Laser-driven system for the generation of coherent extreme-ultraviolet radiation

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Due to the advancing digitalization of our society, the importance of high-performance semiconductor chips for consumer and industrial products is growing. The ability to produce and characterize the smallest structures in the range of a few nanometers in semiconductors or other functional materials is the central key technology of the developments and requires highly complex production machines that are unique in precision, throughput and reliability. In the latest generation of lithography equipment, extreme ultraviolet radiation (wavelength range from 5 to 40 nm) is used instead of deep ultraviolet radiation. To meet the increasing demands on structure size (semiconductor fabrication), quality and lifetime (optics for semiconductor production) as well as functionality (e.g. for metamaterials), fundamental properties of the light-matter interaction in the extreme-ultraviolet range and effects on components and products have to be investigated. This requires elaborated optical measurement instruments with a special laser-based radiation source, which is requested here, in combination with tailored experiments - with high requirements on emission spectrum, coherence, polarization and power. The complex relationships between light, matter, material and product in the field of nanotechnology present an interdisciplinary challenge. In the Photonics Cluster of RWTH Aachen University with the Research Center for Digital Photonic Production, scientists from six faculties of RWTH Aachen University concentrate an outstanding set of competencies in the fields of photonics, production engineering, semiconductor technology and material sciences. The proposal aims to procure a laser-driven system for the generation of coherent extreme-ultraviolet radiation (at a principal wavelength of 13.5 nm) using high harmonics. Future addressable applications can be found in metrology (time/spatially resolved spectrometry/ellipsometry, photoelectron spectrometry), microscopy (ptychography), and lithography (interference-based approaches). The outstanding expertise at the applying chair in the field of EUV technology will be strategically extended by the availability of the major instrumentation. The already realized laboratory setups form an excellent basis for future investigations and can be operated and substantially extended together with the major instrumentation to be procured. At the facility in Aachen, access to these completely new measurements and nanostructuring setups will lead to considerable added value and a distinguishing feature. To secure technological sovereignty in the EU and Germany in the future and to maintain economic and political independence, research in the field of nanotechnology is required at the highest level.