Extremely long life and low-cost 193nm excimer laser chamber technology for 450mm wafer multipatterning lithography

193nm ArF excimer lasers are widely used as light sources for the lithography process of semiconductor production. 193nm ArF exicmer lasers are expected to continue to be the main solution in photolithography, since advanced lithography technologies such as multiple patterning and Self-Aligned Double Patterning (SADP) are being developed. In order to apply these technologies to high-volume semiconductor manufacturing, the key is to reduce the total operating cost. To reduce the total operating cost, life extension of consumable part and reduction of power consumption are an important factor. The chamber life time and power consumption are a main factor to decide the total operating cost. Therefore, we have developed the new technology for extension of the chamber life time and low electricity consumption. In this paper, we will report the new technology to extend the life time of the laser chamber and to reduce the electricity consumption.