High-resolution multi grating spectrometer for high quality deep UV light source production

Deep UV lithography using ArF excimer laser requires very narrower spectral properties. However, spectrometers that have sufficient resolution to evaluate the ArF excimer laser are commercially not available. High-resolution multi-grating spectrometers for measuring spectral bandwidth at full width at half maximum (FWHM) and spectral purity of ArF excimer lasers are introduced. To achieve high resolution, a special grating arrangement called HEXA (Holographic and Echelle Gratings Expander Arrangement) is designed. A holographic grating and an echelle grating are used so that the input light is expanded and diffracted several times. The resolution of the HEXA spectrometer is more than two million. To evaluate the resolution and the stability of the spectrometer, we measured the instrument function by a coherent light source whose wavelength is same as ArF excimer laser. The experimentally obtained resolution of the spectrometer is 0.09pm or 0.05pm that is selectable. The measured dispersion has a good agreement with the theoretical value. To evaluate the spectral properties of excimer lasers, the instrument function must be very stable. This high-resolution spectrometer enables high quality control of line-narrowed ArF excimer laser mass production.