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Polycarbonate Polymer Surface Modi cation by Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Radiation I.U. Ahada,b,∗, B. Budner, B. Korczyc, H. Fiedorowicz, A. Bartnik, J. Kostecki, S. Burdy«ska and D. Brabazon Institute of Optoelectronics, Military University of Technology, S. Kaliskiego 2, 00-908 Warszawa, Poland Advanced Processing Technology Research Centre, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Faculty of Engineering & Computing, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland

In this work results of investigations concerning nanostructuring of polymers and some other solids using a laser-plasma extreme ultraviolet source are presented. The plasma radiation was produced using a gas puff target and focused with a gold-plated grazing incidence ellipsoidal collector. Decomposition process of polymers was investigated using a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Different kinds of microand nanostructures created in near-surface layers of the materials were investigated using scanning electron microscope. Forms of the structures depend on a particular material and the extreme ultraviolet exposure. In case of some polymers even a single shot is sufficient for creation of the visible changes in surface morphology. In case of inorganic solids visible changes require usually the exposure with tens or hundreds of extreme ultraviolet pulses.

Various imaging methods and techniques capable of reaching a nanometer spatial resolution are currentlyunder development. One of them is an extreme ultraviolet microscopy, based on the Fresnel zone plates. Inthis paper a compact, high-repetition, laser-plasma EUV source, with a gas puff target, capable of emittingquasi-monochromatic radiation at 13.8 nm wavelength was used in the first demonstration of a desk-top EUVtransmissionmicroscopywithaspatial(half-pitch)resolutionof50nm. EUVmicroscopyimagesofobjectswithvariousthicknessesandthespatialresolutionmeasurementsusingtheknife-edgetestarepresented.PACS:52.38.Ph,52.50.Dg,41.50.+h,42.30.Va,42.79.Ci

Laser plasma with temperature of the order of tens eV can be an efficient source of extreme ultraviolet (EUV). The radiation can be focused using different kind of optics, giving sufficient fluence for some applications. In this work we present results of investigations concerning applications of a laser plasma EUV source based on a double stream gas puff target. The source was equipped with two different grazing incidence collectors. One of them was a multifoil collector, the second one was an axisymmetrical ellipsoidal collector. The multifoil mirror was used mainly in experiments concerning micromachining of organic polymers by direct photo-etching. The experiments were performed for different polymers that were irradiated through a fine metal grid as a contact mask. The smallest element of a pattern structure obtained in this way was 5 μm, while the structure height was 50 μm giving an aspect ratio about 10. The laser-plasma EUV source equipped with the axisymmetrical ellipsoidal collector was used for surface modification of organic polymers and inorganic solids. The surface morphology after irradiation was investigated. Different forms of microand nanostructures were obtained depending on material and irradiation conditions.