Veni for John Sheil

ARCNL group leader and VU Assistant Professor John Sheil receives a Veni grant from NWO for his project “ARIES”. Sheil will develop a unique laser-plasma simulation capability to guide the design of tomorrow’s more powerful and more sustainable EUV sources for nanolithography.

In the first part of the project, Sheil will exploit recent developments in inertial confinement fusion research to build the most accurate and comprehensive description of tin plasma properties, working closely with collaborators at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National laboratory. This data will then serve as input to the second part of ARIES, where he will perform large-scale radiation-hydrodynamic modelling of novel EUV source plasma concepts driven by 2-micron wavelength lasers. Crucially, these simulations will help identify those conditions that generate unprecedented powers in EUV source operation.

“In the third phase of ARIES,” Sheil says, “I will steer experiments at ARCNL to test and refine the conditions proposed by simulations. This joint simulation-experimental approach is unique, enabling rapid testing and development of novel EUV source concepts for future industrialization.”

The Veni grant is not the only good news Sheil has received; just recently his university the VU changed his position from tenure track to full tenure. Sheil is employed by ARCNL partner VU and works fulltime as group leader at ARCNL.

Read more about Veni grants at the NWO website.