Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

EUV-induced carbon growth at contaminant pressures between 10-10 mbar and 10-6 mbar: Experiment and model

Published

Author(s)

Shannon B. Hill, Charles Tarrio, Robert F. Berg, Thomas B. Lucatorto

Abstract

Carbon contamination induced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation affects precision optics in applications as diverse as semiconductor lithography and satellite observations of the Sun. Our previous experiments have shown that low-intensity UV-induced surface contamination depends quasi- logarithmically on the partial pressure of the organic contaminant due to the poly-dispersive nature of the surface-adsorbate system. This complex dependence presents difficulties because, without a physically motivated model, it cannot be extrapolated to low pressures. We present measurements and a model of carbon growth induced by UV exposure in the presence of tetradecane vapor. The model, which includes a coverage-dependent adsorption energy, describes the measurements over four orders of magnitude in pressure, and we expect that it can be extrapolated to the lower pressures of interest to the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and solar astronomy communities. Our experience with other contaminants leads us to expect that other organic contaminants will behave similar to tetradecane. The results also provide insights into the kinetics governing coverage isotherms at extremely low partial pressures.
Citation
Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A
Volume
38
Issue
6

Keywords

contamination, extreme-ultraviolet

Citation

Hill, S. , Tarrio, C. , Berg, R. and Lucatorto, T. (2020), EUV-induced carbon growth at contaminant pressures between 10-10 mbar and 10-6 mbar: Experiment and model, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, [online], https://dx.doi.org/10.1116/6.0000437, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=930508 (Accessed December 3, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created December 1, 2020, Updated October 12, 2021