ARRANGEMENT FOR THE CONTINUOUS GENERATION OF LIQUID TIN AS EMITTER MATERIAL IN EUV RADIATION SOURCES.

摘要

The invention is directed to an arrangement for generating EUV radiation based on a hot plasma using liquid emitter material. The object of the invention is to find a novel possibility for generating EUV radiation which allows a continuous supply of liquid, particularly metal, emitter material (2) under a defined high pressure without having to interrupt the continuous supply of emitter material (2) when consumed emitter material (2) must be replenished. According to the invention, this object is met in that the emitter material supply unit (4) has at least a first pressure vessel (44) and a second pressure vessel (44) between the reservoir vessel (41) and the injection device (5) for generating a high emitter material pressure for the injection unit (5), the pressure vessels (44, 44) are acted upon by a high-pressure gas system (73) with a gas pressure (74) in the megapascal range, and the emitter material supply unit (4) has means for switching the high-pressure gas system (73) from one pressure vessel (44, 44) to the other pressure vessel (44, 44) and for correspondingly alternately switching the injection unit (5) to the constant emitter material pressure of the respective pressure vessel (44, 44) being pressurized, wherein at least one of the pressure vessels (44, 44) can be refilled during the continuous operation of droplet generation and plasma generation.