Single-shot spectrally resolved interferometry for the simultaneous measurement of the thickness and surface profile of multilayer films.

We present a single-shot spectrally-resolved interferometry for simultaneously measuring the film thickness and surface profile of each layer of a patterned multilayer film structure. For this purpose, we implemented an achromatic phase shifting method based on the geometric phase using the polarization characteristics of the light and obtained four phase-shifted interferograms in the spectrally-resolved fringe pattern at the same time by combining a pixelated polarizing camera with an imaging spectrometer. As a result, we could simultaneously measure the reflectance and phase of the sample over a wide wavelength range with a single measurement. To evaluate the validity of the proposed method, we measured a patterned five-layer film specimen and compared our measurement results with those from commercial instruments, an ellipsometer and a stylus profiler, respectively. We confirmed the results matched each other well.

Design of a discrete flexure for a SiC deformable mirror with PMN stacked-actuators.

In the present work, a discrete flexure for silicon carbide (SiC) deformable mirror (DM) with Lead-Magnesium-Niobate (PMN) stacked-actuators is designed using topology and size optimizations. In order to fulfill the designated surface strokes of the SiC mirror without adhesive failure, discrete flexures are adopted between the mirror faceplate and the actuators. As the same design process for the flexure of the final DM model, which has a 140 mm diameter mirror faceplate and 489 channels of piezoelectric PMN-30PT single crystal multilayer actuators, the topology and the sizes of the flexure for the 5×5 engineering DM model are optimized. The topology and the size optimizations are conducted by GTAM and DesignXplorer in ANSYS based on finite element method (FEM). The prototype of the designed model is built and the test results show appropriate mirror deformations comparing with the simulated results without adhesive failure.

Single-shot freeform surface profiler.

We propose a novel and simple method of single-shot freeform surface profiler based on spatially phase-shifted lateral shearing interferometry. By the adoption of birefringent materials, the laterally shearing waves are simply generated without any bulky and complicated optical components. Moreover, the phase maps that lead to the 3D profile of the freeform surface can be instantly obtained by the spatial phase-shifting technique using a pixelated polarizing camera. The proposed method was theoretically described and verified by measuring several samples in comparison to the measurement results with a well-established stylus probe.

Instantaneous thickness measurement of multilayer films by single-shot angle-resolved spectral reflectometry.

In this Letter, we describe a new, to the best of our knowledge, concept of angle-resolved spectral reflectometry with a pixelated polarizing camera for determination of the thickness of each film layer in multilayer films. We can measure the changes in the phase and amplitude of p- and s-polarized light over a broad spectral range and a wide incident angle at a time. The proposed method is verified by measuring a sample of multilayer film and comparing our measurement results with an ellipsometer. The comparison results show that our proposed technique enables real-time inspection of multilayer films with high precision.

Single-shot deflectometry for dynamic 3D surface profile measurement by modified spatial-carrier frequency phase-shifting method.

We propose a new concept of single-shot deflectometry for real-time measurement of three-dimensional surface profile using a single composite pattern. To retrieve an accurate phase from one-frame composite pattern, we adapt the Fourier Transform (FT) method and the spatial carrier-frequency phase-shifting (SCPS) technique to our proposed deflectometry. Based on Lissajous figure and ellipse fitting method, we also correct the phase extraction error in SCPS technique by reducing the effect of background and modulation variations. The proposed technique is verified by comparing our measurement results with phase-shifting deflectometry, and the maximum difference between two measurement results is less than 30 nm rms. We also test the robustness to vibration and the measurement capability for dynamic object.

CVD SiC deformable mirror with monolithic cooling channels.

We propose a novel deformable mirror (DM) for adaptive optics in high power laser applications. The mirror is made of a Silicon carbide (SiC) faceplate, and cooling channels are embedded monolithically inside the faceplate with the chemical vapor desposition (CVD) method. The faceplate is 200 mm in diameter and 3 mm in thickness, and is actuated by 137 stack-type piezoelectric transducers arranged in a square grid. We also propose a new actuator influence function optimized for modelling our DM, which has a relatively stiffer faceplate and a higher coupling ratio compared with other DMs having thin faceplates. The cooling capability and optical performance of the DM are verified by simulations and actual experiments with a heat source. The DM is proved to operate at 1 kHz without the coolant flow and 100 Hz with the coolant flow, and the residual errors after compensation are less than 30 nm rms (root-mean-square). This paper presents the design, fabrication, and optical performance of the CVD SiC DM.

Simultaneous measurements of top surface and its underlying film surfaces in multilayer film structure.

