Research and development of a high-power EUV light source are very important in EUV lithography to overcome the stochastic effects for a higher throughput and finer patterning in future. We have designed and studied a high-power EUV free-electron laser (FEL) based on energy-recovery linac (ERL) for future lithography. The EUV-FEL light source has many advantages such as extremely high EUV power without tin debris, narrow spectral bandwidth, upgradability to a Beyond EUV (BEUV) FEL, polarization controllability for high-NA lithography, low power consumption and low construction and running costs per scanner, as compared to the laser-produced plasma (LPP) source used for the present EUV lithography exposure tool. Demonstration of proof of concept (PoC) of the EUV-FEL has made progress using the IR-FEL in the Compact ERL (cERL) at High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK). We also show future plans of remaining R&D items such as a main-linac cavity system with lower power consumption, improvements of the electron gun system for stable operation of 10-mA beam current and a compact variably-polarizing undulator with a lower cost to realize the EUV-FEL light source. After these R&Ds, we can start to build a prototype EUV-FEL smoothly and quickly.
An ERL-based EUV-FEL can provide EUV power of more than 1 kW for multiple scanners to overcome stochastic effects with a higher throughput. An IR-FEL project started at the KEK cERL as a NEDO project in order to develop high-power IR lasers for high-efficiency laser processing, and it can demonstrate proof of concept of the EUV-FEL for future lithography. The IR-FEL was constructed in May 2020 and commissioned in June to July 2020 and in February to March 2021. We will briefly review the EUV-FEL and present the construction and commissioning of the cERL IR-FEL for realizing the EUV-FEL for future lithography.
An ERL(energy recovery linac)-based EUV-FEL can provide EUV power of more than 1 kW for multiple scanners to overcome stochastic noise and to achieve higher throughput. An IR-FEL project started at the KEK cERL for the purpose of developing high-power IR lasers for high-efficiency laser processing, and it can demonstrate proof of concept of the EUV-FEL for future lithography. We will briefly review the EUV-FEL and present construction and commissioning of the cERL IR-FEL including future work.
An EUV-FEL is one of the promising candidates for the future high power EUV light source of more than 1 kW. While the design study on the FEL light source has been progressed, a most important milestone should be a real demonstration of the high repetition rate ERL-based FEL light production. In FY2019, a real Mid-Infrared FEL (MIR-FEL) project based on the compact ERL in KEK started and the beam commissioning was started from the beginning of March 2020. At the conference, the present results obtained from the MIR-FEL and the expected remained-study-works on future EUV-FEL will be presented.
Expanding our previously proposed “time segment analysis” for a two-layered turbid medium, this study attempted to selectively determine the absorption coefficient (μ a ) of the bottom layer in a four-layered human head model with time-domain near-infrared measurements. The difference curve in the temporal profiles of the light attenuation between an object and a reference medium, which are obtained from Monte Carlo simulations, is divided into segments along the time axis, and a slope for each segment is calculated to obtain the depth-dependent μ a (μ seg a ) . The reduced scattering coefficient (μ s ′ ) of the reference is determined by curve fitting with the temporal point spread function derived from the analytical solution of the diffusion equation to the time-resolved reflectance of the object. The deviation of μ seg a from the actual μ a is expressed by a function of the ratio of μ seg a in an earlier time segment to that in a later segment for mediums with different optical properties and thicknesses of the upper layers. Using this function, it is possible to determine the μ a of the bottom layer in a four-layered epoxy resin-based phantom. These results suggest that the method reported here has potential for determining the μ a of the cerebral tissue in humans.
Using both experimental and theoretical methods, we examine the contribution of different parts of the head to near-IR (NIR) signal. Time-resolved spectroscopy is employed to measure the mean optical path length (PL), and the absorption (µa) and reduced scattering (µ) coefficients in multiple positions of the human head. Monte Carlo simulations are performed on four-layered head models based on an individual magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan to determine µa and µ in each layer of the head by solving inverse problems, and to estimate the partial path length in the brain (p-PL) and the spatial sensitivity to regions in the brain at the source-detector separation of 30 mm. The PL is closely related to the thickness of the scalp, but not to that of other layers of the head. The p-PL is negatively related to the PL and its contribution ratio to the PL is 5 to 22% when the differential path length factor is 6. Most of the signal attributed to the brain comes from the upper 1 to 2 mm of the cortical surface. These results indicate that the NIR signal is very sensitive to hemodynamic changes associated with functional brain activation in the case that changes in the extracerebral tissue are ignorable.
We try a new approach with near-IR time-resolved spectroscopy, to separate optical signals originated in the upper layer from those in the lower layer and to selectively determine the absorption coefficient (µa) of each layer in a two-layered turbid medium. The difference curve in the temporal profiles of light attenuation between a target and a reference medium is divided into segments along the time axis, and a slope of each segment is calculated to determine the depth-dependent µa. The depth-dependent µa values are estimated under various conditions in which µa and the reduced scattering coefficient (µ) of each layer are changed with a Monte Carlo simulation and in phantom experiments. Temporal variation of them represents the difference in µa between two layers when µ of a reference is the same as that of the upper layer of the target. The discrepancies between calculated µa and the real µa depend on the ratio of the real µa of the upper layer to that of the lower layer, and our approach enables us to estimate the ratio of µa between the two layers. These results suggest the potential that µa of the lower layer can be determined by our procedure.
A time-resolved diffuse reflectance from a semi-infinite homogeneous medium is compressed along the time axis and multiplied by appropriate factors. According to the photon diffusion equation, a gradient of the attenuation difference between the compressed reflectance and that measured with a smaller source-detector distance is proportional to the absorption coefficient. Using this property, a simple algorithm using spatially and time-resolved reflectance to measure the absorption coefficient of a homogeneous medium is proposed as an alternative to the procedure of fitting to the photon diffusion equation. In the case of a two-layered medium, the absorption coefficient of each layer can be estimated also using this simple algorithm if approximate values of the depth of the upper layer
and the scattering coefficients of the two layers are known beforehand. For validation experiment, the time-resolved
reflectance from a polyacetal block was measured at various source-detector distances and the estimated absorption coefficient of the block was compared to that obtained using the conventional method. As the result of in vivo experiment, the absorption coefficient of the lower layer of a human head was found to be larger than that of the upper layer under the assumption that the human head consisted of two layers.
We have analyzed the light propagation in tissue simulating media by a Monte Carlo method, using the estimated changes in the optical properties caused by variation of glucose concentration and temperature of the media. Using the calculated data, we have predicted the changes in the absorbance spectra caused by the change in glucose concentration in the absorbing and scattering medium. The predicted spectra have agreed very well with those obtained by the experiments. We have also studied the effects of the varying scattering coefficient on the spectra, and found that the changes in the absolute value and the wavelength dependency of the scattering coefficient are closely related to the changes in the observed spectra. In addition, we have calculated the changes in the absorbance spectra, when the glucose concentration and the temperature of glucose solution vary simultaneously. Using the multivariate analysis, we have extracted the glucose concentration accurately from the calculated absorbance spectra.
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