Design of multilayer extreme-ultraviolet mirrors for enhanced reflectivity

We show numerically that the reflectivity of multilayer extreme-UV (EUV) mirrors tuned for the 11-14-nm spectral region, for which the two-component, Mo/Be and Mo/Si multilayer systems with constant layer thickness are commonly used, can be enhanced significantly when we incorporate additional materials within the stack. The reflectivity performance of the quarter-wavelength multilayers can be enhanced further by global optimization procedures with which the layer thicknesses are varied for optimum performance. By incorporating additional materials of differing complex refractive indices-e.g., Rh, Ru, Sr, Pd, and RbCl-in various regions of the stack, we observed peak reflectivity enhancements of as much as ~5% for a single reflector compared with standard unoptimized stacks. We show that, in an EUV optical system with nine near-normal-incidence mirror surfaces, the optical throughput may be increased by a factor as great as 2. We also show that protective capping layers, in addition to protecting the mirrors from environmental attack, may serve to improve the reflectivity characteristics.     

Narrow-bandpass multilayer mirrors for an extreme-ultraviolet Doppler telescope

We have developed narrow-bandpass MoSi/Si multilayer mirrors for a Japanese sounding-rocket program. A high spectral resolution lambda/Dlambda exceeding 40 was achieved by a two-mirror telescope with a multilayer coating. The single telescope had two bandpasses in the extreme-UV range for detecting a coronal high-velocity flow; the wavelength at peak reflectance (hereafter peak wavelength) in one of the bandpasses was 210.2 A, situated on the blue side of the target's Fe xiv 211.3-A coronal emission line, and the peak wavelength in the other was 213.3 A on the red side. A high uniformity in a peak wavelength of less than 1 A was achieved over a primary (secondary) mirror surface 158 (96) mm in diameter. The ratio of the reflectance for the Fe xiv line at 211 A to that for an intense He ii line as a contaminant at 304 A in the telescope system became 2 x 10(5) owing to a wave trap consisting of a single Si layer on the MoSi/Si multilayer. The narrow-bandpass (~5-A) telescope was launched on 31 January 1998 by sounding rocket S520CN-22, and images of the whole-Sun corona at Fe xiv 211 A were successfully obtained.     

Design, fabrication, and analysis of chirped multilayer mirrors for reflection of extreme-ultraviolet attosecond pulses

Chirped Mo/Si multilayer coatings have been designed, fabricated, and characterized for use in extreme-ultraviolet attosecond experiments. By numerically simulating the reflection of the attosecond pulse from a multilayer mirror during the optimization procedure based on a genetic algorithm, we obtain optimized layer designs. We show that normal incidence chirped multilayer mirrors capable of reflecting pulses of approximately 100 attoseconds (as) duration can be designed by enhancing the reflectivity bandwidth and optimizing the phase-shift behavior. The chirped multilayer coatings have been fabricated by electron-beam evaporation in an ultrahigh vacuum in combination with ion-beam polishing of the interfaces and in situ reflectivity measurement for layer thickness control. To analyze the aperiodic layer structure by hard-x-ray reflectometry, we have developed an automatic fitting procedure that allows us to determine the individual layer thicknesses with an error of less than 0.05 nm. The fabricated chirped mirror may be used for production of 150-160 as pulses.     

Structural characterization and lifetime stability of Mo/Y extreme-ultraviolet multilayer mirrors

We have observed a dramatic dependence of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) reflectivity of Mo/Y multilayers on the oxygen content of yttrium. This is explained as being due to a change in the microstructure and an increase in roughness of the yttrium layers and not just to an increase in absorption owing to the amount of oxygen within the yttrium layers. We found that the best reflectivity of 38.4% was achieved with an oxygen content of 25%, which was reduced to 32.6% and 29.6% for multilayers manufactured from oxygen-free yttrium and 39%-oxygen yttrium, respectively. These results highlight the importance of including experimentally determined optical constants as well as interface roughness in multilayer calculations. In addition, the lifetime stability of Mo/Y multilayers with different capping layers was monitored for 1 year. The molybdenum- and palladium-capped samples exhibited low surface roughness and approximately 4% relative reflectivity loss in 1 year. The relative reflectivity loss of the yttrium-capped sample (yttrium with 39% oxygen) was approximately 8%. However, the reflectivity loss in all three capping layers occurred within the first 100 days after the deposition, and the reflectivity remained stable afterward.     

Wave-front correction methods for extreme-ultraviolet multilayer reflectors

In this theoretical study we show that by removing or depositing additional multilayer (ML) periods of a thin-film interference coating, distortions in the reflected wave front induced by surface figure errors can be corrected. At lambda = 13.4 nm in the extreme-ultraviolet region the removal or deposition of a single period of the standard two-component molybdenum-silicon (Mo/Si) ML interference coating induces an effective phase change of magnitude 0.043pi with respect to an identical optical thickness in vacuum. The magnitude of this wave-front shift can be enhanced with multicomponent MLs optimized for phase change on reflection. We briefly discuss the contributions of the shift in the effective reflection surface of the ML on the phase change. We also predict the feasibility of novel phase-shifting mask for subwavelength imaging applications.     

