For volume nanoelectronics production using Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography [1] to become a reality around the year 2011, advanced EUV research tools are required today. Microfield exposure tools have played a vital role in the early development of EUV lithography [2-4] concentrating on numerical apertures (NA) of 0.2 and smaller. Expected to enter production at the 32-nm node with NAs of 0.25, EUV can no longer rely on these early research tools to provide relevant learning. To overcome this problem, a new generation of microfield exposure tools, operating at an NA of 0.3 have been developed [5-8]. Like their predecessors, these tools trade off field size and speed for greatly reduced complexity. One of these tools is implemented at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source synchrotron radiation facility. This tool gets around the problem of the intrinsically high coherence of the synchrotron source [9,10] by using an active illuminator scheme [11]. Here we describe recent printing results obtained from the Berkeley EUV exposure tool. Limited by the availability of ultra-high resolution chemically amplified resists, present resolution limits are approximately 32 nm for equal lines and spaces and 27 nm for semi-isolated lines.

Optical diagnostics are currently being designed to analyze high-energy density physics experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Two independent line-imaging Velocity Interferometer System for Any Reflector (VISAR) interferometers have been fielded to measure shock velocities, breakout times, and emission of targets having sizes of 1-5 mm. An 8-inch-diameter, fused silica triplet lens collects light at f/3 inside the 30-foot-diameter NIF vacuum chamber. VISAR recordings use a 659.5-nm probe laser. By adding a specially coated beam splitter to the interferometer table, light at wavelengths from 540 to 645 nm is spilt into a thermal-imaging diagnostic. Because fused silica lenses are used in the first triplet relay, the intermediate image planes for different wavelengths separate by considerable distances. A corrector lens on the interferometer table reunites these separated wavelength planes to provide a good image. Thermal imaging collects light at f/5 from a 2-mm object placed at Target Chamber Center (TCC). Streak cameras perform VISAR and thermal-imaging recording. All optical lenses are on kinematic mounts so that pointing accuracy of the optical axis may be checked. Counter-propagating laser beams (orange and red) are used to align both diagnostics. The red alignment laser is selected to be at the 50 percent reflection …

One of the current capsule designs for achieving ignition on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a 2 mm diameter graded Ge-doped CH shell that has a 160 {micro}m thick wall. The Ge doping is not uniform, but rather is in radial steps. This graded Ge-doped design allows rougher surface finish than the original undoped CH design thus has a less stringent new surface standard. We selected quality mandrel mandrels by coating dozens of mandrel batches to {approx}70 {micro}m thickness to amplify sub-micrometer defects on the mandrels and successively removed inferior batches. The Ge-doping layers are made by introducing (CH{sub 3}){sub 4}Ge to the gas stream. The doping concentrations were determined by performing tryout runs and characterized by X-ray fluorescence analyses and quantitative radiograph calculations, with good agreement between the methods being demonstrated. The precise layer thickness and Ge concentrations were determined by a non-destructive quantitative contact radiograph. The as-coated shell has an inner 10 {micro}m undoped CH layer, followed by a 48 {micro}m thick 0.83 at.% Ge-doped CH, 10 {micro}m thick 0.38 at.% Ge-doped CH and then 90 {micro}m of undoped CH. The shell meets nearly all the NIF design thickness specifications and Ge concentrations. The atomic force microscope …

In charmless nonleptonic B decays to {pi}{pi} or {rho}{rho}, the ''color allowed'' and ''color suppressed'' tree amplitudes can be studied in a systematic expansion in {alpha}{sub s}(m{sub b}) and {Lambda}{sub QCD}/m{sub b}. At leading order in this expansion their relative strong phase vanishes. The implications of this prediction are obscured by penguin contributions. They propose to use this prediction to test the relative importance of the various penguin amplitudes using experimental data. The present B {yields} {pi}{pi} data suggest that there are large corrections to the heavy quark limit, which can be due to power corrections to the tree amplitudes, large up-penguin amplitude, or enhanced weak annihilation. Because the penguin contributions are smaller, the heavy quark limit is more consistent with the B {yields} {rho}{rho} data, and its implications may become important for the extraction of {alpha} from this mode in the future.

As radiation detection in the interest of national security becomes increasingly commonplace, inevitable questions arise concerning the interpretation of data from handheld radioisotope identifiers (RIIDs). Field elements typically require fast answers to provide an effective defense and to minimize the impact on legitimate movement of people and goods. To support this need, on-call experts at Sandia, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories cooperate in resolving radiation alarms rapidly and accurately. We present an overview, describe the work in progress to improve capabilities, and report on some of the lessons learned.