The SEMATECH High-NA Actinic Reticle review Project (SHARP) is a synchrotron-based, EUV-wavelength microscope, dedicated to photomask imaging, now being commissioned at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In terms of throughput, resolution, coherence control, stability and ease of use, SHARP represents a significant advance over its predecessor, the SEMATECH Berkeley Actinic Inspection Tool (AIT), which was decommissioned in September 2012. SHARP utilizes several advanced technologies to achieve its design goals: including the first Fouriersynthesis illuminator on a zoneplate microscope, EUV MEMS mirrors, and high-efficiency freestanding zoneplate lenses with numerical aperture values up to 0.625 (4×). In its first week of operation, SHARP demonstrated approximately 150 times higher light throughput than AIT and a spatial resolution down to 55-nm half-pitch with 0.42 4×NA (i.e. the smallest feature size on our test mask.) This paper describes the current status of the tool commissioning and the performance metrics available at this early stage.
