A laser-plasma clean soft x-ray source for projection microlithography

Abstract

Within a National Project on nanotechnologies, at the ENEA Research Centre in Frascati a micro-exposure tool for projection lithography at 14.4 nm has been developed. The laser-plasma soft X-ray source is equipped with a patented debris mitigation system developed in the frame of a European Integrated Project, in order to preserve the collecting optics. A 90-nm-resolution patterning has been achieved on resist by this laboratory-scale tool based on a Schwarzschildtype projection optics.