Soft x-ray radiation from laser-produced plasmas - characterization of radiation emission and its use in x-ray lithography

Laser pulses of 15 ns and less than 3 J at 1064 nm and less than 1.2 J at 532 nm were focused onto steel targets to produce plasmas emitting intense soft x-ray radiation pulses. The plasma generation is described, and the x-ray emission is spectrally and spatially characterized. Using this plasma as an x-ray source, FBM 120 resist was exposed through a gold patterned 2-mym silicon mask. Exposing the same resist to a primary standard source (electron storage ring BESSY) the plasma x-ray emission was evaluated resulting in conversion efficiencies (laser into x-ray radiation) of up to 3.4% for 1064 nm and up to 5.0% for 532-nm laser radiation pulses. (IMT)