Tin vapor is the next big thing in light sources and an evolving new plasma application. These source produce light at the extreme end of the UV spectrum to make patterns at a few nano meters. #plasma #semiconductor

Discharge sources in tin vapor are receiving attention as a candidate for extreme ultraviolet light sources for application in semiconductor lithography, because of their favorable spectrum near 13.5 nm, which is 30 times smaller than the wavelength of visible light.  In an 2005 paper, the ASML EUV laboratory studied time-resolved pinhole imaging in the EUV and two-dimensional imaging in visible light have been applied for qualitative characterization of the evolution of a vacuum-arc tin vapor discharge. An EUV spectrometer was used to find the dominant ionization stages of tin as a function of time during the plasma evolution of the discharge.

In more recent work, laser-produced plasmas (LPPs) are shown to be more attractive as ion sources for pulsed short wavelength light sources for applications such as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, EUV metrology and surface treatment and modification. Especially, in the past ten years, laser-produced tin plasma have been widely investigated because their compactness and high emissivity around 13.5 nm makes them an attractive extreme ultraviolet light source.

Read a Review in Nature