This course will provide an in-depth view of sources and types of micro-contamination on all optical surfaces, including, lenses, mirrors, beam splitters and photomasks. It will help provide a better understanding of critical practices in the optics and photomask industries. Challenges in contamination control for new lithography approaches such as Nano-Imprint Lithography (NIL) and Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) will be addressed. Additionally, we will present principles for proper material selection in manufacturing contamination-free optical elements. Analytical techniques used to determine types of contamination will also be discussed.

This course provides attendees with a basic working knowledge of the principles of metrology, with emphasis on measuring the size or placement of features on IC wafers and photomasks. The course covers the metrology concepts defined by ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and used by national metrology laboratories around the world, and shows how to reduce these concepts to practice in a research or manufacturing environment. Practical examples will be given.