Influence of a magnetic field on an extreme ultraviolet photon-induced plasma afterglow

Understanding extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photon-induced plasma dynamics is key to increasing the lifetime of the new generation of lithography machines. The plasma decay times were determined by means of a non-destructive microwave method, microwave cavity resonance spectroscopy, for unmagnetized and magnetized EUV photon-induced plasma afterglows with the argon pressure ranging from 0.002 to 10 Pa. As a result of an external magnet with a magnetic field strength of (57 ± 1) mT, the plasma decay times were extended by two orders of magnitude. Good agreement was found between these measured plasma decay times and four diffusion models, i.e. the ion acoustic, ambipolar, classical-collision, and Bohm's diffusion model.