Alignment System for X-Ray Lithography.

Among the various contenders for VLSI lithography below 0.1 $\mu$m, proximity x-ray printing is the most promising one and has been investigated for many years. It will require overlay accuracy far below 100 nm, 3$\sigma$, typical of today\u27s systems. In addition, it should use wafer marks that permit planar resist flow, so their apparent position is not distorted. We have demonstrated an alignment system that uses a linear zone plate on the mask to focus laser light into a line on the wafer. The wafer mark is the boundary between two adjacent fine pitch gratings. These gratings diffract the light into photodiodes. The gratings either differ slightly in pitch, or by 180\sp\circ in phase. This configuration minimizes the disturbance to the resist as it flows over the alignment mark. In the case of gratings with slightly different pitch the light from each grating is detected by one half of a split photodiode. This arrangement has good sensitivity and a very wide capture range. The phase shift gratings have reduced capture range, but enhanced sensitivity, because of the improved resolution from the phase shift. We observe that the FWHM of the alignment signal is 0.6 $\mu$m when the FWHM of the focused laser line is 1.0 $\mu$m. By collecting all of the light focused by the zone plate and diffracted by the gratings we obtain strong alignment signals with signal to noise ratio of more than 1000:1. We routinely obtain a repeatability in a bench setup equivalent to less than 7 A, 3$\sigma$. This alignment technique is currently undergoing installation in the CAMD x-ray exposure tool

Design/cost tradeoff studies. Earth Observatory Satellite system definition study (EOS)

The results of design/cost tradeoff studies conducted during the Earth Observatory Satellite system definition studies are presented. The studies are concerned with the definition of a basic modular spacecraft capable of supporting a variety of operational and/or research and development missions, with the deployment either by conventional launch vehicles or by means of the space shuttle. The three levels investigated during the study are: (1) subsystem tradeoffs, (2) spacecraft tradeoffs, and (3) system tradeoffs. The range of requirements which the modular concept must span is discussed. The mechanical, thermal, power, data and electromagnetic compatibility aspects of modularity are analyzed. Other data are provided for the observatory design concept, the payloads, integration and test, the ground support equipment, and ground data management systems

On-detector electronics for high speed data transport, control and power distribution for the LHCb VELO and ATLAS Pixel Upgrades

