An injection seeded modular gas discharge laser system capable of producing high
quality pulsed laser beams at pulse rates of about 4,000 Hz or greater and at pulse
energies of about 5 mJ or greater. Two separate discharge chambers are provided,
one of which is a part of a master oscillator producing a very narrow band seed
beam which is amplified in the second discharge chamber. The chambers can be controlled
separately permitting separate optimization of wavelength parameters in the master
oscillator and optimization of pulse energy parameters in the amplifying chamber.
A preferred embodiment in an ArF excimer laser system configured as a MOPA and
specifically designed for use as a light source for integrated circuit lithography.
In the preferred MOPA embodiment, each chamber comprises a single tangential fan
providing sufficient gas flow to permit operation at pulse rates of 4000 Hz or
greater by clearing debris from the discharge region in less time than the approximately
0.25 milliseconds between pulses. The master oscillator is equipped with a line
narrowing package having a very fast tuning mirror capable of controlling centerline
wavelength on a pulse-to-pulse basis at repetition rates of 4000 Hz or greater
to a precision of less than 0.2 pm.