Fabrication of shallow EUV gratings on silicon by irradiation with helium ions.

To accurately achieve structure height differences in the range of single digit nanometres is of great importance for the fabrication of diffraction gratings for the extreme ultraviolet range (EUV). Here, structuring of silicon irradiated through a mask by a broad beam of helium ions with an energy of 30 keV was investigated as an alternative to conventional etching, which offers only limited controllability for shallow structures due to the higher rate of material removal. Utilising a broad ion beam allows for quick and cost effective fabrication. Ion fluence of the irradiations was varied in the range of 10¹⁶ ... 10¹⁷ ions · cm^-2. This enabled a fine tuning of structure height in the range of 1.00 ± 0.05 to 20 ± 1 nm, which is suitable for shallow gratings used in EUV applications. According to transmission electron microscopy investigations the observed structure shape is attributed to the formation of point defects and bubbles/cavities within the silicon. Diffraction capabilities of fabricated elements are experimentally shown at the SX700 beamline of BESSY II. Rigorous Maxwell solver simulation based on the finite-element method and rigorous coupled wave analysis are utilised to describe the experimental obtained diffraction pattern.