Study of relation between crystal structure and laser damage of Calcium Fluoride

摘要

The artificially grown calcium fluoride is one of key materials for microlithography and used for excimer laser optics etc. Such calcium fluoride is required high laser durability and laser induced bulk damage threshold (LIDT). However, the artificially grown calcium fluoride is not a complete crystal, and there are a lot of sub-grain boundaries inside the crystal that have the possibility of causing degradation of laser durability and LIDT. Moreover, mechanical properties of calcium fluoride are different according to the crystal axis, therefore there is a possibility that mechanical properties influences LIDT. In this study, we examined the relation between crystal structure and LIDT. First, we examined the relation between the crystal axis and LITD of single crystal calcium fruoride. The relation between the crystallographic axis and LIDT that the laser enters was examined. The ArF excimer laser and the fifth high harmonic of the Nd:YAG laser at 213nm were used for the irradiation source of light. We prepared samples that optical axes were <111>, <110> and <001> from the same crystal. From the result of this examination, when the laser irradiated in <111> axis, LIDT was the highest. Next, we observed the damage with polarizing microscope and optical microscope. The result of this observation suggested that the laser damage of calcium fluoride was related to the crystal orientation. Finally, we investigated the damage mechanism of calcium fluoride. It is thought that the laser irradiation induced stress is relaxed most easily when the optical axis is <111>. Therefore, LIDT of calcium fluoride is supposed to be highest when the optical axis is <111>.