Sensing and Imaging of Extreme Ultraviolet and Soft X-Ray Radiations Using Diamonds with Nitrogen-Vacancy Defects

Huan-Cheng Chang^1*

¹Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

* Presenter:Huan-Cheng Chang, email:hchang@gate.sinica.edu.tw

The semiconductor industry relies on Moore's Law to drive the advancement of transistor performance. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is a cutting-edge technology to achieve this goal. The use of EUV radiations allows manufacturers to etch nanoscale circuit patterns on chips, which are crucial for advancing semiconductor technology and ensuring the continued relevance of Moore's Law. With the advent of various EUV and soft X-ray (SXR) light sources, effective beam diagnostics for these types of radiation have become essential, underscoring the importance of detectors as key components. This lecture discusses our development of EUV/SXR sensing and imaging devices using diamonds with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects as scintillators to convert EUV/SXR radiations into visible light. Highlights of the detector development include the following:
1. Diamond materials can emit bright red fluorescence (550 – 850 nm) from NV⁰ centers when exposed to EUV/SXR radiations.
2. Measured for a 0.5 mm thick single-crystal diamond with an NV concentration of 0.3 ppm, the absolute light yield of this scintillator increases from 7.6 to 16.3 photons/keV as the photon energy varies from 80 to 1200 eV.
3. Fluorescent nanodiamond films prepared by electrospray deposition are able to image and characterize EUV/SXR radiations over an area exceeding 1 cm².
4. Diamond-based scintillators are non-hygroscopic, highly photostable, and exhibit no afterglow.

Keywords: Diamonds, Extreme ultraviolet radiation, Imaging, Nitrogen-vacancy centers, Quantum sensing