Carl W. Cork

Suite of three protein crystallography beamlines with single superconducting bend magnet as the source.

At the Advanced Light Source, three protein crystallography beamlines have been built that use as a source one of the three 6 T single-pole superconducting bending magnets (superbends) that were recently installed in the ring. The use of such single-pole superconducting bend magnets enables the development of a hard X-ray program on a relatively low-energy 1.9 GeV ring without taking up insertion-device straight sections. The source is of relatively low power but, owing to the small electron beam emittance, it has high brightness. X-ray optics are required to preserve the brightness and to match the illumination requirements for protein crystallography. This was achieved by means of a collimating premirror bent to a plane parabola, a double-crystal monochromator followed by a toroidal mirror that focuses in the horizontal direction with a 2:1 demagnification. This optical arrangement partially balances aberrations from the collimating and toroidal mirrors such that a tight focused spot size is achieved. The optical properties of the beamline are an excellent match to those required by the small protein crystals that are typically measured. The design and performance of these new beamlines are described.

Commissioning an EUV mask microscope for lithography generations reaching 8 nm

The SEMATECH High-NA Actinic Reticle review Project (SHARP) is a synchrotron-based, EUV-wavelength microscope, dedicated to photomask imaging, now being commissioned at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In terms of throughput, resolution, coherence control, stability and ease of use, SHARP represents a significant advance over its predecessor, the SEMATECH Berkeley Actinic Inspection Tool (AIT), which was decommissioned in September 2012. SHARP utilizes several advanced technologies to achieve its design goals: including the first Fouriersynthesis illuminator on a zoneplate microscope, EUV MEMS mirrors, and high-efficiency freestanding zoneplate lenses with numerical aperture values up to 0.625 (4×). In its first week of operation, SHARP demonstrated approximately 150 times higher light throughput than AIT and a spatial resolution down to 55-nm half-pitch with 0.42 4×NA (i.e. the smallest feature size on our test mask.) This paper describes the current status of the tool commissioning and the performance metrics available at this early stage.

Actinic mask imaging: recent results and future directions from the SHARP EUV microscope

The SEMATECH High Numerical Aperture Actinic Reticle Review Project (SHARP) is a synchrotron-based extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscope dedicated to photomask research. SHARP has been operational and serving users since June, 2013, and in eight months, SHARP has recorded over 71,000 high-resolution images. Exposure times are 5 to 8 seconds, and 8 or more through-focus series can be collected per hour at positions spanning the entire mask surface. SHARP’s lossless coherence-control illuminator and variable numerical aperture (NA) enable researchers to emulate the imaging properties of both current and future EUV lithography tools. SHARP’s performance continues to improve over time due to tool learning and upgraded capabilities, described here. Within a centered, 3-μm square image region, we demonstrate an illumination power stability above 99%, and an average uniformity of 98.4%. Demonstrations of through-focus imaging with various illumination coherence settings highlight the capabilities of SHARP.

Advanced beamline automation for biological crystallography experiments

An automated crystal-mounting/alignment system has been developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and has been installed on three of the protein-crystallography experimental stations at the Advanced Light Source (ALS); it is currently being implemented at synchrotron crystallography beamlines at CHESS, NSLS and the APS. The benefits to using an automounter system include (i) optimization of the use of synchrotron beam time, (ii) facilitation of advanced data-collection techniques, (iii) collection of higher quality data, (iv) reduction of the risk to crystals and (v) exploration of systematic studies of experimental protocols. Developments on the next-generation automounter with improvements in robustness, automated alignment and sample tracking are under way, with an end-to-end data-flow process being developed to allow remote data collection and monitoring.

The macromolecular crystallography facility at the advanced light source

Abstract Synchrotron radiation offers several advantages over the use of rotating anode sources for biological crystallography, which allow for the collection of higher-resolution data, substantially more rapid data collection, phasing by multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) techniques, and time-resolved experiments using polychromatic radiation (Laue diffraction). The use of synchrotron radiation is often necessary to record useful data from crystals which diffract weakly or have very large unit cells. The high brightness and stability characteristics of the advanced light source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, along with the low emittance and long straight sections to accommodate insertion devices present in third generation synchrotrons like the ALS, lead to several advantages in the field of macromolecular crystallography. We are presently constructing a macromolecular crystallography facility at the ALS which is optimized for user-friendliness and high-throughput data collection, with advanced capabilities for MAD and Laue experiments. The X-rays will be directed to three branchlines. A well-equipped support lab will be available for biochemistry, crystal mounting and sample storage, as well as computer hardware and software available, along with staff support, allowing for the complete processing of data on site.

The macromolecular crystallography facility at the Advanced Light Source

Synchrotron radiation offers several advantages over the use of rotating anode sources for biological crystallography, which allow for the collection of higher-resolution data, substantially more rapid data collection, phasing by multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) techniques, and time-resolved experiments using polychromatic radiation (Laue diffraction). The use of synchrotron radiation is often necessary to record useful data from crystals which diffract weakly or have very large unit cells. The high brightness and stability characteristics of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, along with the low emittance and long straight sections to accommodate insertion devices present in third generation synchrotrons like the ALS, lead to several advantages in the field of macromolecular crystallography. We are presently constructing macromolecular Crystallography Facility at the ALS which is optimized for user-friendliness and high-throughput data collection, with advanced capabilities for MAD and Laue experiments. The x rays will be directed to three branchlines. A well-equipped support lab will be available for biochemistry, crystal mounting, and sample storage, as well as computer hardware and software available, along with staff support, allowing for the complete processing of data on site.

The SEMATECH high-NA actinic reticle review project (SHARP) EUV mask-imaging microscope

The SEMATECH High Numerical Aperture Actinic Reticle Review Project (SHARP) is a newly commissioned, synchrotron-based extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscope dedicated to photomask research. SHARP offers several major advances including objective lenses with 4xNA values from 0.25 to 0.625, flexible, lossless coherence control through a Fourier-synthesis illuminator, a rotating azimuthal plane of incidence up to ±25°, illumination central ray angles from 6 to 10°, and a continuously tunable, EUV illumination wavelength. SHARP is now being used to study programmed and native mask defects, defect repairs, mask architecture, optical proximity correction, and the influence of mask substrate roughness on imaging. SHARP has the ability to emulate a variety of current and future lithography tool numerical apertures, and illumination properties. Here, we present various performance studies and examples where SHARP’s unique capabilities are used in EUV mask research.