Comparative and quantitative study of neutral debris emanated from tin plasmas produced by neodymium-doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet and carbon dioxide laser pulses

Amount of neutral debris emanated from extreme ultraviolet light source must be minimized to maximize its lifetime. Emanation of neutral atomic debris was experimentally investigated using laser-induced-fluorescence technique for carbon dioxide (CO2, 10.6 μm in wavelength) and Nd-doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG, 1.064 μm) lasers irradiated tin foils. Total number of neutral atomic debris from CO2 laser-irradiated tin foils was 1/100 times smaller than that from Nd:YAG irradiated ones. Competitiveness of CO2 laser was revealed in terms of debris mitigation.