Power loading limitations in soft x-ray projection lithography.

Soft x-ray projection lithography (SXPL) is an attractive technique for the fabrication of high-speed, high-density integrated circuits. In an SXPL stepper, the x-ray imaging mirrors consist of multilayer coatings deposited onto high precision substrates. The stepper is intended to fabricate ultra-high spatial-resolution structures with a minimum feature size of <0.

Wavelength considerations in soft-x-ray projection lithography.

The choice of the operational wavelength for a soft-x-ray projection lithography system affects a wide variety of system parameters such as optical design, sources, resists, and multilayer mirrors. Several system constraints limit the choice for the operational wavelength. In particular, optical imaging requirements place an upper limit and throughput issues place a lower limit on the wavelength selection.

Front-end design issues in soft-x-ray projection lithography.

We present a protocol for the design of an illumination system (front end) for a soft-x-ray projection lithography tool. The protocol is illustrated by specific front-end designs. The most complete design analysis is for a laser-driven system.

Radiation hardness of molybdenum silicon multilayers designed for use in a soft-x-ray projection lithography system.

A molybdenum silicon multilayer is irradiated with 13.4-nm radiation to investigate changes in multilayer performance under simulated soft-x-ray projection lithography (SXPL) conditions. The wiggler-undulator at the Berlin electron storage ring BESSY is used as a quasi-monochromatic source of calculable spectral radiant intensity and is configured to simulate an incident SXPL x-ray spectrum.

Introduction to special issue of Applied Optics on soft-x-ray projection lithography.

This special issue contains a collection of papers describing results that were presented at the Second Topical Meeting on Soft-X-Ray Projection Lithography sponsored by the Optical Society of America and held 6-8 April 1992 in Monterey, California, along with several additional papers submitted after that meeting. These papers are being published in this collection to make them readily available to a larger audience than would normally occur with a proceedings and also to take advantage of the critical review process.

Wafer cost analysis for a soft x-ray projection lithography system.

We present a baseline analysis of issues affecting the economic viability of Soft X-Ray Projection Lithography (SXPL). This analysis is intended to serve as a starting point, and to provide an initial assessment of the relative importance of cost factors in a SXPL system. We presume a "conventional" SXPL system design and focus on wafer exposure costs.

Revolution in x-ray optics.

In the past half decade or so there has been a technological revolution in our ability to generate, control, manipulate, focus, and detect x rays. The emergence of x-ray lasers and synchrotron insertion devices has increased the brightness of laboratory x-ray sources 8 to 12 orders of magnitude over what was available in the late 1960s. In addition, the past few years have been witness to significant advances in the development of normal incidence x-ray mirrors and beam splitters, diffraction limited x-ray lenses, x-ray microscopy, x-ray holography, x-ray waveguides, and CCD x-ray detector arrays.

Time-resolved measurement of double-pass amplification of soft x rays.

We report the first time-resolved measurements of emission from a double-pass soft x-ray laser cavity. In these experiments the output signal from a selenium x-ray laser had two temporal components clearly identifiable as the single- and double-pass emission, with the double-pass amplified signal more intense than the single pass. In addition to an unequivocal demonstration of double-pass amplification of soft x rays, the data provide information about of the time-dependent gain in these x-ray laser media, suggesting an effective gain-length profile which rises more slowly and falls-off more rapidly than predicted by state of the art hydrodynamics and kinetics codes.

Demonstration of guided-wave phenomena at extreme-ultraviolet and soft-x-ray wavelengths.

We report an explicit demonstration of classical guided-wave propagation at XUV and soft-x-ray wavelengths. Experiments were performed using narrow-band synchrotron radiation at 5, 20.8, 21, and 30 nm.

Time-resolved x-ray transmission grating spectrometer for studying laser-produced plasmas.

The development of a new time-resolved x-ray spectrometer is reported in which a free-standing x-ray transmission grating is coupled to a soft x-ray streak camera. The instrument measures continuous x-ray spectra with 20-psec temporal resolution and moderate spectral resolution (deltalambda >/= 1 A) over a broad spectral range (0.1-5 keV) with high sensitivity and large information recording capacity.

Imaging x-ray spectrometer for laser fusion applications.

A gold transmission grating has been coupled to a high-resolution Wolter-design grazing-incidence reflection x-ray microscope to produce an imaging x-ray spectrometer of unprecedented spatial resolution, spectral range, and collection solid angle. In a series of test experiments conducted at 1.75-2 keV, the instrument demonstrated a spectral resolving power, lambda/Deltalambda, of 200 and a 1-D spatial resolution of 1 microm.

Micro-Fresnel zone plates for coded imaging applications.

Design considerations and fabrication procedures for Fresnel zone plates appropriate for high-resolution coded imaging of x-ray and particle emission from laser produced plasmas are presented. Fabrication results for free standing zone plate structures of high Z material (gold), large zone number (100 View Article and Find Full Text PDF