HEIGHTS Initial Simulation of Discharge Produced Plasma Hydrodynamics and Radiation Transport for EUV Lithography

Discharge produced plasma (DPP) devices have been proposed as a light source for EUV lithography. A key challenge for DPP is achieving sufficient brightness to support the throughput requirements of exposure tools for high-volume manufacturing lithography. To simulate the environment of the EUV source and optimize the output of the source, an integrated model is being developed to describe the hydrodynamic and optical processes that occur in DPP devices. The model includes both plasma evolution and magnetohydrodynamic processes as well as detailed photon radiation transport. The total variation diminishing scheme in the Lax-Friedrich formulation for the description of magnetic compression and diffusion in a cylindrical geometry is used. Several models are being developed for opacity calculations; a collisional radiation equilibrium model, a self-consistent field model with Auger processes, and a nonstationary kinetic model. Radiation transport for both continuum and lines with detailed spectral profiles are taken into account. The developed models are integrated into the HEIGHTS-EUV computer simulation package. Preliminary results of a numerical simulation of xenon gas hydrodynamics and line radiation output are presented for various plasma conditions.