[en] SPIE Conference paper/talk presentation: Introduction: Reactive ion etching (RIE) has been employed in a wide range of fields such as semiconductor fabrication, MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), and refractive x-ray optics with a large investment put towards the development of deep RIE. Due to the intrinsic differing chemistries related to reactivity, ion bombardment, and passivation of materials, the development of recipes for new materials or material systems can require intense effort and resources. For silicon in particular, methods have been developed to provide reliable anisotropic profiles with good dimensional control and high aspect ratios, high etch rates, and excellent material to mask etch selectivity.

[en] The NSLS-II(1) program has a requirement for an unprecedented level of x-ray nanofocusing and has selected the wedged multilayer Laue lens(2,3) (MLL) as the optic of choice to meet this goal. In order to fabricate the MLL a deposition system is required that is capable of depositing depth-graded and laterally-graded multilayers with precise thickness control over many thousands of layers, with total film growth in one run up to 100 m thick or greater. This machine design expounds on the positive features of a rotary deposition system(4) constructed previously for MLLs and will contain multiple stationary, horizontally-oriented magnetron sources where a transport will move a substrate back and forth in a linear fashion over shaped apertures at well-defined velocities to affect a multilayer coating.

[en] A multilayer nanostructure of 728 alternating WSi₂ and Si layers with thicknesses gradually increasing from 10 to ∼58 nm according to the Fresnel zone-plate formula has been fabricated using dc magnetron sputtering. This structure was analyzed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and tested with 19.5-keV synchrotron X-rays after sectioning and polishing. Line focus sizes as small as 30.6 nm have been achieved using a sectioned multilayer in transmission diffraction geometry

[en] Progress in the fabrication and metrology of both Multilayer Laue Lenses (MLLs) and Kirkpatrick-Baez (K-B) mirrors at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) is on-going as part of the world-wide race to achieve ever smaller focusing. Successful MLLs require multilayer depositions consisting of many layers. Focusing to 30 nm for 19.5 keV has been demonstrated at APS beamlines with a WSi2/Si MLL having 728 layers made at the APS. These same techniques were used to achieve a partial linear zone plate structure having a 5-nm outer most zone width and consisting of 1588 total layers as discussed below. Achromatic focusing to 80 nm of x-rays in the range ∼7 to 22 keV by an elliptically figured K-B mirror has been demonstrated at the APS with a mirror coated at the APS. The mirror was made by profile coating a substrate with Au to achieve the elliptical surface shape. The elliptical mirror was made starting from a flat substrate. To make further progress, non-x-ray-based metrology data for real mirrors will need to be incorporated into simulations. This is being done using Fourier Optics methods as detailed below. Multilayer Laue Lens with 5-nm outermost zone - A scanning electron micrograph of a cross section of a 5-nm MLL structure is shown in Fig.1, below. The bilayer structure was WSi₂/Si and a total of 1588 layers were sputter deposited at the APS. The micrograph was read to obtain the data plotted in Fig. 2. Here the d-spacing as a function of position in the lens is shown, where the d-spacing is twice the individual layer spacing A linear behavior in 1/d vs. position is needed to satisfy the zone plate law. (Owing to limited SEM resolution, the thinnest layers were subject to greater uncertainty.) This lens was used to obtain a linear focus of 19.3 nm at 19.5 keV at beamline 12-BM at the APS. Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors and Fourier Optics Simulations - Elliptically shaped mirrors have been made by profile coating at the APS. A program to simulate the performance of such mirrors by means of Fourier Optics has recently been started. Mirror aberrations away from a perfect ellipse will be incorporated into a complex pupil function. In the absence of any aberrations, spherical waves emanating from a point source will be reflected to produce spherical waves directed to a focus. The resultant Fraunhofer diffraction pattern near the focal plane is shown in Fig. 3. Subsequent introduction of mirror aberrations will be simulated with this procedure.

