On the performance of an ArF and a KrF laser as a function of the preionisation timing and the excitation mode

An X-ray preionised ArF and KrF excimer laser has been studied with three different spiker-sustainer excitation circuits. We observed large differences in the laser performance, when the preionisation delay timing was varied on a nanosecond timescale. The behaviour of both lasers was found to be equivalent. The observations can be understood by considering the effect of the discharge excitation technique on the preionisation process. An excitation mode with a prepulse well above the steady-state voltage V_SS with a subsequent reversed overshoot voltage for initiating the discharge, in combination with a well-timed preionisation pulse is found to give the best results. Optimum output energies of 50 mJ with ArF and 175 mJ with KrF were obtained from an active volume of 60×1.5×1.2 cm in the so-called swing mode, with the preionisation applied 60 ns before the discharge breakdown. Received: 23 February 1999 / Revised version: 4 June 1999 / Published online: 16 September 1999