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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

thin film roughness, EUV reflection, extreme ultraviolet light

College

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

Introduction: Reflection of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light is made difficult by a number of factors. First, most materials have a large, imaginary part of the index of refraction for EUV light, causing absorption. As a result, our experiment is done under vacuum. Second, since the wavelength of EUV light (1-100 nm) is smaller than visible light, it is scattered more strongly than visible light. To overcome this obstacle we need to make our reflecting surfaces smoother. To be able to do this we need a good probe for surface roughness on the scale of EUV wavelengths. Currently the best method for measuring thin film roughness is atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM consists of a small tip on the end of a cantilever which is moved across a rough surface. As the tip moves up and down with the surface the movements are recorded by reflecting a laser from the end of the cantilever. However, the AFM does not have the resolution1 necessary to measure roughness on the scale of EUV wavelengths. As a result, we have used EUV reflection to probe surface roughness by reflecting EUV light from a surface and comparing it with calculations from model rough surfaces.

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