Improvements in Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Source

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is a technique that uses a 13.5 nm wavelength of light to print intricate patterns on semiconductor wafers. To cohere with Moore’s Law [1], industries require increasingly powerful chips for improved data storage and processing requirements, as well as advancements towards Artificial and various smart technologies. Current light sources for EUV pose several challenges related to output power and source efficiency with laser-produced plasma. Interferometry and spectroscopy are methods that can provide information on the electron density and temperature of the tin plasma source of various laser energies. Furthermore, this determined electron density and temperature can be optimized to improve conversion efficiency [2]. This research allows for future fine-tuning of input laser parameters to improve conversion and spectral efficiency for the production of smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient chips.

[1] Gordon E. Moore, “Cramming more components onto integrated circuits” Electronics, 38 - 114 (1965).

[2] J. Appl. Phys. 138, 033109 (2025); doi: 10.1063/5.0269233