example by combining and/or exchanging features of individual embodiments. Accordingly, it is obvious for a person skilled in the art that such variations and alternative embodiments are also encompassed by the present disclosure, and that the scope of the disclosure is limited only within the meaning of the attached patent claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102021200790.2 | Jan 2021 | DE | national |
The present application is a continuation of, and claims benefit under 35 USC 120 to, international application PCT/EP2021/082558, filed Nov. 22, 2021, which claims benefit under 35 USC 119 of German Application No. 10 2021 200 790.2, filed Jan. 28, 2020. The entire disclosure of these applications are incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/EP2021/082558 | Nov 2021 | WO |
Child | 18322009 | US |