Erik R. Hosler, Erik R. Hosler
Free-electron lasers offer the capability to generate light with any property or quality as well as power/brightness required by the end-user/application. For decades, this technology has been developed by universities and national labs around the world for scientific applications and a few industrial/military demonstrations. Now, both the necessary particle accelerator ecosystem [e.g., superconducting radio frequency (RF), electron guns, undulators, solid-state RF amplifiers, and cryogenics] and free-electron laser expertise have reached a maturity where industrialization is possible for high-energy systems. The advantages for the semiconductor industry are in lithography (lower cost, improved k1, better edge-placement error), metrology (new nondestructive techniques, higher sampling, improved resolution) and inspection (faster, higher sensitivity, material specific). Although each of these critical functions could benefit from utilizing a free-electron laser, the economics and disruption of introducing these capabilities shape the reality of establishing new, “utility-scale” infrastructure in factories central to modern society.