Carbon buffer layers for smoothing superpolished glass surfaces as substrates for molybdenum /silicon multilayer soft-x-ray mirrors

Zerodur and BK7 glass substrates (developed by Fa. Glaswerke Schott, D-55014 Mainz, Germany) from Carl Zeiss Oberkochen polished to a standard surface roughness of varsigma = 0.8 nm rms were coated with a C layer by electron-beam evaporation in the UHV. The roughness of the C-layer surfaces is reduced to 0.6 nm rms. A normal-incidence reflectance of 50% at a wavelength of 13 nm was measured for a Mo/Si multilayer soft-x-ray mirror with 30 double layers (N = 30) deposited onto the BK7/C substrate, whereas a similar Mo/Si multilayer (N = 30) evaporated directly onto the bare BK7 surface turned out to show a reflectance of only 42%.     

High-performance Mo-Si multilayer coatings for extreme-ultraviolet lithography by ion-beam deposition

An ion-beam deposition system has been used to fabricate Mo-Si multilayer coatings for masks and imaging optics to be used for extreme-ultraviolet lithography. In addition to high reflectivity and excellent profile control, ion-beam deposition has the capability to smooth rough substrates. For example, we achieved reflectivity of 66.8% on a substrate with 0.39-nm roughness. Smoothing can be further enhanced with a second ion source directed at the multilayer coating. The smoothing capabilities relax the requirement on the finish of the mirror and the mask substrates and could dramatically reduce the cost of these components. Thickness profile control is in the +/-0.01% range, and the figure error added to the mirror substrate by errors in the multilayer thickness is less than 0.1 nm. Peak reflectivities obtained on smooth substrates are 67.5-68.6%.     

Fabrication of multilayer mirrors consisting of oxide and nitride layers for continual use across the K-absorption edge of carbon

The development of multilayer mirrors for continual use around the K-absorption edge of carbon (4.4 nm) has been begun. Cobalt oxide (Co3O4), silicon oxide (SiO2), and boron nitride (BN) are found to be suitable for multilayer mirrors on the basis of theoretical calculations for wavelengths around the carbon K-absorption edge region. X-ray reflectivity curves with CuKalpha1 x rays of the fabricated Co3O4/SiO2 multilayers have sharp Bragg peaks, and the layer structures evaluated from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations are uniform. On the other hand, the Bragg peaks of Co3O4/BN multilayers split, and aggregated Co3O4 is observed. To improve the Co3O4 layer structure, chromium oxide (Cr2O3) was mixed into Co3O4. The mixed oxide layer structure in the Mix/BN multilayer (Mix = Co3O4 + Cr2O3) is relatively uniform, and the Bragg peaks do not split.     

Electron beam deposition system for X-ray multilayer mirrors

We have developed a multi source electron beam evaporation system toprepare high quality X-ray multilayer mirrors. The system has three electron guns mounted in an ultra high vacuum chamber. The deposition system is evacuated by a turbo molecular pump and two sputter ion pumps. A movable masking system is mounted to deposit several kinds of multilayers. First results on niobium-carbon X-ray multilayers are presented.     

Reflection-wavelength control method for layer-by-layer controlled x-ray multilayer mirrors

A reflection-wavelength control method for a layer-by-layer controlled x-ray multilayer mirror without interface roughness is proposed. The reflection wavelength of the multiperiodic mirror is found to be simply determined by a combination ratio of periodic layers. Multiperiodic x-ray mirrors with reflectance wavelengths at 3.374 nm (C VI 1s-2p) and 3.950 nm (Ca XVIII 3d-5f) are successfully designed.     

Origins of fundamental limits for reflection losses at multilayer dielectric mirrors

Fundamental limits on reflection losses are set by internal material losses associated with the Urbach tail near a band gap and by thermodynamic density fluctuations in fabrication. In materials such as SiO(2) and TiO(2), these limits are of the order of parts in 10(9). The current quality of supercavity mirrors, in contrast to that of optical fibers, is still far from these limits because of purely technological limitations in surface preparation and in the reduction of impurity levels. Overcoming these would greatly benefit, for example, Fabry-Perot interferometers, ring lasers, and gravitational wave detectors.     

Optical constants of in situ-deposited films of important extreme-ultraviolet multilayer mirror materials

We have performed angle-dependent reflectance measurements of in situ magnetron sputtered films of B(4)C, C, Mo, Si, and W. The Fresnel relations were used to determine the complex index of refraction from the reflectance data in the region of approximately 35-150 eV. In the cases of Si, C, and B(4)C we found excellent agreement with published data. However, for Mo and W we found that the optical properties from 35 to 60 eV differed significantly from those in the literature.     

