A device and method are disclosed in which gas is caused to flow parallel to a flow of source material to form a gas shroud. The gas shroud may protect flow of source material from being disrupted by a cross flow of gas. The gas shroud may also limit heating of a physical shroud through which the source material passes and limit accumulation of source material on the physical shroud by deforming a plasma bubble formed during irradiation of the source material so that the plasma bubble does not come too near the physical shroud. A device and method are also disclosed for establishing an additional transverse flow of gas so that the gas shroud does not cause source material contamination of an optic used to collect light generated during irradiation of the source material.

Methods for selecting titania-doped quartz glass which experiences a reduction in OH group concentration of less than or equal to 100 ppm upon heat treatment at 900° C. for 100 hours as suitable material for the EUV lithography member.

A photomask includes a reticle substrate, a main pattern disposed on the reticle substrate and defining a photoresist pattern realized on a semiconductor substrate, and anti-reflection patterns adjacent to the main pattern. A distance between a pair of the anti-reflection patterns adjacent to each other is a first length, and a width of at least one of the pair of anti-reflection patterns is a second length. A sum of the first length and the second length is equal to or smaller than a minimum pitch defined by resolution of an exposure process. A distance between the main pattern and the anti-reflection pattern nearest to the main pattern is equal to or smaller than the first length.

The present invention relates to a device for interfacing nanofluidic and microfluidic components suitable for use in performing high throughput macromolecular analysis. Diffraction gradient lithography (DGL) is used to form a gradient interface between a microfluidic area and a nanofluidic area. The gradient interface area reduces the local entropic barrier to nanochannels formed in the nanofluidic area. In one embodiment, the gradient interface area is formed of lateral spatial gradient structures for narrowing the cross section of a value from the micron to the nanometer length scale. In another embodiment, the gradient interface area is formed of a vertical sloped gradient structure. Additionally, the gradient structure can provide both a lateral and vertical gradient.

Organic coating compositions, particularly antireflective coating compositions, are provided that can be developed with an aqueous alkaline developer, including in a single step during development of an overcoated photoresist layer. Preferred coating compositions comprise a tetrapolymer that comprises at least four distinct functional groups.

The metal plate includes a plurality of pits located on the surface of the metal plate. The manufacturing method for a metal plate for use in manufacturing of a deposition mask includes an inspection step of determining a quality of the metal plate based on a sum of volumes of a plurality of pits located at a portion of the surface of the metal plate.

A method of flood exposing a photocurable printing blank to actinic radiation from a UV LED light source, wherein a high intensity UV LED light source is modulated to a lower intensity. The method includes the steps of: (a) positioning the photocurable printing blank in an exposure unit, wherein the exposure unit comprises one or more high intensity UV LED light sources; (b) modulating intensity of the one or more high intensity UV LED light sources to a lower intensity; and (c) flood exposing the photocurable printing blank through the photographic negative or the digitally imaged mask layer to actinic radiation from the one or more modulated UV LED light sources.

Systems and methods described herein relate to the manufacture of optical elements and optical systems. An example system may include an optical component configured to direct light from a light source to illuminate a photoresist material at a desired angle and to expose at least a portion of an angled structure in the photoresist material, where the photoresist material overlays at least a portion of a top surface of a substrate. The optical component includes a container containing an light-coupling material that is selected based in part on the desired angle. The optical component also includes a mirror arranged to reflect at least a portion of the light to illuminate the photoresist material at the desired angle.

A lithography method in semiconductor fabrication is provided. The method includes generating multiple groups of small drops of a target material through a number of nozzles in such a way that small drops in each of the groups are aggregated to an elongated droplet of the target material. The method also includes generating a laser pulse from a laser generator to convert the elongated droplets to plasma which generates an EUV radiation. The method further includes exposing a semiconductor wafer to the EUV radiation.

The invention relates to a device for correcting an inhomogeneous intensity distribution of a radiation field generated by a radiation source, in particular a radiation source for a device for producing three-dimensional articles by the layer-by-layer solidifying, in a build plane, of a material that is solidifiable under the action of radiation. The device comprises a correcting or filtering device that is to be introduced, between the radiation source and the build plane, into a radiation path of a device for producing three-dimensional articles by the layer-by-layer solidifying of a material that is solidifiable under the action of radiation. Further, improved methods for producing a device for correcting an inhomogeneous intensity distribution of a radiation field generated by a radiation source, and methods and devices for producing a three-dimensional article are proposed.