Abstract: This dissertation describes two applications of extreme ultraviolet light in nanotechnology. Using radiation with a wavelength in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range allows to reach scales much smaller than with a conventional visible illumination.
The first part of this dissertation describes a series of experiments that allowed the patterning at nanometer scales with sub-100nm resolution. Two types of photoresists (positive tone – PMMA and negative tone – HSQ) were patterned over the areas up to a few mm2 with features as small as 45nm using the interferometric lithography approach, reaching resolution equivalent to the wavelength of the illumination – 46.9nm. For the nanopatterning experiments two types of interferometers were studied in detail: Lloyd’s mirror configuration and an amplitude division interferometer. Both approaches are presented and their advantages and drawbacks are discussed.
The second part of the dissertation focuses on holographic imaging with ultimate resolution approaching the wavelength of the illumination. Different experiments were performed using Gabor’s in-line holographic configuration and its capabilities in the EUV region were discussed. Holographic imaging was performed with different objects: AFM probes, spherical markers and carbon nanotubes. The holograms were stored in a high resolution recording medium – photoresist, digitized with an atomic force microscope and numerically reconstructed using a code based on the Fresnel propagator algorithm achieving in the reconstructed images the ultimate wavelength resolution. The resolution for the carbon nano-tubes images was assessed by two independent measurements: the knife-edge test resulting 45.5nm and an algorithm based on the correlation between the reconstructed image and a set of templates with variable resolution obtained by successive Gaussian filtering. This analysis yielded a resolution ~46nm. A similar algorithm that allowed for the simultaneous assessment of the resolution and the size of the features was used in EUV microscopy images confirming the validity and robustness of the code. A very fast, non-recursive reconstruction algorithm based on fast Fourier transform allowed for three dimensional surface reconstruction of the hologram performed by optical numerical sectioning, with a lateral resolution ~200nm and depth resolution ~2µm.
Adviser: Mario C. Marconi Co-Adviser: NA Non-ECE Member: Bruce Parkinson, Chemistry Member 3: Carmen S. Menoni, ECE Addional Members: Randy A. Bartels, ECE
