Modeling the ionization and recombination of oxygen in supernova remnants and applying this to tin droplets in nanometer laboratory setting

With the rise of computers, microchips became an important part of our
lives. Our mobile phones would not be possible without the advances in
the production of every smaller microchips. One of the biggest companys
in this industry is ASML, a company that makes the machines that used
in the production of microchips. The newest machine uses extreme ultraviolet light to make imprints on silicon plagues, which are called wafers.
ASML Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) machines are on the forefront of development in the microchip making industry. In this machine, tin is used to
create a very short wavelength and energetic UV light of 13.5nm. In order
to achieve this, the tin is hit by two laser pulses. The first low energetic
pulse causes the tin to form a disk-like target. Secondly, this disk is hit by a
more powerful pulse (λ = 10.6µm) that causes the tin to become a plasma.
This plasma sends out the extreme UV light while the tin ionizes and recombines. This specific wavelength of tin can be attributed to specific ions
of tin, the Sn11+ − Sn15+ [1] tin, which are between 11 and 15 times ionized tin. An ion is an atom that lost at least one of its electrons, this tin lost
between 11 and 15 of its initial electrons to produce this light.
After the tin produced the extreme UV, the tin needs to be captured because excess tin can collect on the first mirror, otherwise the power of the
machine will gradually reduce. Currently, this is done by pumping hydrogen gas through the reaction chamber, however by understanding the
charge-state characteristics a new method can be researched.
In laboratory setting at ARCNL this process is reproduced with an instrument that can measure what kind of tin charge-state after the laser pulses.
Ions are charged because of the lost electrons. A specific ion could also be
called charge-state.The measured charge-state can be seen in figure1.