Challenges of high-speed EUV mask blank inspection

We present the current status of our EUV mask blank inspection demonstrator developed according to requirements of high-volume EUV lithography. Limitations of sensitivity and scan speed, that are caused by source flux, sample movement speed and performance of objective- and detector, are discussed. Furthermore we present alternative detection concepts and discuss their potential to overcome the limits of state of the art backthinned and backilluminated charge coupled devices (CCDs).