Evaluation of fast EUV scintillator using 13.9 nm x-ray laser

The nickel-like silver x-ray laser with the wavelength of 13.9 nm is used as a high power EUV excitation source to evaluate a scintillator for EUV lithography. The time resolved spectrum of zinc oxide exciton emission at around 380 nm was observed. The determined fluorescence lifetime of 1.1 ns is sufficiently short for characterizing EUV lithography light sources having a few nanoseconds duration. It is also shown that the x-ray laser is an excellent tool for spectroscopic characterization of materials intended for next-generation lithography applications.