[en] We demonstrated the Talbot effect using a broadband hard x-ray beam (Δλ/λ ∼1). The exit wave-field of the x-ray beam passing through a grating with a sub micro-meter scale period was successfully replicated and recorded at effective Talbot distance, Z_T. The period was reduced to half at Z_T/4 and 3/4Z_T, and the phase reversal was observed at Z_T/2. The propagating wave-field recorded on photoresists was consistent with a simulated result.

[en] Characterization and testing of an L-shaped laterally graded multilayer mirror are presented. This mirror is designed as a two-dimensional collimating optics for the analyzer system of the ultra-high-resolution inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) spectrometer at National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). The characterization includes point-to-point reflectivity measurements, lattice parameter determination and mirror metrology (figure, slope error and roughness). The synchrotron X-ray test of the mirror was carried out reversely as a focusing device. The results show that the L-shaped laterally graded multilayer mirror is suitable to be used, with high efficiency, for the analyzer system of the IXS spectrometer at NSLS-II.

[en] In recent years, we have developed a profile-coating technique to obtain functional thickness-profiled thin films and multilayers. This technique uses linear motion of the substrate in a dc magnetron sputter system and a contoured mask to obtain the desired profile perpendicular to the substrate-moving direction. The shape of the contour is determined according to the desired profile and knowledge of the film-thickness distribution at the substrate level. Applications of this technique include laterally graded multilayers and elliptical x-ray Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB) mirrors. An elliptical shape is essential for aberration-free optics. The use of profile coating to make x-ray-quality elliptical KB mirrors overcomes the obstacle of polishing asymmetrical mirror surfaces and provides the x-ray community with a practical way to obtain monolithic KB mirrors for microfocusing. Previously, we have used gold as a coating material and cylindrical Si mirrors as substrates to obtain elliptical KB mirrors. More recently, we have used flat Si substrates to fabricate elliptical KB mirrors. Substantially thicker and steeper gradients of Au films are needed to obtain an elliptical profile from a flat substrate. The Au films may relax to droplets when the stress in the film is too large. The challenges and solutions for this problem will be discussed

[en] DOE's Wind Partnerships for Advanced Component Technologies (WindPACT) program explores the most advanced wind-generating technologies for improving reliability and decreasing energy costs. The first step in the WindPact program is a scaling study to bound the optimum sizes for wind turbines, to define size limits for certain technologies, and to scale new technologies. The program is divided into four projects: Composite Blades for 80-120-meter Rotors; Turbine, Rotor, and Blade Logistics; Self-Erecting Tower and Nacelle Feasibility; and Balance-of-Station Cost. This report discusses balance-of-station costs, which includes the electrical power collector system, wind turbine foundations, communications and controls, meteorological equipment, access roadways, crane pads, and the maintenance building. The report is based on a conceptual 50-megawatt (MW) wind farm site near Mission, South Dakota. Cost comparisons are provided for four sizes of wind turbines: 750 kilowatt (kW), 2.5 MW, 5.0 MW, and 10.0 MW

[en] A modulation transfer function (MTF) calibration method based on binary pseudorandom (BPR) gratings and arrays has been proven to be an effective MTF calibration method for interferometric microscopes and a scatterometer. Here we report on a further expansion of the application range of the method. We describe the MTF calibration of a 6 in. phase shifting Fizeau interferometer. Beyond providing a direct measurement of the interferometer's MTF, tests with a BPR array surface have revealed an asymmetry in the instrument's data processing algorithm that fundamentally limits its bandwidth. Moreover, the tests have illustrated the effects of the instrument's detrending and filtering procedures on power spectral density measurements. The details of the development of a BPR test sample suitable for calibration of scanning and transmission electron microscopes are also presented. Such a test sample is realized as a multilayer structure with the layer thicknesses of two materials corresponding to the BPR sequence. The investigations confirm the universal character of the method that makes it applicable to a large variety of metrology instrumentation with spatial wavelength bandwidths from a few nanometers to hundreds of millimeters.

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