Extreme ultraviolet light production from a ZaP flow z-pinch xenon plasma

Abstract

Abstract. A potential alternative extreme ultraviolet EUV light sourcefor lithography is studied. The ZaP z-pinch Flow Z-Pinch experiment isstudying the effect of sheared flow on gross plasma stability. In the ex-periment, hydrogen gas is used to produce plasma with quiescent peri-ods in the magnetic mode activity, which are 2000 times longer thanother plasma concepts for creating EUV light, in a configuration with 300times the volume. Similar results are found with xenon gas. An EUVdetector designed using an AXUV100, silicon/zirconium filtered photodi-ode with an 11- to 18-nm bandpass is used to detect EUV emissionswithin that spectrum and the total power of the emissions. EUV emis-sions in 17.4% of the z-pinch have lasted longer than 16 s, with anaverage power of 550 kW. The total EUV power potential inband at13.5 nm from 17.4% of the z-pinch is calculated to be 140 W at theintermediate focus, with a total 100-cm z-pinch emission potential of800 W at 1 kHz. Based on this information, the ZaP Flow Z-Pinch ex-periment is a promising EUV light source for lithography if properlyscaled and optimized for EUV light production.