Vacuum chamber arrangement for charged particle beam generator

1. A charged particle beam generator comprising:

a charged particle source for generating a charged particle beam;

a collimator system comprising a collimator structure with a plurality of collimator electrodes for collimating the charged particle beam;

a beam source vacuum chamber comprising the charged particle source, wherein the charged particle source is positioned inside the beam source vacuum chamber; and

a generator vacuum chamber comprising the collimator structure and the beam source vacuum chamber, wherein the collimator system is positioned inside the generator vacuum chamber and outside the beam source vacuum chamber.

2. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 1 , wherein the beam source vacuum chamber comprises at least one source vacuum pumping unit for creating a pressure differential between the beam source vacuum chamber and the generator vacuum chamber.

3. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 2 , wherein the source vacuum pumping unit is a getter pump or a sublimation pump.

4. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 1 , wherein the generator vacuum chamber comprises at least one vacuum pumping system provided inside the generator vacuum chamber and outside of the collimator system and the beam source chamber.

5. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 4 , wherein the vacuum pumping system comprises a getter pump or a sublimation pump, and wherein the getter pump or the sublimation pump is arranged in the generator vacuum chamber outside a perimeter of the collimator electrodes defined along a top view along an optical axis of the charged particle beam.

6. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 4 ,

wherein the charged particle source is arranged for generating the charged particle beam along an optical axis,

wherein the collimator structure comprises a collimator electrode stack spanning a collimator height (Hc) along the optical axis,

wherein the collimator electrode stack comprises a sequence of collimator electrodes, each collimator electrode comprising an electrode body for sustaining an electrical potential and provided with an aperture for permitting passage to the charged particle beam, and

wherein the collimator electrodes are mutually spaced at predetermined distances (Hd) along the optical axis.

7. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one vacuum pumping system is provided inside the generator vacuum chamber at a distance (ΔRp) from an outer perimeter of the collimator electrode stack.

8. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one vacuum pumping system spans an effective pumping surface that is directed substantially parallel with the optical axis.

9. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 8 , wherein the effective pumping surface has a surface height (Hp) that spans at least part of the collimator height.

10. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 9 , wherein the surface height and/or a surface width of the effective pumping surface has a value that is minimally in the order of a diameter (Øc) of the collimator electrode stack.

11. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 7 , wherein the distance (ΔRp) between the vacuum pumping system and the outer perimeter of the collimator electrode stack is larger than a typical inter-electrode distance (Hd) between two adjacent electrodes in the collimator electrode stack.

12. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one, vacuum pumping system comprises at least two getters arranged mutually adjacent and substantially parallel with an axial direction (Z).

13. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 4 , further comprising a pump support structure arranged inside the generator vacuum chamber and configured for carrying pump units of the vacuum pumping system by means of selectively releasable connections.

14. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 6 , wherein the collimator electrode stack comprises three support columns extending over three distinct angular column ranges (ΔΦ 1 , ΔΦ 2 , ΔΦ 3 ) along an outer collimator perimeter, and wherein an effective pumping surface of the vacuum pump system spans an angular pump range (ΔΦp) that has no overlap with either one of the three angular column ranges.

15. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 6 , wherein the sequence of collimator electrodes comprises; arranged along an axial direction (Z):

a first collimator electrode provided at an upstream end of the collimator electrode stack;

a last collimator electrode provided at a downstream end of the collimator electrode stack; and

at least one intermediate electrode provided between the first collimator electrode and the last collimator electrode.

16. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 6 , wherein the collimator electrodes are spaced with respect to each other by means of the electrically insulating spacing structures.

17. The charged particle beam generator according to claim 1 , wherein the charged particle beam generator is formed as a beam generator module that is insertable into and removable from a carrier frame provided inside a further vacuum chamber of a target processing system.

18. A target processing machine for exposing a target, the target processing machine comprising:

a charged particle beam generator according to claim 1 for generating a charged particle beam;

an aperture array for forming a plurality of beamlets from the charged particle beam; and

a beamlet projector for projecting the beamlets onto a surface of the target.

19. The target processing machine according to claim 18 , wherein the target processing machine is a charged particle lithography system.