Ray tracing homogenizing mirrors for synchrotron x-ray lithography

摘要

Saddle toroid array mirrors (STAMs) are novel grazing-incidence mirrors. They have been proposed as the optical component that most efficiently matches synchrotron orbital radiation (SOR) to the needs of proximity x-ray lithography. However, STAMs have yet to be accepted by the synchrotron lithography community because of the lack of detailed data on their expected performance, due primarily to the difficulty of raytracing such mirrors using existing optical raytrace programs. A raytracing package written especially to study the design and optimization of these unusually shaped mirrors and the very encouraging results obtained with the package to date are described. The optimum STAM designs turn out to be the most effective way of homogeneously illuminating a rectangular proximity x-ray lithography mask, improving on existing scanning mirror systems by at least a factor of four. They have the added advantage of being stationary, which should lead to greater reliability - a quality of considerable value in the production environment these mirrors are intended for, namely the ultra-high vacuum of a synchrotron beamline. Based on the results of the raytracing, a prototype STAM has been constructed, and preparations are being made for an x-ray test of the device.