SBIR/STTR Phase I: A simple and practical solid-state 157 nm coherent light source for applications in lithography development

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to study the feasibility of a simple and practical narrow-bandwidth vacuum ultraviolet (VUV)laser light source,tunable around 157 nm.This work will combine recent advances in laser technology and nonlinear- optical techniques with previously-studied frequency-conversion schemes.A doubly-resonant four-wave mixing in a guided-wave geometry will be used to convert UV light into the VUV. Extrapolation from previously observed conversion efficiencies shows that the overall conversion efficiency of this process may be increased by 100-1000x,from ~10 -4 to near-unity efficiency.The laser system that will be developed to drive this process will be small-scale and all solid-state. The commercial potential for such a device promises to radically-improve the practicality of VUV light sources over current laser systems,and will find immediate application as a tool for development of 157nm lithography for manufacturing of integrated circuits,and well as in a variety of other basic science and technological applications.