NSF Award
1347407
Overview:<br/><br/>In this project, KMlabs will work with the currently active ERC in EUV Science and Technology<br/>in an effort to optimize and commercialize a tabletop coherent extreme ultraviolet source<br/>based on high-order harmonic generation (HHG), targeted specifically for 13.5 nm wavelength.<br/>The end goal of this project is to produce a commercial prototype that can produce efficient<br/>13.5 nm light to support EUV lithography tool development. Such a small-scale laser source<br/>can be used for a variety of lithography support applications including optics characterization,<br/>metrology, and mask inspection, which can help to ensure the rapid deployment of this critical<br/>technology, currently planned for ~2015.<br/><br/>Intellectual Merit :<br/>CU-Boulder, as a part of the EUV ERC, has been developing coherent EUV technology for more<br/>than a decade. Their recent work has led to a more comprehensive understanding of how to optimize<br/>the HHG upconversion process to generate EUV or x-ray light at a particular target wavelength.<br/>This for the first time allows us to identify specific approaches that may allow for significant<br/>(up to 3 orders of magnitude) increases in coherent flux capability at 13 nm.<br/>KMlabs has proven track of record for successfully commercializing cutting edge scientific<br/>results?for example the eXtreme Ultraviolet Ultrafast Source (XUUS), introduced in 2009. The<br/>XUUS is a broadband coherent ultrafast EUV source optimized to generate 30 nm light, and >15<br/>XUUS setups have been delivered to research customers worldwide. Optimization of this source<br/>for 13 nm will make it possible to address a much greater range of industry needs. We have<br/>identified three possible approaches for optimizing 13 nm flux. In this project we plan to<br/>perform a direct comparative evaluation of these approaches. Based on our physical understanding,<br/>we believe we can determine the global optimum for HHG conversion to 13 nm.<br/><br/>Broader Impacts :<br/>KMlabs and the EUV ERC will each leverage their technical strengths, and this project will<br/>serve to leverage the impact of EUV ERC technology on the science and technology enterprise.<br/>The rapid advance of microelectronics technology, as described by Moore?s law, has been a<br/>major driver of the global economy. This advance has been driven primarily by progress in<br/>lithography that allows for shrinking feature size. Current visible wavelength tools are straining<br/>against fundamental limits, and the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors has<br/>been anticipated a shift to EUV lithography for quite some time. The timeline for EUV had<br/>repeatedly experienced delays because the use of EUV light, which is strongly absorbed by<br/>all materials, is radically more difficult to work with than visible/UV.<br/>Nevertheless, recent progress in 13 nm EUV light sources for lithographic exposure has made<br/>its adoption for the 22 nm node-size in the next generation computer chips a high priority.<br/>EUV lithography remains untested at the systems and large-scale production level, with many<br/>unknowns. Improved capabilities for mask defect detection and characterization, for characterizing<br/>optics degradation with long-term use, and for tasks such as alignment and quality control,<br/>can all benefit from a usable tabletop at-wavelength laser source. An HHG-based coherent 13<br/>nm EUV light source is a relatively low cost, small-scale, contamination-free coherent source<br/>suitable for industrial application, and which has already been proven to enable new capabilities<br/>such as coherent diffractive EUV imaging with near-wavelength resolution, and for materials<br/>characterization. KMlabs plans to build on this proposed work in future with development of<br/>reflectometer/ellipsometer instruments, as well as an inspection microscope for EUV lithography<br/>applications.
