A report on the modeling efforts in the development of a Distributed EUV source for next generation lithography tools

The need for a highly scalable, low debris and long lifetime source of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) radiation has been well established in the previous years of this conference. Presented here is Starfire Industries' basic concept of a distributed microdischarge EUV light source which emits little debris, while at the same time achieving conversion efficiencies that can be optimized to approach the theoretical physical limit of ∼1.6% in a 2% band centered at 13.5nm into 2π steradians for xenon plasma. Modeling results will be presented based on a variety of techniques including: advanced magneto hydrodynamics calculations that utilize Prism Computational Science's HELIOS-CR, an improved discharge circuit model that interfaces with and extends HELIOS-CR, and ab initio calculations of optimization of EUV collector geometry. These simulations were used together to study the variation of circuit and geometrical parameters of the Starfire microdischarge EUV source array. The results of this parameter study suggest the optimum control conditions that will allow the production of an array of high brightness and high stability EUV sources for image transfer and high-volume lithographic manufacturing.