PCGrate-S(X) Series v.6.2 is updated for Vista     The installation procedure has been fully redesigned to correspond to Microsoft® Windows® Vista security requirements. You have to delete all previous PCGrate* v. 6.2 installations before installing the last release (the second edition updated 09.21.2007 for Vista - it works also for Windows 2000, Millennium, XP, and Server 2003). You may do it by using the Add/Remove Programs applet. This requirement is based on the ActiveX components registration and storing configurations settings in the registry. The installation package is an MSI-file.     Some improvements are added to the installation packages of PCGrate-S(X) 6.2 and an edition of the documentation (User's Guide and HTML Help) is issued. The updated PCGrate 6.2 Border Profile Editor has new randomization features to generate rough borders of any kinds including those having the Gaussian autocorrelation function. Two independent solvers, i.e. Penetrating and Separating, are included in PCGrate 6.2 packages to calculate multilayer gratings and mirrors, as well as multiple quantum dot (QD) ensembles, with most realistic border profiles having irregularities of any kinds including real ones. Click here to download updated PCGrate Demo v.6.2 Complete.

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PCGrate-S(X) Series v.6.1 is updated for Vista     The installation procedure has been fully redesigned to correspond to Microsoft® Windows® Vista security requirements. You have to delete all previous PCGrate* v. 6.1 installations before installing the last release (the forth edition updated 08.28.2007 for Vista - it works also for Windows 2000, Millennium, XP, and Server 2003). You may do it by using the Add/Remove Programs applet. This requirement is based on the ActiveX components registration and storing configurations settings in the registry. The installation package is an MSI-file. Nowadays MSI is the common format of installation packages for Windows operation systems. An MSI package is the database with instructions and files for the Windows Installer service. You may download the latest version of the Windows Installer from the Microsoft website.     Some improvements are added to the installation packages of PCGrate-S(X) 6.1 and an edition of the documentation (User's Guide and HTML Help) is issued. Two solvers for accounting random micro-/nano-roughness and/or interdiffusion using the Debye-Waller or Nevot-Croce amplitude factors are included in the packages. Click here to download updated PCGrate Demo v.6.1 Complete.

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Presentations at the 15th International Symposyum Nanostructures: Physics and Technology (Zh. Alferov and L. Esaki, co-chairs, Proceedings 2007, pp. 118-119), June 26 (Novosibirsk, Russia)     Determination of the structural properties of multiple quantum dot ensembles based on a rigorous X-ray specular and diffuse scattering analysis and comparison with measurements   L. I. Goray, G. E. Cirlin, E. Alves, Yu. B. Samsonenko, A. A. Tonkikh, N. K. Polyakov   and V. A. Egorov     ABSTRACT   Multiple and multi-wave diffraction, absorption, and resonances influence significantly X-ray scattering from multiple quantum dots (QDs), and these effects are taken into account by known theories only approximately. The present report dwells on application of a rigorous theoretical analyses of X-ray reflection from In(Ga)As/GaAs QD ensembles to the investigation of their structural properties. The angle dependences of diffuse scattering exhibit very strong peaks near the angles corresponding to specular reflection from the QD facets (the so-called blaze condition for gratings). These peaks exist at nearly the same diffraction angles for QDs with the equal slope angle; their intensities, however, may differ by a few times for vertically correlated and non-correlated QDs.   © 2007 Ioffe Institute     The presentation is published in Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, St. Petersburg [ISBN 5-93634-022-8]. Click here to download the full text.

