Raymond Robert Ruckel

Design of synchrotron x-ray lithography beamlines

X-ray lithography using a synchrotron light source has received considerable attention in recent years as a method for producing semiconductor device dimensions smaller than 0.35 microns. A number of synchrotrons or Electron Storage Rings (ESR) have been built around the world as possible light sources for lithographic applications. IBM has built its Advanced Lithography Facility (ALF) for the purpose of exploring synchrotron based X-ray lithography for device manufacturing. The ALF has the superconducting HELIOS compact storage ring, built by Oxford Instruments Ltd, at its center. The subject of the present paper is the design of the beamlines which connect this synchrotron light source to the Step- and- Repeat Aligner/exposure (SRA) tool where the device wafers are exposed to the synchrotron light.