Inverse Compton Source for Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography

Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) is a critical emerging technology to enable fabrication of integrated circuit with sub-20 nm features. However the implementation and wider adoption of EUVL is limited by the lack of compact, tunable, narrow-band, directional high power sources in the EUV wavelength range. This lack of high-quality compact sources is also inhibiting a range of other high impact X-ray applications in medicine, industry, research and homeland security. This project seeks to address this problem by developing a high duty cycle inverse Compton scattering (ICS) source, based on the scattering of a re-circulated/re-amplified 10 m laser off a multi-bunch train electron beam produced by a photoinjector. In the proposed Phase I, RadiaBeam will conduct initial design studies of EUVL ICS source. In Phase II, a burst mode demonstration experiment will be conducted at the Accelerator Test Facility at BNL. If successful, the output would substantially increase prospects of long overdue market acceptance of ICS EUV and X-ray sources. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The primary application targeted by the proposed system is Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL), which is on the cusp of becoming a billion dollar industry, but for which the current EUV sources are inadequate for the full range of manufacturing processes and diagnostics. The technology scales well to the X-ray range, where there are a number of medical (e.g. phase contrast imaging of soft tissues) and industrial (e.g. non-desctructive testing) applications.