Ion beam deposition (IBD) is the process-of-record for fabricating Mo/Si multilayers (MLs) for EUV mask blanks. This process affords outstanding ML performance in terms of defectivity, central wavelength control, and reflectivity. However, the above parameters are strongly dependent on physical and chemical inhomogeneities of the deposited MLs. Here we study systematically the effect of film purity, density, thickness uniformity, and interfacial roughness/intermixing, on the reflectance and imaging performance of Mo/Si MLs. Structural and spectral characteristics of ML are investigated experimentally, and the results compared to optical simulations. These findings may benefit the design and optimization of Mo/Si MLs with tailored spectral characteristics.
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