Design and analysis of soft x-ray imaging microscopes

David L. Shealy; Cheng Wang; Wu Jiang; Richard B. Hoover

doi:10.1117/12.51229

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1 January 1992 Design and analysis of soft x-ray imaging microscopes

David L. Shealy, Cheng Wang, Wu Jiang, Richard B. Hoover

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Proceedings Volume 1546, Multilayer and Grazing Incidence X-Ray/EUV Optics; (1992) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.51229
Event: San Diego, '91, 1991, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The spherical Schwarzschild microscope for soft X-ray applications in microscopy and projection lithography consists of two concentric spherical mirrors configured such that the third-order spherical aberration and coma are zero. Since multilayers are used on the mirror substrates for X-ray applications, it is desirable to have only two reflecting surfaces in a microscope. To reduce microscope aberrations and increase the field of view, generalized mirror surface profiles are here considered. Based on incoherent and sine wave modulation transfer function calculations, the object plane resolution of a microscope has been analyzed as a function of the object height and numerical aperture (NA) of the primary for several spherical Schwarzschild, conic, and aspherical Head reflecting two-mirror microscope configurations. The Head microscope with a NA of 0.4 achieves diffraction limited performance for objects with a diameter of 40 microns. Thus, it seems possible to record images with a feature size less than 100 A with a 40x microscope when using 40 A radiation.

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David L. Shealy, Cheng Wang, Wu Jiang, and Richard B. Hoover "Design and analysis of soft x-ray imaging microscopes", Proc. SPIE 1546, Multilayer and Grazing Incidence X-Ray/EUV Optics, (1 January 1992); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.51229

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