Fibre-delivery laser

Agilent says it has released what it claims is the first laser with fibre optic delivery suitable for the demands of next-generation lithography motion control.

NGL tools, which operate in a vacuum, are designed to shrink integrated circuit designs beyond what is possible with optical lithography.

The laser operates in air and delivers light to a remote optical recombination device inside the vacuum.

The Precision Motion Control system includes the remote delivery laser sub-system, beam directing optics, multi axis interferometers and electronic signal-processing subsystems. This system provides ultra high accuracy stage position data with sub-nanometre resolution to control wafer and reticle stages.

Stage position precision is a key parameter required to meet the reduced feature size specifications for NGL applications, which are targeted at 45 to 70 nm.