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Presentations at SPIE Europe Optical Metrology 2007, the Modeling Aspects of Optical Metrology Conference (H. Bosse, B. Bodermann, and R. M. Silver, eds., Proceedings of SPIE Vol. # 6617), June 19 (Munich, Germany)     Rigorous solution for electromagnetic scattering from multilayer structures having asperities of any kind in X-ray-EUV ranges   L. I. Goray     ABSTRACT   The rigorous integral equation method (viz MIM) in which the border structure is represented by a multilayer 1-D grating working at small wavelength-to-period ratios is used for taking into account electromagnetic scattering from different-types of nano-irregularities, such as periodical, random, self-organized, and their combinations. An example of the third type is multiple quantum dot (QD) ensembles and quantum molecules. The borders may contain a few or a large number of asperities of any kind. The program deals with a structure that is a grating from a mathematical point of view but that can model a rough surface if the groove spacing becomes large compared with the width (or correlation length) of asperities. This classical model for scattered light computation of bulk or few-border rough mirrors and gratings at visible and IR wavelengths is applied in PCGrate®-SX v.6.2 software based on the MIM to calculate multilayer structures in the X-ray-VUV range, which is a very difficult problem for any rigorous method, even for 1-D surfaces. Border profiles of most realistic types including real ones (e.g. AFM-measured) have both periodical and random components, and some ensemble averaging is required to obtain exact specular and nonspecular (diffuse) scattering intensities. The PCGrate results are compared with the data obtained by approximated approaches and measurements. Calculated intensities of scattering from gratings and rough mirrors as well as multiple QD structures can differ from those obtained for ideal and average border profiles or from approximations by a few percent up to a few orders of magnitude. The method can be applied both to forward computations of efficiencies over a wide range of angles and to fitting of the border metrological performance by comparing to measured data..   © 2007 SPIE     The paper is published in SPIE [DOI: 10.1117/12.726038]. Click here to download the full text.

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Examples of photonic crystal modeling are added to v.6.2   PCGrate-S(X) v.6.2 series software enables high-speed calculation of both multilayer resonance and small wavelength-to-period ratio cases using one of the two independent solvers, i.e. “Penetrating” and “Separating”. The solvers operate differently and behave in a mutually complementary way when applied to difficult diffraction problems.   The “Separating” solver is primarily intended for efficiency calculations for any uncoated, including rough and high-conductive, gratings, specific types of coated gratings, and photonic crystals. Two examples of such efficiency calculations of 2-D photonic crystals are added for using with the all types of PCGrate-SX v. 6.2 software including Demo. The binary phase high-conductive and circular rod transmission gratings for the NP polarization working in the NIR are chosen as frequently used types. Both input “grt”-type and output “pcg”-type data files, which can be run by the PCGrate Demo v. 6.2 Complete type software, are stored in the archive file and ready for downloading. The manual on preparing and saving the input data and on plotting output graphs for the selected samples is also included.     Click here to download PCGrate DEMO v.6.2 Complete.

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Discounts are announced for PCGrate-SX v.6.1 software     The prices of all the types of software from PCGrate-SX v.6.1 Series are cut down, on the average, by more than 27%. The price of updated PCGrate-SX XML-type software is $/€7,499. The program has a GUI-->XML converter of input data. We allow an additional discount for upgrading to any programs from PCGrate-S Series.     Click here to download PCGrate DEMO v.6.1 Complete.

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PCGrate-SX release 6.2 is available   New PCGrate-SX v.6.2 series with a few principal changes and improvements in comparison with version 6.1 is available for release as from January 31. This special version enables the calculations both multilayer resonance and small wavelength-to-period ratio cases at very high speed using two independent solvers, i.e. Penetrating and Separating. The solvers have different behavior and mutually complementary capabilities for many difficult cases such as deep gratings with thin layers or photonic crystals. With PCGrate-SX v. 6.2 software one can simulate effects of scattering in periodical and non-periodical structures having multilayer micro/nano-roughnesses of various nature, design variable groove depth & multi-section gratings, model gratings covered with very thin or thick layers of arbitrary shape including closed and real one, calculate aspherical gratings, and work with conical mountings & non-planar incident waves as well as with a general polarization state.   PCGrate®-SX v. 6.2 series have three types: PCGrate®-SX v. 6.2 GUI, PCGrate®-SX v. 6.2 XML and PCGrate®-SX v. 6.2 Complete. The PCGrate-SX v. 6.2 XML and PCGrate-SX v. 6.2 Complete types make it possible to calculate the grating efficiency from the command line with input/output data in XML format.  The PCGrate-SX v. 6.2 GUI and PCGrate-SX v. 6.2 Complete types make it possible to obtain the calculated data using the Graphical User Interface (i.e. the PCGrate-SX Main application) and work with the results including saving, coping, exporting, plotting, printing, etc. The type is determined by the HASP® HL USB key, which is shipped with the product.     Click here to download PCGrate DEMO v.6.2 Complete.

