The Center for X-Ray Optics is a multi-disciplined research group within Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (LBNL) Materials Sciences Division (MSD). Notice to users.
Custom nanostructures that enable nanoscience.
The CXRO Nanowriter Electron-Beam Lithography Lab
"We manufacture custom nanostructures for a diverse set of applications worldwide. Our experienced team of scientists and engineers is here to push the limits of nanofabrication and help you realize the unique goals of your project. Our flexible environment and ability to tap into other resources at Berkeley Lab enable us to address applications ranging from semiconductors and magnetics to optics and nano-mechanics."
Erik Anderson,
Nanowriter Principal Scientist
20 years of experience in everything nano.
Block-copolymers
Diffraction gratings (below)
Grayscale masks
Holographic elements
MEMS (below)
Patterned media
Photonic crystals
Programmed defects
Roughness control
Smoothing
System integration
Zone plates (below)
The CXRO Nanowriter.
The Nanowriter (below) supports a broad array of scientific instruments and projects worldwide. Its 8-nm beam size, conbined with its 2-nm overlay accuracy enables patterning of dense features down to 10 nm half-pitch.
The CXRO Nanofab Lab.
The Nanowriter is part of a much larger ecosystem of processing and metrology equipment including:
- Resist spin/bake
- Contact aligner
- Ni + Au electroplating
- Scanning Electron Microscope
- Atomic Force Microscope
- Dry Etch ICP/RIE Etching
The Nanofab lab supports the processing of many common materials:
- Silicon
- Si3N4 Membranes
- Au, Ni, Cr, Pt, Pd, Ge, Ti, Al
- Sapphire
- Quartz
- Electroplated Au, Ni
Oxford Plasmalab 1500 dual chamber ICP/RIE.
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).
Custom nanostructures. Integration solutions.
A full spectrum of applications. Here are a few examples:
EUV phase-only computer generated holograms.
Diffractive or holographic optical elements can play an important role in lithography systems by providing an efficient mechanism for generating modified illumination. CXRO's scientific team was the first to demonstrate and characterize an EUV binary phase-only computer-generated hologram allowing arbitrary far-field diffraction patterns to be generated. The device shown below achieved an absolute efficiency of 22% into one diffracted order.
SEM image of custom EUV phase-only holographic optical element (HOE) before multilayer deposition
SEM cross-seciton of Mo/Si multilayer coating on 2-nm-tall HOE features.
Far-field +1 order EUV diffraction pattern from the manufactured HOE.
Programmed defects.
Defects buried beneath the reflective multilayer coating can ruin EUV lithography masks. CXRO's Nanowriter is used to create customized, programmed defects for systematic defect detectability and printability studies.
SEM cross section of a programmed buried defect coated with a multilayer.
Industry collaboration with Seagate: patterned media.
Templated block-copolymer self-assembly may be a great way to achieve dense patterned media with periods below 20 nm and with long range order over several cm. In collaboration with Seagate, the CXRO Nanowriter has been used to generate self-assembly templates for 0.5 Tb/in2 bit patterned media. Images courtesy of Kim Lee, Seagate.
SEM of 0.5 Tb/in2 pattern generation template
SEM of a servo pattern
"We believe in close interactions with our collaborators. We pride ourselves on understanding our customers' goals and finding unique solutions for the specific problem at hand. When you find yourself in need of nanofabrication expertise for your research or development project, we are here to help."
Weilun Chao,
Principal Investigator
