As the semiconductor industry is moving towards smaller feature sizes shorter wavelength lasers are needed. A pulsed molecular fluorine laser operating at 157~nm is one of good candidate to meet current photolithography needs. However, at the short wavelength of the fluorine laser most optical materials exhibit a severe deterioration when exposed to light at peak powers in the range of megawatts of typical F_2 laser. Therefore one of the most important task is to reduce the peak power generated by fluorine laser to make its use for microlithography practical.

I will discuss the method and present preliminary results of reducing the laser peak power while maintaining high average power by lengthening the pulse duration.

Refreshments will be served