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PCGrate-S(X) Series v.6.1 is updated finally     With the last version 6.1 update, a couple of samples from Calculation Procedure Examples are changed and an edition of the documentation (User's Guide and HTML Help) is issued. Some improvements are made and some minor bugs are fixed. Separate PCGrate-S(X) v.6.1 Solver for accounting random micro-/nano-roughness and/or interdiffusion using Debye-Waller amplitude factors is offered in addition to the major solver based on the Nevot-Croce model for random scattering. Software has the same input and output formats. Click here to download updated PCGrate Demo v.6.1 Complete.

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Paper is published in Journal of Applied Physics     Spectral separation of the efficiencies of the inside and outside orders of soft-x-ray-extreme-ultraviolet gratings at near normal incidence   L. I. Goray, J. F. Seely, and S. Yu. Sadov     ABSTRACT   It is shown from both a phenomenological study and exact modeling that the reason for the experimentally observed substantial (a few angstroms or nanometers) separation in wavelength between the maxima of the inside (negative numbered) and outside (positive numbered) diffraction orders of a multilayer-coated grating, operating at near normal incidence and close to the Bragg condition in the soft-x-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) regions, is related to the different angles of deviation of the orders. This wavelength separation is also a feature of uncoated diffraction gratings, although not clearly noticeable. The widely used approximate approach for calculating the absolute efficiency, the product of the relative grating efficiency and the reflectance of its multilayer coating, has until recently been considered accurate enough for the analysis of soft-x-ray and EUV near-normal-incidence multilayer-coated gratings. The inapplicability of this approximation for the analysis of the precise positions and shapes of the efficiency curves for the inside and outside orders, despite the small ratios of wavelength and groove depth to period and the small angles of incidence, is demonstrated using gratings with realistic groove profiles and operating in the EUV region. The rigorous modified integral method (MIM), which is a variant of boundary integral equation methods and is designed for the calculation of the efficiency of multilayer gratings with arbitrary layer thicknesses and boundary shapes (including microroughness) and over a wide wavelength range, is proposed in a general operator formalism. An analysis of a derived simple phenomenological expression and the exact numerical study indicates that the spectral separation between the inside and the outside orders grows with increasing either wavelength, angle of incidence, groove frequency, or diffraction order number |m|. The efficiency modeling carried out with the commercial program PCGRATE-SX, based on the MIM, gave not only the exact values of the spectral separation between the inside and outside orders of Mo4Ru6/Be, Mo/Si, and Mo/Y multilayer-coated gratings with various real groove profiles measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM) but also good agreement with synchrotron radiation measurements, including high orders as well. To determine the shapes and positions of efficiency curves in the soft-x-ray-EUV range of close to normal-incidence bulk and multilayer-coated gratings with real groove profiles (measured by AFM), one should use codes based on rigorous electromagnetic theory such as the MIM. The modeling is important for developing high efficiency and dispersion gratings for high-resolution spectroscopic studies of laboratory, solar, and astrophysical radiation sources.   © 2006 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2359224]     The paper is published in AIP . Click here to download the full text.

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Discounts are announced for PCGrate-S software     The prices of all the types of software from PCGrate-S v.6.1 Series are cut down, on the average, by more than 21%. The price of updated PCGrate-S XML-type software is only $/€1,999. All programs have a GUI → XML converter of input data. We allow an additional discount for upgrading to any programs from PCGrate-S(X) Series.

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