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2009
Journal Article
Titel
Line image sensors for spectroscopic applications in the extreme ultraviolet
Abstract
The spectral range of extreme ultraviolet radiation (XUV or EUV) is an active area of research incorporating many scientific fields such as microscopy, lithography or reflectometry. During the last decade, a lot of effort has been put into transferring many of the known techniques developed at linear accelerators into the laboratory using discharge-produced plasmas (DPPs) or laser-produced plasmas (LPPs) as an alternative light source. In particular, the semiconductor industry is in need of on-site tools in the shorter wavelength range for production and inspection of structured surfaces with nanometer resolution. Here traditional charge coupled device (CCD) image sensors are inapplicable as detectors because of the strong absorption of XUV by matter prohibiting any generation of electron-hole pairs inside a deep lying p-n junction. As a solution, two-dimensional backthinned CCDs are available in the market offering high sensitivity to XUV light. Although for many applications a one-dimensional line scanning image sensor would be sufficient, they are non-existent for XUV. It is only lately that manufacturers have started to adopt the principle of backthinning to CCD line sensors to enhance sensitivity in the long wavelength UV range (>200 nm). Here we show that generally these compact sensors offer good quantum efficiencies in the XUV which make them a candidate for many spectroscopic applications and future industrial inline inspection tools for which costly two-dimensional CCDs are oversized. We have successfully implemented a compact sensor device into a laboratory XUV spectrometer and reflectometer. Our measurements compare the quantum efficiency of a state-of-the-art XUV array CCD to a phosphor-coated line sensor and a new backthinned line sensor. Additionally, we show recorded spectra from a laboratory DPP source to demonstrate the potential of a wide range of applications.