by Henrik von der Lippe (Division Director, Engineering Division)
It is with deep sadness that I have to inform you that Gideon Jones passed away on Friday, February 11. Gideon had been with LBNL and the Engineering Division since 1998. For his entire career at LBNL he worked at the Center for X-Ray Optics (CXRO) in the Materials Sciences Division, developing state-of-the-art instrumentation for a wide variety of leading-edge scientific applications.
Perhaps the most impactful of these applications has been his critical role in the CXRO extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) Lithography program since the start of his career at LBNL. Gideon was instrumental in many world firsts including the first at-wavelength metrology of an EUV lithography system, the first patterning demonstration from a full-field EUV scanner optic, the first-ever implementation of a 12-nm-resolution EUV micro-exposure tool, the first implementation of a dedicated high-numerical-aperture (NA) EUV micro-exposure tool achieving 8-nm resolution, and most recently the first deployment of a plasma-based EUV source at the ALS to further extend the impact of the CXRO EUV program.
In addition to developing world-leading instrumentation, Gideon also became an expert at operating the instrumentation, enabling and helping scientists, students, and postdocs from around the world to push the boundaries of EUV patterning materials and ultimately bring EUV lithography to a commercial reality in the production of leading-edge devices such as the latest iPhones. Gideon was recognized for these important contributions with several awards including an R&D 100 Award, an Excellence Technology Transfer Award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, numerous Outstanding Performance Awards, and most recently the 2021 Berkeley Lab Director’s Award for Tech Transfer.