Fresnel Phase Effects For X-Ray Microlithography

A study of Fresnel diffraction effects is presented for structures of interest for X-Ray Microlithography. This analysis uses the full optical constants of the mask absorber pattern. Therefore, our calculations take into account the fact that the photons experience a phase shift as they go through the mask's absorbing layer in addition to simple absorption. Results are presented which show the consequences of adding the phase effects to the Fresnel analysis. These results show that phase effects cannot be disregarded in modeling Fresnel intensity profiles on resists.