Solid-state-laser-driven vaporization and ionization of tin: for extreme ultraviolet light sources

Modern nanolithography machines use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light to create the most advanced semiconductor devices. This light is generated using a laser-produced tin plasma, where the tin is vaporized and ionized by high-power lasers. In this Thesis, we study the interaction between solid-state lasers and tin, which has potential applications for these nanolithography machines. In Chapter 1, we study the composition of tin vapor as created by laser-driven vaporization. In Chapter 2, we investigate this vaporization in more detail by modeling the dynamics during the vaporization. In Chapter 3, we follow up on Chapter 1 and see what happens if you vaporize the tin with varying laser intensities. Finally, Chapter 4 studies every aspect of the plasma emissions when generating EUV light using a 2 μm solid-state laser.