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Zeiss develops prototype EUV mask metrology system
The Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology business group of Zeiss has developed an inspection system for EUV photomasks, called the actinic Aerial Image Metrology System (AIMS) EUV. First images of EUV photomasks were taken by the prototype of the system. ‘The first images are a major milestone, because they verify the concept and the design of the whole system. We produced evidence that not only are the optics well defined, but also the source and all other major components are working together,’ said Dr Jan Hendrik Peters, EUV programme manager at Carl Zeiss SMS.
The AIMS EUV platform represents an essential tool for the development and manufacture of defect-free EUVL masks supporting the 16nm half-pitch (HP) technology node requirements with extendibility to the 11nm HP node. The development of this tool is part of the EUVL Mask Infrastructure (EMI) Consortium activities. Sematech launched EMI in 2010 to address key infrastructure gaps for EUV in the area of mask metrology, by funding development of critical metrology tools.
‘The AIMS EUV tool will be one of the most precise optical instruments for the semiconductor industry, and the EMI members are pleased to see our collaboration facilitate this accomplishment. With first images now available, Zeiss is showing significant progress in building a production- ready tool. Mask defectivity remains a key challenge to EUV readiness and it is exciting to see AIMS continue its journey towards realisation,’ said Michael Goldstein, EMI programme manager and senior principal physicist, Intel assignee at Sematech.
8 ELECTRO OPTICS l MARCH 2014
National Ignition Facility release record-breaking fusion results
The development represents a step towards a clean and abundant energy source
A
team of researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) National Ignition Facility
(NIF) has broken the record for the amount of energy produced by a contained fusion reaction, a step closer towards a clean and abundant energy source. The researchers presented their results in a recent paper published in Nature. Using Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF), the team caused a deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel pellet to release more energy than it initially absorbed. Energy released from the 2mm diameter DT fuel capsule was an order of magnitude larger than previously recorded. The paper, entitled Fuel gain exceeding unity in an inertially confined fusion implosion, states that the researchers managed to create the beginning of the chain reaction necessary to turn nuclear fusion into a commercial energy
‘ The method used involves a small hollow capsule, known as a hohlraum, to house the pellet’
source. This requires the alpha particles emitted after the initial reactions to deposit energy back into the fuel capsule, causing further ignition and a ‘run away’ reaction. As reported in the February edition of Electro Optics, this result should not be confused with the overall requirements for the commercialisation of nuclear fusion energy. The success was that the chain reaction was started, but the energy absorbed by the fuel capsule is not the same as the energy that the facility had to use to induce the reaction.
The ‘indirect drive’ method used by the facility involves a small
hollow capsule, known as a hohlraum, to house the pellet. By bombarding the hohlraum with 192 separate laser beams the capsule releases a bath of X-rays. It is these X-rays that the fuel capsule absorbs and emits, not the 1.8MJ of laser energy initially supplied.
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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