Imaging Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation Using Nanodiamonds with Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation with wavelengths of 10-121 nm has drawn considerable attention recently for its use in photolithography to fabricate nanoelectronic chips. This study demonstrates, for the first time, fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers as scintillators to image and characterize EUV radiations. The FNDs employed are similar to 100 nm in size; they form a uniform and stable thin film on an indium-tin-oxide-coated slide by electrospray deposition. The film is nonhygroscopic and photostable and can emit bright red fluorescence from NV0 centers when excited by EUV light. An FND-based imaging device has been developed and applied for beam diagnostics of 50 nm and 13.5 nm synchrotron radiations, achieving a spatial resolution of 30 mu m using a film of similar to 1 mu m thickness. The noise equivalent power density is 29 mu W/(cm(2) Hz(1/2)) for the 13.5 nm radiation. The method is generally applicable to imaging EUV radiation from different sources.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the use of fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers as scintillators for imaging and characterizing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. The FNDs form a stable thin film and can emit bright red fluorescence when excited by EUV light. An FND-based imaging device has been developed for beam diagnostics of synchrotron radiations.