Extreme UV optical constants of rare-earth metals free from effects of air contamination

Abstract

The determination of EUV optical constants in rare-earth metals is much hampered by the high reactivity and easy air contamination of these materials. The most difficult regions are a long wavelengths part of the EUV interval and the vicinity of absorption edges. In this study the optical constants of La and Tb are determined in a wide energy interval 14-400 eV. The study is performed by our recent method, which is suitable for reactive materials and for intervals around the absorption edges of elements. The samples are identically protected films with thickness ~ 10 nm or ~ 100 nm, which are deposited on silicon photodiodes. Mathematical treatment separates the contributions of a capping layer and a rare-earth metal and provides data which are free from the effects of air contamination. The precision and behavior of optical constants, as well as the parameters of the O_2,3 and N_4,5 edges in La and Tb are analyzed.