STTR Phase I: A Nanolithography System for Low Cost Nanostructures Research and Applications

STTR 第一阶段：用于低成本纳米结构研究和应用的纳米光刻系统

• 批准号: 9903737
• 负责人: Rodney Petr
• 金额: $ 9.99万
• 依托单位: Science Research Laboratory Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-07-01 至 2000-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9903737&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Nanolithography; System; Low

This Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project will experimentally demonstrate that a tabletop point x-ray source reduces exposure time by a factor of at least 100. The university partners in this project have demonstrated deep-sub-100 nm nanolithography using soft x-rays which enables fabrication of complex nanostructures with precision and accuracy on planar substrates. However, the potential of soft x-ray nanolithography has been severely limited by the lack of inexpensive soft x-ray exposure tools. Electron-bombardment point sources, which are currently used, have low power and efficiencies of O.01%. As a result, it takes several hours to complete an exposure. SRL and its university partner propose to build a tabletop, dense plasma focus, x-ray exposure source that will have efficiencies of 1-2%. The plasma source, which will be capable of radiating 10-20 watts of usable soft x-rays into 4 steradians, will reduce the exposure time by a factor of 100 or more. In Phase II, SRL will fabricate a 100 pps source with the goal of creating a compact package that can be commercialized. Deep-sub 100 nm lithography has potential applications in the biological sciences, thin films, optical components, displays and sensors, nanoelectronics and the organization and manipulation of macromolecules and nanoparticles. In addition, a high power, kilowatt-class x-ray point source would provide a modular, affordable proximity source for x-ray lithography. The commercial market for non-semiconductor applications is predicted to be greater than $200 million annually. A low cost, compact deep-sub-100nm lithography system is essential to exploiting these applications.

这个第一阶段的小企业技术转让（STTR）项目将通过实验证明，桌面点X射线源将曝光时间减少至少100倍。 该项目的大学合作伙伴已经展示了使用软X射线的深亚100 nm纳米光刻技术，该技术能够在平面基板上精确制造复杂的纳米结构。 然而，由于缺乏廉价的软X射线曝光工具，软X射线纳米光刻的潜力受到严重限制。 目前使用的电子轰击点源具有低功率和0.01%的效率。因此，完成一次曝光需要几个小时。 SRL及其大学合作伙伴计划建造一个桌面，密集等离子体焦点，X射线曝光源，效率为1- 2%。 等离子体源能够将10-20瓦的可用软X射线辐射成4球面度，将使曝光时间减少100倍或更多。 在第二阶段，SRL将制造一个100 pps的源，目标是创建一个可以商业化的紧凑封装。 深亚100 nm光刻在生物科学、薄膜、光学元件、显示器和传感器、纳米电子学以及大分子和纳米颗粒的组织和操纵中具有潜在的应用。 此外，高功率、千瓦级X射线点源将为X射线光刻提供模块化、经济实惠的接近源。非半导体应用的商业市场预计每年将超过2亿美元。 低成本、紧凑的深亚100 nm光刻系统对于开发这些应用至关重要。