Distributed Drive System for EUV Lithography Thermal Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
EUV lithography apparatuses face challenges with high heat generation and energy consumption due to central drive devices in vacuum housings, leading to thermal instability, increased cooling demands, and potential system failures from vibrations caused by coolant flow, which complicates positional stability and repair processes.
Innovation Solution
A distributed drive system with multiple local drive units and central drive units is implemented, allowing for heat distribution, redundancy, and reduced energy consumption, while maintaining high positional stability and minimizing downtime in case of faults by using redundant drive paths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a central drive device is used in the vacuum housing, then the control and driving of actuator/sensor devices is centralized and simplified, but heat generation increases and positional stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the centralized drive device into multiple distributed drive units positioned at different locations within the vacuum housing. Each drive unit controls specific actuator/sensor devices locally, segmenting the heat generation and eliminating the thermal concentration problem of a single central drive device.
2Device complexity
If a central drive device is used in the vacuum housing, then the control structure is simplified, but cooling demands and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The drive functionality is segmented into multiple distributed drive units, each generating less heat than a centralized unit. This segmentation reduces the total cooling energy required, as heat is dispersed throughout the vacuum housing rather than concentrated in one location requiring intensive local cooling.
3Device complexity
If a central drive device is used in the vacuum housing, then the driving control is centralized, but vibrations from coolant flow increase and positional stability worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized drive device is segmented into multiple distributed drive units positioned away from the optical path. This segmentation moves the vibration sources away from sensitive optical components, reducing the impact of vibrations on mirror positioning stability while maintaining functional control capability.
4Device complexity
If a central drive device is used in the vacuum housing, then the control system is centralized, but repair time increases and reliability worsens upon failure
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized drive device is segmented into multiple independent drive units. This segmentation creates redundancy, so that if one drive unit fails, the others can continue operating. The modular design also enables faster repair by allowing individual units to be replaced or serviced without shutting down the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates redundant drive units that serve as backup capacity. When a drive unit fails, the redundant units can take over its functions, cushioning against system failure and maintaining operational reliability until repairs are completed.
5Reliability
If computational capacity is increased for active compensation of vibrations, then vibration compensation improves, but energy expenditure and cooling requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The drive units are extracted from the vacuum housing and positioned externally. This extraction eliminates the need for high-speed data communication between internal sensors and external controllers, reducing computational overhead and energy consumption while maintaining vibration compensation capability through the distributed architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus, for example a lithography apparatus or a multi-mirror system, includes comprises a radiation source for generating radiation, a plurality of optical components for guiding the radiation in the apparatus, a plurality of actuator/sensor devices for the optical components, and a drive device for driving the actuator/sensor devices.