The invention is directed to a method for the energy stabilization of a gas discharge-pumped
radiation source that is operated in defined pulse sequences, particularly for
suppression of overshooting and undershooting of excimer lasers and EUV radiation
sources in burst operation. It is the object of the invention to find a novel possibility
for the stabilization of the energy emission of a gas discharge-pumped radiation
source that is operated in defined pulse sequences (bursts) which makes it possible
to take into account a temporary behavior of the radiation source at the beginning
of every burst without repeated recalibration of the energy-voltage curve. In a
method with proportional regulation of the charging voltage as a function of the
measured pulse energy, the object stated above is met according to the invention
in that the pulse energy En(p) to be adjusted for a current
pulse in the current burst is calculated from the pulse energy of the preceding
pulse in the current burst and an identical pulse En(p-1) of
a preceding precursor burst, wherein the precursor burst is an unregulated model
burst and the high voltage which is to be adjusted currently for the current pulse
is calculated from the current pulse energy En(p) by dividing
by the rise dE/dU of the function of the pulse energy depending on the charging
voltage in the linear operating range of the radiation source.