Quantitative analysis of electron energy loss spectra and modelling of optical properties of multilayer systems for extreme ultraviolet radiation regime

Ruthenium capped multilayer coatings for use in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation regime have manifold applications in science and industry. Although the Ru cap shall protect the reflecting multilayers, the surface of the heterostructures suffers from contamination issues and surface degradation. In order to get a better understanding of the effects of these impurities on the optical parameters, reflection electron energy loss spectroscopy (REELS) measurements of contaminated and H cleaned Ru multilayer coatings were taken at various primary electron beam energies. Experiments conducted at low primary beam energies between 100 eV and 1000 eV are very surface sensitive due to the short inelastic mean free path of the electrons in this energy range. Therefore, influences of the surface condition on the above mentioned characteristics can be appraised. In this paper, it can be shown that carbon and oxide impurities on the mirror surface decrease the transmission of the Ru cap by about 0.75% and the overall reflectance of the device is impaired as the main share of the non-transmitted EUV light is absorbed in the contamination layer