Technology Focus EUV and Plasma Technology

Fraunhofer ILT researches and uses plasma technology to provide intense sources of short-wave radiation in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or soft X-ray range. In addition to application-adapted plasma-based sources, it develops suitable optical systems for the efficient use of radiation in industry or research.

EUV technologies can be applied, for example, in (X-ray) microscopy, structuring or lithography on the nanometer scale, such as in mask production or inspection in semiconductor production, in the characterization of optics, in contamination studies or in the development of new photoresists. In the technology focus “EUV and Plasma Technology,” Fraunhofer focuses its research and development, among others, on providing radiation with a wavelength of 13.5 nm for chip production in the semiconductor industry, and on developing compact systems that are also suitable for direct process monitoring.

EUV spectrometers can be used to determine the reflectance of material samples and nanostructured samples, among other things. Optical constants and other geometric and chemical properties of the investigated samples can be reconstructed using model-based methods. These properties include structural dimensions of periodic surface structures, layer thicknesses and roughnesses of multilayer systems as well as the stoichiometry and density of materials. Microscopy with radiation from the EUV range or with soft X-rays also makes it possible to examine biological samples at high-resolution.