Modeling and measuring the transport and scattering of energetic debris in an extreme ultraviolet plasma source

A theoretical model for describing the propagation and scattering of energetic species in an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light lithography source is presented. An EUV light emitting XTREME XTS 13-35 Z-pinch plasma source is modeled with a focus on the effect of chamber pressure and buffer gas mass on energetic ion and neutral debris transport. The interactions of the energetic debris species, which is generated by the EUV light emitting plasma, with the buffer gas and chamber walls are considered as scattering events in the model, and the trajectories of the individual atomic species involved are traced using a Monte Carlo algorithm. This study aims to establish the means by which debris is transported to the intermediate focus with the intent to verify the various mitigation techniques currently employed to increase EUV lithography efficiency. The modeling is compared with an experimental investigation.