Actuation profiles to form Zernike shapes with a thermal active mirror.

In EUV lithography, the absorption of EUV light causes wavefront distortion that deteriorates the imaging process. An adaptive optics system has been developed ["Adaptive optics to counteract thermal aberrations," Ph.D. thesis (TU Delft, 2013)] to correct for this distortion using an active mirror (AM). This AM is thermally actuated by absorbing an irradiance profile exposed by a projector onto the AM. Due to thermal conductivity and bimorph-like deformation of the AM, the relation between actuation profile and actuated shape is not trivial. Therefore, this Letter describes how actuation profiles are obtained to generate Zernike shapes. These actuation profiles have been obtained by a finite-element-based optimization procedure. Furthermore, these actuation profiles are exposed to the AM, and the resulting deformations are measured. This Letter shows actuated Zernike shapes with purities higher than 0.9 for most actuation profiles. In addition, superimposed actuation profiles resulted in superimposed Zernike shapes, showing linearity needed to apply modal wavefront correction. Therefore, this approach can be used to obtain actuation profiles for this AM concept, which can be used for highly precise wavefront correction.

Validation of separated source frequency delivery for a fiber-coupled heterodyne displacement interferometer.

The use of optical fibers presents several advantages with respect to free-space optical transport regarding source-frequency delivery to individual heterodyne interferometers. Unfortunately, fiber delivery to individual coaxial heterodyne interferometers leads to an increase of (periodic) nonlinearity in the measurement, because transporting coaxial frequencies through one optical fiber leads to frequency mixing. Coaxial beams thus require delivery via free-space transportation methods. In contrast, the heterodyne interferometer concept discussed in this Letter is based on separated source frequencies, which allow for fiber delivery without additional nonlinearity. This investigation analyzes the influence of external disturbances acting on the two fibers during delivery, causing asymmetry in phase between the two fibers (first-order effect), and irradiance fluctuations (second-order effect). Experiments using electro-optic phase modulation and acousto-optic irradiance modulation confirmed that the interferometer-concept can measure with sub-nanometer uncertainty using fiber delivered source frequencies, enabling fully fiber-coupled heterodyne displacement interferometers.

Perceived damage and areas of needed research for wildlife pests of California agriculture.

Many wildlife species cause extensive damage to a variety of agricultural commodities in California, with estimates of damage in the hundreds of millions annually. Given the limited availability of resources to solve all human-wildlife conflicts, we should focus management efforts on issues that provide the greatest benefit to agricultural commodities in California. This survey provides quantitative data on research needs to better guide future efforts in developing more effective, practical and appropriate methods for managing these species. We found that ground squirrels, pocket gophers, birds, wild pigs, coyotes and voles were the most common agricultural wildlife pest species in California. The damage caused by these species could be quite high, but varied by agricultural commodity. For most species, common forms of damage included loss of crop production and direct death of the plant, although livestock depredation was the greatest concern for coyotes. Control methods used most frequently and those deemed most effective varied by pest species, although greater advancements in control methods were listed as a top research priority for all species. Collectively, the use of toxicants, biocontrol and trapping were the most preferred methods for control, but this varied by species. In general, integrated pest management practices were used to control wildlife pests, with a special preference for those approaches that were efficacious and quick and inexpensive to apply. This information and survey design should be useful in establishing research and management priorities for wildlife pest species in California and other similar regions.

Heterodyne displacement interferometer, insensitive for input polarization.

Periodic nonlinearity (PNL) in displacement interferometers is a systematic error source that limits measurement accuracy. The PNL of coaxial heterodyne interferometers is highly influenced by the polarization state and orientation of the source frequencies. In this Letter, we investigate this error source and discuss two interferometer designs, designed at TU Delft, that showed very low levels of PNL when subjected to any polarization state and/or polarization orientation. In the experiments, quarter-wave plates (qwps) and half-wave plates (hwps) were used to manipulate the polarization state and polarization orientation, respectively. Results from a commercial coaxial system showed first-order PNL exceeding 10 nm (together with higher order PNL) when the system ceased operation at around ±15° hwp rotation or ±20° qwp rotation. The two "Delft interferometers," however, continued operation beyond these maxima and obtained first-order PNLs in the order of several picometers, without showing higher order PNLs. The major advantage of these interferometers, beside their high linearity, is that they can be fully fiber coupled and thus allow for a modular system buildup.

Ultra-precision engineering in lithographic exposure equipment for the semiconductor industry.

The developments in lithographic tools for the production of an integrated circuit (IC) are ruled by 'Moore's Law': the density of components on an IC doubles in about every two years. The corresponding size reduction of the smallest detail in an IC entails several technological breakthroughs. The wafer scanner, the exposure system that defines those details, is the determining factor in these developments. This review deals with those aspects of the positioning systems inside these wafer scanners that enable the extension of Moore's Law into the future. The design of these systems is increasingly difficult because of the accuracy levels in the sub-nanometre range coupled with motion velocities of several metres per second. In addition to the use of feedback control for the reduction of errors, high-precision model-based feed-forward control is required with an almost ideally reproducible motion-system behaviour and a strict limitation of random disturbing events. The full mastering of this behaviour even includes material drift on an atomic scale and is decisive for the future success of these machines.

