High brightness electrodeless Z-Pinch EUV source for mask inspection tools

Energetiq Technology has been shipping the EQ-10 Electrodeless Z-pinchTM light source since 1995[1]. The source is currently being used for metrology, mask inspection, and resist development [2,3,4]. Energetiq's higher brightness source has been selected as the source for pre-production actinic mask inspection tools. This improved source enables the mask inspection tool suppliers to build prototype tools with capabilities of defect detection and review down to 16nm design rules. In this presentation we will present new source technology being developed at Energetiq to address the critical source brightness issue. The new technology will be shown to be capable of delivering brightness levels sufficient to meet the HVM requirements of AIMS and ABI and potentially API tools. The basis of the source technology is to use the stable pinch of the electrodeless light source and have a brightness of up to 100W/mm(boolean AND)2-sr. We will explain the source design concepts, discuss the expected performance and present the modeling results for the new design.