The beam blanking system for microlithography at Lund Nuclear microprobe

A new beam blanking system was installed at the Lund Nuclear Microprobe and employed in proton beam lithography (PBL) for polymer microstructures fabrication. The blanker consists of two parallel plates connected to a high voltage generator. Measurement of the beam blanking time on a sample was performed by means of the standard PIXE system. The beam is blanked and returns to a sample within 200 ns. The blanking system is designed for the new sub-micrometer beamline under installation in the accelerator laboratory. A number of pilot MeV ion beam lithography experiments were performed to illustrate the possibility to use the blanking system in combination with the existing data acquisition and scanning system. A 2.5 MeV proton beam was used to irradiate 50 mum SU-8 negative resist. The blanker was shown to be a necessary part of the lithography system. It enables blanking between each pixel and hence fabrication of various patterns down to a single pixel. The blanker has significantly simplified beam control and enhanced process time and spatial resolution. Three-dimensional microstructures with 20:1 aspect ratio were fabricated.