SR Lithography Beamline System

A high power X-ray delivery system consisting of a superconducting compact storage ring and a novel beamline is now in use for SR (synchrotron radiation) lithography research at Mitsubishi Electric. The double ellipsoidal focusing mirror optics of the beamline collects and condenses the horizontally diverging SR beam and transports it to the exposure station, a Karl Suss X-ray stepper. The beamline is kept at an ultrahigh vaccum level by the vacuum control system. Furthermore, the vacuum protection of the beamline ensures that a storage ring vacuum of at least 1.33×10-6 Pa is maintained, even when the beamline vacuum is broken down. We have also investigated the effects of the electron beam orbit change on the vacuum performance of the beamline.