Solenoid gas puff imploding liner x-ray source

There is a worldwide effort to produce a soft x-ray source for submicron microlithography to manufacture future generation large scale integrated microchips. The gas puff plasma discharge has been suggested as a viable alternative for low volume facilities which require relatively low throughputs with a single aligner station. The repetition rate for such systems is limited by the large gas flow into the vacuum system with the standard electromechanical puff valve. A unique puff arrangement is being developed which will limit the dead gas flow and, in principle, will allow for the development of high repetition rate systems. In this arrangement, the gas flows continuously from a low-pressure plenum through an annular aperture into the Z-pinch electrode gap. A discharge through a single turn solenoid coil mounted on the outside of the plenum inductively heats the gas, temporarily increasing the mass flow to produce a low mass (