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Life sciences · Preprint
arXiv · September 10, 2026
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This is a computational design proposal for a novel two-mirror reflective projection system for EUV lithography, incorporating optimized multilayer coatings and inverse lithography mask synthesis. Simulations demonstrate sub-10-nm feature resolution over a limited defocus range, but the work is entirely theoretical with no experimental validation, fabrication, or performance comparison to existing systems.
Preprint. Intervention: Two-mirror all-reflective projection system operating at 13.5 nm (Mo/Si) and 11.2 nm (Ru/Be) wavelengths, with optimized multilayer coatings and inverse lithography-designed binary absorber mask.
Proposed system achieves 4× demagnification with numerical aperture NA_max ≈ 0.993 Two-reflection architecture retains 50–60% optical power per accepted diffraction order, compared to <15% throughput in conventional 6–10 mirror systems Simulated aerial images show sub-10-nm features: isolated peaks with FWHM ≈ 5.4 nm and line pairs with critical dimension 6 nm
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This is a theoretical optical design and simulation study proposing a novel EUV lithography system architecture, without experimental validation or comparison to existing systems.
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We propose an all-reflective two-mirror projection system for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography operating at exposure wavelengths of $13.5$~nm (Mo/Si) and $11.2$~nm (Ru/Be), delivering a fourfold ($4\times$) demagnification of the periodic mask pattern at a numerical aperture approaching unity ($\mathrm{NA}_{\max} \approx 0.993$). In contrast to conventional EUV projection objectives that incorporate 6--10 aspheric mirrors with an overall optical throughput of less than $15\%$, the proposed design redirects each accepted discrete spatial diffraction order scattered by the mask onto the wafer via a dedicated pair of planar mirror facets. The number of reflections is strictly fixed at two for all accepted orders, retaining $50$--$60\%$ of the power leaving the mask in each accepted order. We derive a spatial geometry providing rigorous optical path length equalization across all diffraction orders, thereby removing order-dependent propagation phase shifts. Individually optimized 30-bilayer Bragg multilayer coatings are designed for each facet using the transfer matrix method combined with global evolutionary optimization algorithms. The architecture is generalized to a three-dimensional vector formulation with a two-dimensionally periodic mask. Utilizing inverse lithography technology, Fourier parameterization, and a differentiable electromagnetic modal waveguide solver, we solve the synthesis problem for binary absorber masks (La absorber on a Ru/Be/Sr multilayer mirror). We demonstrate simulated aerial images of sub-10-nm features on the wafer (isolated peaks with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of approximately $5.4$~nm and line pairs with a critical dimension of $6$~nm) and find that the two peaks remain resolved for the tested wafer defocus values from $0$ to $5$~nm along the $z$-axis.
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