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

随着社会数字化的不断推进，高性能半导体芯片对消费和工业产品的重要性与日俱增。在半导体或其他功能材料中生产和表征几纳米范围内最小结构的能力是开发的核心关键技术，需要高度复杂的生产机器，这些机器在精度，吞吐量和可靠性方面都是独一无二的。在最新一代的光刻设备中，使用极紫外辐射（波长范围从5到40纳米）代替深紫外辐射。为了满足对结构尺寸（半导体制造）、质量和寿命（半导体生产的光学）以及功能（例如超材料）日益增长的需求，必须研究极紫外范围内光-物质相互作用的基本特性以及对组件和产品的影响。这需要精心设计的光学测量仪器，配备特殊的激光辐射源，结合量身定制的实验，对发射光谱、相干性、偏振和功率都有很高的要求。在纳米技术领域，光、物质、材料和产品之间的复杂关系提出了跨学科的挑战。在亚琛工业大学光子学集群和数字光子生产研究中心，来自亚琛工业大学六个学院的科学家们在光子学、生产工程、半导体技术和材料科学领域集中了一组杰出的能力。该提案旨在获得一个激光驱动系统，用于产生高谐波的相干极紫外辐射（主波长为13.5 nm）。未来可寻址的应用可以在计量学（时间/空间分辨光谱法/椭圆偏振法，光电子光谱法），显微镜（压型照相）和光刻（基于干涉的方法）中找到。应用主席在EUV技术领域的杰出专业知识将通过主要仪器的可用性战略性地扩展。已经实现的实验室设置为未来的研究奠定了良好的基础，可以与将要采购的主要仪器一起操作和大量扩展。在亚琛的工厂，获得这些全新的测量和纳米结构装置将带来可观的附加值和显著的特点。为了确保未来在欧盟和德国的技术主权，并保持经济和政治独立，需要在纳米技术领域进行最高水平的研究。

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.