Mo/Si and Mo/Be multilayer thin films on Zerodur substrates for extreme-ultraviolet lithography

Multilayer-coated Zerodur optics are expected to play a pivotal role in an extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tool. Zerodur is a multiphase, multicomponent material that is a much more complicated substrate than commonly used single-crystal Si or fused-silica substrates. We investigate the effect of Zerodur substrates on the performance of high-EUV reflectance Mo/Si and Mo/Be multilayer thin films. For Mo/Si the EUV reflectance had a nearly linear dependence on substrate roughness for roughness values of 0.06-0.36 nm rms, and the FWHM of the reflectance curves (spectral bandwidth) was essentially constant over this range. For Mo/Be the EUV reflectance was observed to decrease more steeply than Mo/Si for roughness values greater than approximately 0.2-0.3 nm. Little difference was observed in the EUV reflectivity of multilayer thin films deposited on different substrates as long as the substrate roughness values were similar.     

Atomic-precision multilayer coating of the first set of optics for an extreme-ultraviolet lithography prototype system

We present our results of coating a first set of optical elements for an extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system. The optics were coated with Mo-Si multilayer mirrors by dc magnetron sputtering and characterized by synchrotron radiation. Near-normal incidence reflectances above 65% were achieved at 13.35 nm. The run-to-run reproducibility of the reflectance peak wavelength was maintained to within 0.4%, and the thickness uniformity (or gradient) was controlled to within +/-0.05% peak to valley, exceeding the prescribed specification. The deposition technique used for this study is an enabling technology for EUV lithography, making it possible to fabricate multilayer-coated optics to accuracies commensurate with atomic dimensions.     

Correlation of sidelobe suppression between rugate filters and multilayer mirrors

We present the study of the correlation between refractive index profiles and the optical response of rugate filters and multilayer mirrors. The conventionally used method in multilayer mirrors for ripple suppression in the passband will be compared with a similar simple method to remove the rugate filter sidelobes without apodization. The resulting layers are compared in performance with a typical quintic matching layer. An example based on silicon oxynitride alloys with refractive indices ranging between 1.47 and 1.83 was designed and deposited.     

Plasma treatment for restoration of dielectric multilayer mirrors in short-wavelength free-electron lasers

Dielectric multilayer mirrors, degraded through irradiation by high-energy undulator radiation, were successfully restored by surface treatment with RF-induced O(2) plasma. The mirror loss, which had been increased up to ~1000 parts in 10(6) (ppm) through the mirror degradation, was drastically reduced to ~100 ppm during the treatment. Such a mirror-restoration technique has been desired especially in short-wavelength free-electron lasers (FEL's), because the laser gain is so small that even a mirror loss as small as ~1000 ppm interferes with the FEL oscillation. The mirror degradation is most likely caused by the deposition and doping of carbon atoms onto the dielectric surface. The surface analysis by the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the plasma treatment effectively removed the carbon contamination covering the mirror surfaces without serious surface damage by high-energy particles from the plasma.     

Molybdenum/beryllium multilayer mirrors for normal incidence in the extreme ultraviolet

We report on a series of normal-incidence reflectance measurements at wavelengths just longer than the beryllium K-edge (11.1 nm) from molybdenum/beryllium multilayer mirrors. The highest peak reflectance was 68.7 ± 0.2% at λ = 11.3 nm obtained from a mirror with 70 bilayers ending in beryllium. To our knowledge, this is the highest normal-incidence reflectance that has been demonstrated in the 1-80-nm spectral range.     

Computer processing of electron microscope cross sections of multilayer mirrors

A method is developed for determining interface profiles of extreme ultraviolet- (EUV-) layered synthetic microstructures (LSM's). It is based on computer processing digitized LSM electron micrographs. This study was carried out on a tungsten/carbon multilayer. Interfacial roughness has been characterized by means of two statistical parameters, i.e., the root mean square (rms) roughness height and the autocorrelation length varsigma. Additionally, knowledge of interface profiles should enable one to study more accurately the structural behavior of the stack, from the substrate to the top, and, in turn, help one better understand its EUV optical properties.     

Effect of energetic electron and proton bombardment on the reflectance of silicon-carbide mirrors in the extreme-ultraviolet region

Chemical-vapor-deposited silicon-carbide mirrors were exposed to bombardment by 95-keV electrons and 100-keV protons with accumulated fluxes comparable with those expected in low-altitude Earth orbit for simulated periods of as many as 5 years. The reflectances of four mirrors were measured at five wavelengths (58.4, 73.6, 104.8, 121.6, and 161 nm) and at 11 angles of incidence from 5° to 80°. The electron and proton exposure resulted in no significant change in the reflectances of the mirrors.