Cleaning Module, EUV Lithography Device and Method for the Cleaning Thereof

In order to clean optical components (35) inside an EUV lithography device in a gentle manner, a cleaning module for an EUV lithography device includes a supply line for molecular hydrogen and a heating filament for producing atomic hydrogen and hydrogen ions for cleaning purposes. The cleaning module also has an element, (33) arranged to apply an electric and/or magnetic field, downstream of the heating filament (29) in the direction of flow of the hydrogen (31, 32). The element can be designed as a deflection unit, as a filter unit and/or as an acceleration unit for the ion beam (32).

The present invention relates to a cleaning module for the cleaning of components of an EUV lithography device comprising a heating unit, and to a cleaning module for an EUV lithography device with a supply line for molecular hydrogen and a heating filament for producing atomic hydrogen for cleaning purposes, as well as to an EUV lithography device or a projection system or an illumination system for an EUV lithography device with such a cleaning module. Moreover, the present invention relates to methods for the cleaning of a component inside an EUV lithography device.

In extreme-ultraviolet lithography devices, reflective optical elements for the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or soft x-ray wavelength range (e.g. wavelengths between approx. 5 nm and 20 nm), such as for example photomasks and multilayer mirrors, are used for the lithography of semiconductor components. Since EUV lithography devices usually comprise a plurality of reflective optical elements, these elements must possess as high a reflectivity as possible in order to ensure a sufficiently high total reflectivity. The reflectivity and the service life of the reflective optical elements can be reduced by contamination of the optically used reflective area of the reflective optical elements, said contamination arising on account of the shortwave radiation together with residual gases in the operating atmosphere. Since a plurality of reflective optical elements are usually arranged behind one another in an EUV lithography device, even fairly small levels of contamination on each individual reflective optical element have a quite considerable effect on the total reflectivity.

Attached files:
DE102008000709B3.pdf
cleaning-module.jpg

Patents:
DE 102,008,000,709   [MORE INFO]

Inventor(s): HEMBACHER STEFAN [DE]; KRAUS DIETER [DE]; EHM DIRK HEINRICH [DE]; SCHMIDT STEFAN-WOLFGANG [DE]; KOEHLER STEFAN [DE]; CZAP ALMUT

Type of Offer: Sale



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