With the growth of 3D packaging technology and the development of flexible, transparent electrodes, the use of multilayer thin-films is steadily increasing throughout high-tech industries including semiconductor, flat panel display, and solar photovoltaic industries. Also, this in turn leads to an increase in industrial demands for inspection of internal analysis. However, there still remain many technical limitations to overcome for measurement of the internal structure of the specimen without damage. In this paper, we propose an innovative optical inspection technique for simultaneous measurements of the surface and film thickness corresponding to each layer of multilayer film structures by computing the phase and reflectance over a wide range of wavelengths. For verification of our proposed method, the sample specimen of multilayer films was fabricated via photolithography process, and the surface profile and film thickness of each layer were measured by two different techniques of a stylus profilometer and an ellipsometer, respectively. Comparison results shows that our proposed technique enables simultaneous measurements of the top surface and its underlying film surfaces with high precision, which could not be measured by conventional non-destructive methods.

Dual-line fabrication method in direct laser lithography to reduce the manufacturing time of diffractive optics elements.

To reduce the manufacturing time of DOEs (Diffractive Optics Elements) and POEs (Periodical Optics Elements), a new fabrication method in direct laser lithography is proposed based on the laser ablation phenomenon and the thermochemical effect of chrome. The basic mechanism of the proposed method and experimental results are also presented. It was found that when a 3 × 3 rectangular pattern is fabricated, the proposed method can reduce the total lithographic length by approximately 33%. The manufacturing time is reduced by nearly 52%. When fabricating a 1,000 × 1,000 rectangular pattern, the manufacturing time was reduced by more than 90%. The time reduction rate is drastically improved when the number of patterns is increased. Various patterns including rectangular, triangular, parallelogram, and diamond shape were fabricated by using the proposed method.

3D surface mapping of freeform optics using wavelength scanning lateral shearing interferometry.

Freeform optics have emerged as promising components in diverse applications due to the potential for superior optical performance. There are many research fields in the area ranging from fabrication to measurement, with metrology being one of the most challenging tasks. In this paper, we describe a new variant of lateral shearing interferometer with a tunable laser source that enables 3D surface profile measurements of freeform optics with high speed, high vertical resolution, large departure, and large field-of-view. We have verified the proposed technique by comparing our measurement result with that of an existing technique and measuring a representative freeform optic.

Correction of rotational inaccuracy in lateral shearing interferometry for freeform measurement.

A lateral shearing interferometer has an advantage over previous wavefront measuring interferometers since it requires no reference. Therefore the lateral shearing interferometer can be a powerful solution to measure a freeform surface. It, however, has some issues to be resolved before it can be implemented. One of them is the orthogonality problem between two shearing directions in LSI. Previous wavefront reconstruction algorithms assume that the shearing directions are perfectly orthogonal to each other and lateral shear is obtained simultaneously in the sagittal and tangential directions. For practical LSI, however, there is no way to guarantee perfect orthogonality between two shearing directions. Motivated by this, we propose a new algorithm that is able to compensate the rotational inaccuracy. The mathematical model is derived in this paper. Computer simulations and experiments are also displayed to verify our algorithm.

Novel compact dual-band LOROP camera with telecentricity.

We report a new dual band compact oblique photography camera (LC11) that is the first to benefit from the incorporation of telecentricity. LC11 has a common front end F/6.6 telescope with 280 mm in aperture that forms its electro-optical (EO, F/7.5) and MWIR (F/5.6) modules. The design allows a substantial reduction in volume and weight due to i) the EO/MWIR compensator and relay lens groups arranged very close to the primary mirror (M1), and ii) light-weighted M1 and SiC main frame (MF) structure. Telecentricity of up to 2 and 0.2 degrees for the EO and MWIR modules, respectively, is achieved by balancing optical power among all lenses. The initial field test shows 0.32 ± 0.05 (EO)/0.20 ± 0.06 (MWIR) in measured MTF at 28 (EO) and 13 (MWIR) cycles/mm in target frequency, and an improved operability with a greater reduction in operational volume and mass than other existing LOROP cameras.

Enhancement of height resolution in direct laser lithography.

To address the requirements of multi-level semiconductors, we propose a new technique for overcoming the height limitation of direct laser lithography. In the proposed system, an original source beam is fed into an interference generator that divides the input beam by 50: 50 into two output beams. After going through an imaging lens, these two beams make two focusing spots, which are slightly separated in the axial direction. In the overlapped region, these two spots generate a small interferogram that shortens the depth of focus. By using this phenomenon, we are able to overcome the height limitation of direct laser lithography. The governing equations are also derived in this manuscript by using the Gaussian beam model.

