Benjamin C. Craft

Center for advanced microstructures and devices (CAMD)

The new synchrotron‐radiation facility, Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices, at Louisiana State University is described with regard to the status of installation of the storage ring, implementation of the various programs, and construction of the first beamlines.

X‐ray microfabrication activities at the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) (invited)

The x‐ray lithography and micromachining facility at CAMD is described. It consists of four dedicated beamlines and exposure stations using the synchrotron radiation delivered by the CAMD storage ring and 230 m2 of fully equipped clean room. The scientific and engineering activities exemplified by results of current studies are reported.

Status of the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD)-2001

The current status of the Louisiana State University Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices electron storage ring, beamlines, and the scientific program are described.

Deep X-ray lithography with a tunable wavelength shifter at CAMD

An additional X-ray lithography facility is under construction at the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices. It will receive radiation from a 7.5 T superconducting three-pole wavelength shifter. The critical energy of the insertion device is tunable up to a maximum value of 11.2 keV, allowing for optimization of photon spectra to resist thickness. In particular, this hard X-ray source will allow investigation of X-ray lithography at very high energies for devices with thicknesses in excess of 1 mm, and study of low-cost mass-production concepts, using simultaneously exposed stacks of resist layers.

Utilization of a commercially supplied synchrotron radiation source

Abstract Louisiana State University (LSU) is developing the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices [1] (CAMD) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The centerpiece of CAMD will be a 1.2 GeV electron storage ring [2] purchased from Maxwell Laboratories, Inc. The high-tech building for CAMD has been designed by TECH-IV [3] of Baton Rouge with engineering support from Lester B. Knight and Associates [4] of Chicago. The storage ring has been optimized for X-ray lithography. The procedures developed at CAMD for printing integrated circuits may well be of significant importance to US competitiveness in semiconductor and related industries. However, the spectral range of the ring also supports scientific and engineering activities in several other areas.

Preliminary results at the ultradeep x-ray lithography beamline at CAMD

The Center for Advanced Micro structures and Devices (CAMD) at Louisiana State University supports one of the strongest programs in synchrotron radiation micro fabrication in the USA and, in particular, in deep x-ray lithography. Synchrotron radiation emitted form CAMDs bending magnets has photon energies in the range extending from the IR to approximately 20 keV. CAMD operates at 1.3 and 1.5 GeV, providing characteristic energies of 1.66 and 2.55 keV, respectively. CAMD bending magnets provide a relatively soft x-ray spectrum that limits the maximal structure height achievable within a reasonable exposure time to approximately 500 micrometers . In order to extend the x-ray spectrum to higher photon energies, a 5 pole 7T superconducting wiggler was inserted in one of the straight sections. A beam line and exposure station designed for ultra deep x-ray lithography was constructed and connected to the wiggler. First exposures into 1 mm and 2 mm thick PMMA resist using a graphite mask with 40 micrometers thick gold absorber has been completed.

The Development of the GCPCC Protein Crystallography Beamline at CAMD

The Gulf Coast Protein Crystallography Consortium (GCPCC) is developing a beamline at the LSU/CAMD synchrotron. This beamline will be capable of standard macromolecular multiple-wavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) phasing experiments over an energy range of 7–17.5 keV. The optical configuration uses a vertical collimating mirror, a channel-cut Si (111) monochromator and a focusing toroidal mirror. Built off of the CAMD 7 T superconducting, energy-shifting wiggler, this beamline will deliver a flux comparable to an NSLS bending magnet protein crystallography (PX) beamline. The beamline delivery and commissioning timetable calls for full 24/7 user operations by October 2001. The beamline design, with supporting calculations and ray tracing, is presented to substantiate the expected performance of this beamline for efficiently collecting accurate MAD data from macromolecules.

Commissioning the LSU synchrotron light source

Abstract The first commercially supplied synchrotron light source to be built in the USA has been installed and commissioned at LSU. The machine was built by MLI/Brobeck on a fixed price basis with a guaranteed performance of 400 mA at 1.2 GeV. The contract called for 200 mA circulating current at 1.2 GeV before the machine was turned over to LSU. Despite some unanticipated delays, this first commissioning phase was completed on schedule, some 15 months after the building was available to start installation. Vacuum conditioning has continued under LSU direction with present best operation above 300 mA at 1.3 GeV. A description of the commissioning process is given, including the conditioning of the vacuum chamber using synchrotron radiation from circulating beam.