Cathode failure behavior of ArF excimer laser glow discharge

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the failure behavior of the glow discharge cathode of the ArF excimer laser was investigated. The morphology and composition of the cathode were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy spectrometer and high resolution laser confocal microscope. The results show that Ar ions sputtering occurs in the cathode discharge area, resulting in sputtering pit, molten morphology and resolidified particles. Due to the thermal effect induced by sputtering, Zn element evaporates violently, which intensifies the cathode erosion. Argon ion sputtering experiments proved the influence of random sputtering on the generation of sputtering pits. The main failure form of the non-discharge region is the corrosion of F2 molecule, which is dominated by Cu and Zn fluoride, and the fluorination layer is not dense.