JPH04105376A - excimer laser equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the title excimer laser device in excellent reliability and less oscillation to be manufactured by a method wherein at least one of opposing discs is held by the rotary bearings held on the bulkheads of a magnetic coupling. CONSTITUTION:The bulkheads 13 fixed to an airtight vessel 1 and a rotary bearing retainer 14 are formed into one body. In such a constitution, the rotary bearings 10a, 10b holding a pair of discs 11a, 11b of disc type magnetic coupling can be retained by this rotary bearing retainer 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an excimer laser device for industrial and medical use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, excimer lasers have been gaining attention as new industrial laser light sources. The excimer laser uses 353n
It is one of the ultraviolet lasers that can produce oscillation lines at several wavelengths from m to 193 nm. Since excimer lasers can provide greater output in a shorter wavelength range than conventional laser devices, they have come to be widely used as a new light source in fields such as microfabrication, surgery, and energy. Particularly in the semiconductor manufacturing process, demand is rapidly increasing for use as a light source for reduction projection devices for producing VLSIs.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a typical excimer laser device. In such a gas laser device such as an excimer laser, when a laser-excited discharge is performed between the main discharge electrodes 2a-5 due to the high voltage applied from the high-voltage control circuit 4, the laser medium gas in this region deteriorates. The discharge characteristics deteriorate and repeated oscillation becomes impossible. For this reason,
A method in which a blower fan 3 such as a cross-flow fan is usually provided in the airtight container 1 to circulate the laser medium gas at high speed within the airtight container 1 and perform laser oscillation without replacing the laser medium gas between the main discharge electrodes. is taken. Since the excimer laser uses a highly corrosive halogen force λ as the medium gas, the motor that drives the blower fan cannot be housed in the airtight container 1.

Therefore, the drive shaft of the blower fan 3 is usually taken out of the airtight container 1 through a suitable feedthrough 5 and connected to a motor 6 which is also placed outside the airtight container 1. In recent years, rotary introduction machines using magnetic couplings have been increasingly used for this feedthrough due to reliability issues. Figure 4 shows an example of the structure of a rotation introduction machine using magnetic coupling. The partition wall 1 is rotated by bearings 10a-b.
Disks 11a- are arranged to face each other with 3 in between.
Multi-pole magnetized permanent magnets 12a-b are attached to b. Due to the attractive force acting between the permanent magnets 12a-b, the disks 11a-b are magnetically coupled via the partition wall 13, and driving force is transmitted from the motor 6 disposed outside the airtight container 1 to the blower fan 3. I can do it.

Problem to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional device, as shown in FIG.
Regarding la, since the rotary bearing 10b is located on the opposite side of the partition wall 13 with respect to the disk llb, it is structurally impossible to manufacture the holding parts 14 of the rotary bearings 10a and 10b as one piece, and the central axis of both cannot be matched accurately. Therefore, vibrations occur as the disks lla and llb rotate.

In an excimer laser for semiconductor lithography, a high repetition rate of operation is required, so the flow rate of the laser medium gas must be increased, and the blower fan 3 must also be rotated at high speed. The above-mentioned vibration becomes more pronounced as the rotation speed increases, but it is a particular problem in ultra-fine processing such as lithography1, and due to this vibration, the rotation bearing 10
The life of a-b is significantly shortened, and the reliability of the device as a whole is reduced. Further, as the rotary bearings 1oa-b deteriorate, dust (fine metal particles) is generated and contaminates the laser medium gas, which increases the consumption of the laser medium gas and increases running costs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and enables the holding part of the rotating bearing of the pair of disks of a disk-type magnetic coupling to be manufactured as one piece, resulting in less vibration, excellent reliability, and high economic efficiency. The purpose is to provide an excimer laser device.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides an airtight container, a pair of discharge electrodes in the airtight container, a laser medium gas, and an air blower for blowing the laser medium gas between the electrodes. A driving means including a fan and driving the blower fan is disposed outside the airtight container, and two disks facing each other with a partition wall in between are used to transmit power from the drive means to the blower fan. In an excimer laser device using a disk-type magnetic coupling in which at least one side is a permanent magnet, at least one of the opposing disks is supported by a rotation bearing held on a partition wall of the magnetic coupling. be.

Effect With the above configuration, the holding part of the rotation bearing of the pair of disks in the disk type magnetic coupling is manufactured as one piece, and the rotation axes can be precisely aligned, resulting in less vibration, excellent reliability, and high economic efficiency. An excimer laser device can be realized.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an excimer laser device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the magnetic coupling portion of FIG. 1. In the embodiment, the partition wall 13 attached to the airtight container 1
and the rotary bearing holder 14 are integrated. The rotary bearing holder 14 holds rotary bearings 10a-b that support a pair of disks 11a-b of a disk-type magnetic coupling. According to the configuration of this embodiment, the disks 11a-b are supported by the rotary bearings 10a-b which are held by the same rotary bearing holder 14 through the partition wall 13. Therefore, it becomes easy to precisely align the central axes of the pair of disks 11a-b, and vibrations caused by rotation can be significantly reduced.

Effects of the Invention As described above, in the present invention, the disk of the disk type magnetic coupling is supported by the rotating bearing held on the partition wall, so the holding portion of the pair of rotating bearings is manufactured integrally and the rotating It is possible to realize an excimer laser device that can align the axes with high precision, has little vibration, is highly reliable, and is highly economical.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an excimer laser device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a sectional view of the main part of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a conventional excimer laser device, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the main part of FIG. 3. 1...Airtight container, 2a-b...Main discharge electrode, 3...Blower fan (cross flow fan), 4...High voltage control circuit, 5...Feed through, 6...Motor, 7...
Total reflection mirror, 8... Output mirror, 9... Gas circulation circuit, 10a-b... Rotating bearing, lla.
b... Disk, 12a-b... Magnet, 13... Partition wall, 14... Rotating bearing holder. Name of agent: Patent attorney Haruaki Ogata and two others Figure 1 1. Ki! 8 devices 6...Motor za, 2bi
R electrode 7・All FLINnJ・・Transmission 1 generation 77n
j Output included 4. High tortoise pressure wisdom, P power recovery 9. Power supply 1 circuit Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] An airtight container, a pair of discharge electrodes, a laser medium gas, and a blower fan for blowing the laser medium gas between the electrodes are provided in the airtight container, and a driving means for driving the blower fan is provided outside the airtight container. an excimer laser device that uses a disk-type magnetic coupling in which two disks face each other with a partition wall in between and at least one of the disks is a permanent magnet to transmit power from the driving means to the blower fan; An excimer laser device, wherein at least one of the opposing disks is supported by a rotation bearing held by a partition wall of the magnetic coupling.