Improvement of linewidth in laser beam lithographed computer generated hologram.

We propose a new laser lithographic technique with enhanced resolution. A calcite wave plate is introduced in our system to separate an input lithographic beam into two orthogonally polarized beams. After going through an imaging lens, these two beams meet again on the focal point, and generate a small interferogram that sharpens the shape of the focused beam spot. Using this phenomenon, we can overcome the diffraction limit of the imaging lens and achieve a 486-nm-linewidth.

Realization and performance evaluation of high speed autofocusing for direct laser lithography.

The autofocusing is one of the important parts in the automated vision inspection or measurement using optical microscopes. Moreover, laser micromachining or laser lithography requires a high speed and precision autofocusing. In this paper, we propose and realize an autofocusing system using two cylindrical lenses, which is the enhanced version of the previous astigmatism method. It shows very good performances, especially very high speed and the largest range in comparison with the previous astigmatic methods. The performance of our autofocusing system was evaluated by tracing the linear stage whose position was monitored by a commercial laser interferometer. Then we applied the autofocusing to the direct laser lithographic system, and successfully fabricated circular symmetry patterns on a 300 mm diameter surface with the resolution of less than 1 microm within the defocusing range of +/-50 microm. The speed of the autofocusing was 150 Hz.

300 mm reference wafer fabrication by using direct laser lithography.

We propose a new method based on direct laser lithography to fabricate reference chromium patterns on a silicon wafer. Our method is able to fabricate a maximum 360-mm-diameter pattern with 651-nm-position uncertainty. The minimum pattern size is about 0.8 microm (linewidth value) and the maximum available height of the pattern is slightly over 400 nm.

Laser output power stabilization for direct laser writing system by using an acousto-optic modulator.

We present experimental results on the output power stabilization of an Ar(+) laser for a direct laser writing system (LWS). Instability of the laser output power in the LWS cause resolution fluctuations of being fabricated diffractive optical elements or computer-generated holograms. For the purpose of reducing the power fluctuations, we have constituted a feedback loop with an acousto-optic modulator, a photodetector, and a servo controller. In this system, we have achieved the stability of +/-0.20% for 12 min and the relative intensity noise level of 2.1 x 10(-7) Hz(-12) at 100 Hz. In addition, we applied our system to a 2 mW internal mirror He-Ne laser. As a consequence, we achieved the output power stability of +/-0.12% for 25 min.

Absolute three-dimensional coordinate measurement by the two-point diffraction interferometry.

We describe a method of absolute xyz-coordinates measurement based on the two-point diffraction interferometer. In this paper we use a new optimization algorithm to the interferometer. Experimental results show that the systematic error of the interferometer is less than 1 mum (peak-to- valley value) within a 60 mm by 60 mm by 20 mm working volume. To extract the systematic error and verify the absolute performance of the interferometer we applied the Fourier self-calibration concept.

Azimuthal position error correction algorithm for absolute test of large optical surfaces.

Absolute test needs test part rotation to separate errors of the interferometer itself from errors due to the test surfaces. At this time, previous absolute test algorithms assume no azimuthal position error during part rotation. For large optics whose diameters are 0.6 m and over, however, exact rotations are physically difficult. Motivated by this, we propose a new algorithm that adopts least squares technique to determine the true azimuthal positions of part rotation and consequently eliminates testing errors caused by rotation inaccuracy.

Discrepancies between roughness measurements obtained with phase-shifting and white-light interferometry.

Discrepancies between phase-shifting and white-light interferometry have been observed in step-height and surface roughness measurements. The discrepancies have a strong relation to the roughness average parameter of the surface. The skewing effect, which mainly occurs in the vicinity of peaks, valleys, and edges of the sample, causes this problem in white-light interferometry of step height. For roughness, two possible sources of the discrepancy are considered.

Absolute distance measurement by two-point-diffraction interferometry.

We present a point-diffraction interferometer that has been specially devised to perform absolute distance measurements in three dimensions. It is composed of two main parts: One is a target that moves in three dimensions, and the other is a stationary two-dimensional array of photodetectors. The target is made of point-diffraction sources that emit two spherical wave fronts, whose interference is monitored by the photodetectors. Application of a phase-shifting technique allows the phase values of the photodetectors to be precisely measured, which are then fitted to a geometric model of multilateration so as to determine the xyz location of the target by minimization of least-squares errors. Experimental results show that the proposed diffraction interferometer is capable of measuring the xyz coordinates of the target with a volumetric uncertainty of less than 1.0 microm over a working volume of a 100-mm side.