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will see an upgrade to higher luminosity to widen the scope of study of particle physics and this will be a major upgrade of the LHC. The LHC collides protons at an energy of 13 TeV in order to study the fundamental components of matter and the forces that bind them together. The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) will enter service after 2025, increasing the volume of the data for analysis by a factor of 10. The phenomena that physicists are looking for have a very low probability of occurring and this is why a very large amount of data is needed to detect them. Vertexing and tracking sub-detectors for these High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments deliver very high data rates that require multi-gigabit transmission links. Commercial solutions such as optical transmission or wire cabling are investigated, however, due to high radiation environments and low radiation length requirements, electrical transmission with low mass custom designs have to be considered. Designing transmission lines with this requirement does pose a challenge and optical data transmission is used when space and radiation limits allow. The increase in luminosity will produce more data making it possible to study the phenomena in more detail by increasing the number of collisions by a factor of between five and seven. The increase in data will require an enhanced readout system and related electronics to be able to transmit and read out the data for further processing. At the same time powering systems need to be looked at to understand cost effcient and reliable techniques to be able to power such electronics. The thesis focuses on the readout electronics of the LHCb Vertex Locator (known as the 'VELO') Upgrade and the ATLAS Inner Tracker (known as the 'ITk') Upgrade including design of some components of the sub-systems, testing for high-speed data signaling, powering schemes and analysis of PCB designs and scope for improvements. An introduction to the LHC and the four experiments that use its beam - ATLAS, CMS, ALICE and LHCb is outlined. The thesis work is focused on two of these detectors namely ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) and LHCb (Large Hadron Collider beauty) and these are further explained and details of the sub-systems that make up these detectors are elaborated. Major differences to the upgrade of the experiments is explained highlighting the changes and the main challenges that would need to be addressed. The work on the On-detector electronics of the LHCb VELO Upgrade with details of the design requirements and implementations for the different components is described and test results are presented. Data tapes for carrying high speed data signals and control signals from the front-end chip to the Vacuum Feedthoough (VF) were designed and successfully tested to have a loss of < 10 dB at the Nyquist frequency of 2.5 GHz and a characteristic impedance of approximately 94 Ω which is within the 10% tolerance of 100 Ω for differential signals. Sensitivity to radiation damage as well as additional mass in the detector acceptance were some factors that motivated the design of the Opto Power board (OPB). In addition, there was a need to power the front-end ASICs but from outside the vacuum tank. The OPB was designed to meet these requirements in addition to be more easily accessible for repair and maintenance. The OPB is realised in an 8-layer stackup, with custom designed radiation hard ICs, and was designed for optical to electrical conversion of 20 high-speed data links at 5.12 Gb/s per link to be read by the Off-detector electronics. The board comprises 13 DC-DC converters for powering 12 ASICs, two front-end hybrids and the OPB itself with a total current supply of 26 A. The ATLAS experiment will implement the Inner Tracker (ITk) which is a new tracker to be installed during the major ATLAS Upgrade during Long Shutdown 3. The work on the ATLAS ITK addresses two topics; a novel pixel powering scheme adopting layout techniques for high-speed design. A serial powering scheme was evaluated to be an optimal option and this scheme was tested to understand its scope and implementation in the pixel endcap design and results are presented. A study to understand the existing Crescent Tape PCB layout and techniques to improve the design for high-speed data transmission was evaluated. Methods for analysing high-speed data using S-parameters and eye diagrams, sources of signal degradation and mitigation techniques, are detailed. The laboratory test setup for high-speed measurements with the equipments used is also explained

Design/cost tradeoff studies. Appendix A. Supporting analyses and tradeoffs, book 2. Earth Observatory Satellite system definition study (EOS)

Attitude reference systems for use with the Earth Observatory Satellite (EOS) are described. The systems considered are fixed and gimbaled star trackers, star mappers, and digital sun sensors. Covariance analyses were performed to determine performance for the most promising candidate in low altitude and synchronous orbits. The performance of attitude estimators that employ gyroscopes which are periodically updated by a star sensor is established by a single axis covariance analysis. The other systems considered are: (1) the propulsion system design, (2) electric power and electrical integration, (3) thermal control, (4) ground data processing, and (5) the test plan and cost reduction aspects of observatory integration and test

The 30/20 GHz flight experiment system, phase 2. Volume 2: Experiment system description

A detailed technical description of the 30/20 GHz flight experiment system is presented. The overall communication system is described with performance analyses, communication operations, and experiment plans. Hardware descriptions of the payload are given with the tradeoff studies that led to the final design. The spacecraft bus which carries the payload is discussed and its interface with the launch vehicle system is described. Finally, the hardwares and the operations of the terrestrial segment are presented

Working group organizational meeting

Scene radiation and atmospheric effects, mathematical pattern recognition and image analysis, information evaluation and utilization, and electromagnetic measurements and signal handling are considered. Research issues in sensors and signals, including radar (SAR) reflectometry, SAR processing speed, registration, including overlay of SAR and optical imagery, entire system radiance calibration, and lack of requirements for both sensors and systems, etc. were discussed

Workshop on Advanced Technologies for Planetary Instruments, part 1

This meeting was conceived in response to new challenges facing NASA's robotic solar system exploration program. This volume contains papers presented at the Workshop on Advanced Technologies for Planetary Instruments on 28-30 Apr. 1993. This meeting was conceived in response to new challenges facing NASA's robotic solar system exploration program. Over the past several years, SDIO has sponsored a significant technology development program aimed, in part, at the production of instruments with these characteristics. This workshop provided an opportunity for specialists from the planetary science and DoD communities to establish contacts, to explore common technical ground in an open forum, and more specifically, to discuss the applicability of SDIO's technology base to planetary science instruments