Are metal ion levels a useful trigger for surgical intervention?

The purpose of this study was to determine if cobalt and chromium ion levels can predict soft tissue damage at total hip revision. This study included 90 metal-on-metal total hip patients with preoperative cobalt and chromium ion levels. Tissue damage noted at revision surgery was graded on a 4-point scale. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated for various threshold values. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was conducted. Using 7 ppb as a threshold, cobalt and chromium ion levels had poor sensitivity and specificity (Co, 65% and 56%; Cr, 29% and 75%). Positive predictive values for cobalt and chromium were only 48% and 26% respectively. The area under the curve was 0.37 for cobalt and 0.44 for chromium. The length of time to revision significantly correlated with tissue damage (P = .001). Ion levels are unreliable predictors of periarticular soft tissue damage and should not be used in isolation as surgical intervention triggers.

Fiber-coupled displacement interferometry without periodic nonlinearity.

Displacement interferometry is widely used for accurately characterizing nanometer and subnanometer displacements in many applications. In many modern systems, fiber delivery is desired to limit optical alignment and remove heat sources from the system, but fiber delivery can exacerbate common interferometric measurement problems, such as periodic nonlinearity, and account for fiber-induced drift. In this Letter, we describe a novel, general Joo-type interferometer that inherently has an optical reference after any fiber delivery that eliminates fiber-induced drift. This interferometer demonstrated no detectable periodic nonlinearity in both free-space and fiber-delivered variants.

High resolution heterodyne interferometer without detectable periodic nonlinearity.

A high resolution heterodyne laser interferometer without periodic nonlinearity for linear displacement measurements is described. It uses two spatially separated beams with an offset frequency and an interferometer configuration which has no mixed states to prevent polarization mixing. In this research, a simple interferometer configuration for both retroreflector and plane mirror targets which are both applicable to industrial applications was developed. Experimental results show there is no detectable periodic nonlinearity for both of the retro-reflector interferometer and plane mirror interferometer to the noise level of 20 pm. Additionally, the optical configuration has the benefit of doubling the measurement resolution when compared to its respective traditional counterparts. Because of non-symmetry in the plane mirror interferometer, a differential plane mirror interferometer to reduce the thermal error is also discussed.

Balanced interferometric system for stability measurements.

We describe two different, double-sided interferometer designs for measuring material stability. Both designs are balanced interferometers where the only optical path difference is the sample and the reference beams are located within the interferometer. One interferometer is a double-pass design, whereas the other is a single-pass system. Based on a tolerancing analysis, the single-pass system is less susceptible to initial component misalignment and motions during experiments. This single-pass interferometer was tested with an 86 nm thin-film silver sample for both short-term repeatability and long-term stability. In 66 repeatability tests of 30 min each, the mean measured drift rate was less than 1 pm/h rms. In two long-term tests (>9 h), the mean drift rate was less than 1.1 pm/h, which shows good agreement between the short- and long-term measurements. In these experiments, the mean measured length change was 2 nm rms.

Simple heterodyne laser interferometer with subnanometer periodic errors.

We describe a simple heterodyne laser interferometer that has subnanometer periodic errors and is applicable to industrial fields. Two spatially separated beams can reduce the periodic errors, and the use of a right-angle prism makes the optical configuration much simpler than previous interferometers. Moreover, the optical resolution can be enhanced by a factor of 2, because the phase change direction is opposite between reference and measurement signals. Experiments have demonstrated the periodic errors are less than 0.15 nm owing to the frequency mixing of the optical source. The improvements for reducing the frequency mixing of the optical system are also discussed.

The use of tantalum porous metal implants for Paprosky 3A and 3B defects.

Complex acetabular defects are difficult to reconstruct. For severe pelvic defects, tantalum metal acetabular implants may provide a viable solution over traditional implants. This short-term follow-up reviews 43 acetabular revisions treated with tantalum acetabular implants. These revisions included 33 Paprosky type 3A defects, involving 30% to 50% of host acetabulum loss, and 10 type 3B defects, having similar or greater bone loss with a pelvic discontinuity. Tantulum acetabular modular augments were used in 26 cases to support the shell. At a mean of 2.8 years' follow-up, 42 components were stable, and 1 failed because of septic loosening. The overall success rate was 98%. One revision was performed because of loosening secondary to sepsis; none were performed for aseptic loosening. Implants made from highly porous tantalum metal provide a surface that is highly conducive to bone ingrowth. Combined with the ability to use modular augments for added support and stability, this technology may change the way major defects are reconstructed.