RWTH Aachen University TOS – Chair for Technology of Optical Systems
About the company
With its 260 institutes, RWTH Aachen University is among the leading European scientific and research institutions. Over 44.000 students are educated by 570 professors with a majority of students enrolling in engineering courses. RWTH is strongly application oriented, attracting over 500 million € in third-party funding annually, the highest amount among all German universities. Research at RWTH focuses on relevant problems arising from global challenges. The aim is to provide solutions for today’s complex and multi-faceted problems by developing an integrated interdisciplinary approach. Within RWTH, the Chair for Technology of Optical Systems (TOS), led by Prof. Carlo Holly, carries out research and development in the areas of optical systems for lasers and laser applications, computational optics and EUV technology. The chair currently consists of 25 full-time employees and more than 30 additional student assistants.
The chair has two decades of experience in industrially relevant activities in the field of EUV physics and technology. Unique actinic EUV metrology equipment, developed by the chair in cooperation with Fraunhofer ILT and industrial partners, excellent general infrastructure of the university and the accumulated know-how in EUV technology contribute to the project. Additionally, RWTH has access to state-of-the-art micro- and nano processing setups including material deposition, nanoscale patterning, etching equipment, and various structural/optical characterization equipment.
Project contribution
14AMI strengthens RWTH’s research activities in the field of semiconductor manufacturing by gaining a fundamental understanding on the degradation and contamination processes of optical components and layer systems under EUV irradiation. In close collaboration with the partners, new metrology and analysis approaches are investigated. RWTH contributes with their experience in the field of design and realization of experimental setups using compact EUV radiation sources in cleanroom environments.
Within the project, the realized spectroscopic EUV reflectometer and the EUV high-intensity exposure setup are of main importance. The created experimental capacities allow for detailed studies on the hydrogen-induced outgassing, the contamination layer formation and surface analysis of optical components under EUV irradiation. The surface composition and chemistry are studied in detail by mass spectrometry, photoelectron emission spectroscopy and in-situ EUV spectrometry.
Europe/Germany benefits from this development due to increased availability of highly educated experts in the field of EUV lithography and metrology. By exploring the fundamental processes of EUV-material-interaction processes, RWTH supports and enables on a longer timescale new application in areas such as quantum computing, communication technologies, autonomous driving and augmented reality.