Extreme Ultraviolet Interference Filters

The proposed innovation combines advances in EUV multilayer coating technology with Luxel?s long established manufacturing techniques to produce thin foil EUV and X-ray transmission filters. Currently, EUV filter passbands are limited to those that can be created from combinations of the natural electronic absorptions of various elements. EUV Multilayer technology offers the design flexibility to build filters with much more optimized passbands. Multilayer techniques have been used for some time to fabricate normal incidence EUV mirrors. With adequate deposition control, similar materials can be used to fabricate multilayer foils and add the flexibility of interference technology to the suite of EUV filter designs. At Luxel, this is possible because of recent completion of a new deposition system that provides adequate control of individual layer thicknesses. These new multilayer foils will be transformed into EUV transmission filters using Luxel?s traditional filter manufacturing processes. The goal of Phase I will be to show feasibility by fabricating and delivering an evaluation filter that is relevant to a NASA science application. During Phase II, the new multilayer design capabilities will be integrated into Luxel?s manufacturing processes. Filters based on this new technology will provide exciting new options for EUV sensors and science.