Use of a line focus of a quadrupole multiplet for irradiating millimeter length lines

We have developed a new method of irradiation suitable for uniformly irradiating long, straight lines for waveguide and channel fabrication in semiconductors and polymers. This is achieved by exciting the quadrupole lenses of a nuclear microprobe in a manner such that the beam is focused in one plane but highly defocused in the orthogonal plane. This method requires no surface mask and since the beam is not scanned, it produces uniformly-irradiated patterns. This approach has been used for rapid exposure of lines 8 mm in length with widths of about 3 μm in silicon and 1.5 μm in polymethyl methacrylate.