Abstract
Fresnel zone plates are the key optical elements for nanoscale focusing of X-ray beams with high spatial resolution. Conventional zone plates manufactured by planar nanotechnology processes are limited by the achievable aspect ratios of their zone structures. Additionally, ultra-high resolution X-ray optics with high efficiency requires three-dimensional (3-D) shaped tilted zones. The combination of high spatial resolution and high diffraction efficiency is a fundamental problem in X-ray optics. Based on electrodynamical simulations, we find that the optimized zone plate profile for volume diffraction is given by zone structures with radially increasing tilt angles and decreasing zone heights. On-chip stacking permits the realization of such advanced 3-D profiles without significant loss of the maximum theoretical efficiency. We developed triple layer on-chip stacked zone plates with an overlay accuracy of sub-2 nm which fulfills the nanofabrication requirements. Efficiency measurements of on-chip stacked zone plates show significantly increased values compared to conventional zone plates.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Schneider, G.; Guttmann, P.; Heim, S.; Rehbein, S.; Mueller, F.; Nagashima, K.; Heymann, J. B.; Mueller, W. G.; McNally, J. G. Three-dimensional cellular ultrastructure resolved by X-ray microscopy. Nat. Methods 2010, 7, 212–223.
Sakdinawat A.; Attwood, D. Nanoscale X-ray imaging. Nat. Photon. 2010, 4, 840–848.
Guttmann, P.; Bittencourt, C.; Rehbein, S.; Umek, P.; Ke, X.; Van Tendeloo, G.; Ewels, C. P.; Schneider G. Nanoscale spectroscopy with polarized X-rays by NEXAFS-TXM. Nat. Photon. 2012, 6, 25–29.
Chao, W.; Harteneck, B. D.; Liddle, J. A.; Anderson, E. H.; Attwood, D. T. Soft X-ray microscopy at a spatial resolution better than 15 nm. Nature 2005, 435, 1210–1213.
Rehbein, S.; Heim, S.; Guttmann, P.; Werner, S.; Schneider, G. Ultrahigh-resolution soft-X-ray microscopy with zone plates in high orders of diffraction. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2009, 103, 110801.
Vila-Comamala, J.; Jefimovs, K.; Raabe, J.; Pilvi, T.; Fink, R. H.; Senoner, M.; Maassdorf, A.; Ritala, M.; David, C. Advanced thin film technology for ultrahigh resolution X-ray microscopy. Ultramicroscopy 2009, 109, 1360–1364.
Rehbein, S.; Guttmann, P.; Werner, S.; Schneider, G. Characterization of the resolving power and contrast transfer function of a transmission X-ray microscope with partially coherent illumination. Opt. Express 2012, 20, 5830–5839.
Chao, W.; Fischer, P.; Tyliszczak, T.; Rekawa, S.; Anderson, E.; Naulleau, P. Real space soft X-ray imaging at 10 nm spatial resolution. Opt. Express 2012, 20, 9777–9783.
Kirz, J. Phase zone plates for X rays and the extreme UV. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 1974, 64, 301–309.
Maser, J.; Schmahl, G. Coupled wave description of the diffraction by zone plates with high aspect ratios. Optics Commun. 1992, 89, 355–362.
Schneider, G. Zone plates with high efficiency in high orders of diffraction described by dynamical theory. Appl. Phys. Lett. 1997, 71, 2242–2244.
Rehbein, S.; Schneider, G. Volume zone plate development at BESSY. IPAP Conf. Series 2006, 7, 103–106.
Duvel, A.; Rudolph, D.; Schmahl, G. Fabrication of thick zone plates for multi-kilovolt X-rays. AIP Conf. Proc. 2000, 507, 607–614.
Tamura, S.; Yasumato, M.; Kamijo, N.; Suzuki, Y.; Awaji, M.; Takeuchi, A.; Takano, H.; Handa, K. Development of a multilayer Fresnel zone plate for high-energy synchrotron radiation X-rays by DC sputtering deposition. J. Synchrotron Radiat. 2002, 9, 154–159.
Maser, J.; Stephenson, G. B.; Vogt, S.; Yun, W.; Macrander, A. T.; Kang, H. C.; Liu, C.; Conley, R. Multilayer Laue lenses as high-resolution X-ray optics. Proc. SPIE-Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. 2004, 5539, 185–194.
Koyama, T.; Tsuji, T.; Takano, H.; Kagoshima, Y.; Ichimaru, S.; Ohchi, T.; Takenaka, H. Development of multilayer Laue lenses; (2) Circular type. AIP Conf. Proc. 2011, 1365, 100–103.
Rehbein, S.; Guttmann, P.; Werner, S.; Schneider, G. Development of chemical-mechanical polished high-resolution zone plates. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 2007, 25, 1789–1793.
Schneider, G.; Rehbein, S.; Werner, S. Volume effects in zone plates. In Modern Developments in X-Ray and Neutron Optics. Erko, A.; Idir, M.; Krist, T.; Michette A. G., Eds.; Springer Berlin Heidelberg: Berlin, 2008; pp. 137–171.
Peuker, M. High-efficiency nickel phase zone plates with 20 nm minimum outermost zone width. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2001, 78, 2208–2210.
Feng, Y.; Feser, M.; Lyon, A.; Rishton, S.; Zeng, X.; Chen, S.; Sassolini, S.; Yun, W. Nanofabrication of high aspect ratio 24 nm X-ray zone plates for X-ray imaging applications. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 2007, 25, 2004–2007.
Lindblom, M.; Reinspach, J.; v. Hofsten, O.; Bertilson, M; Hertz, H. M.; Holmberg, A. High-aspect-ratio germanium zone plates fabricated by reactive ion etching in chlorine. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 2009, 27, L1–L3.
Vila-Comamala, J.; Gorelick, S.; Färm, E.; Kewish, C. M.; Diaz, A.; Barrett, R.; Guzenko, V. A.; Ritala, M.; David, C. Ultra-high resolution zone-doubled diffractive X-ray optics for the multi-keV regime. Opt. Express 2011, 19, 175–784.
Werner, S.; Rehbein, S.; Guttman, P.; Heim, S.; Schneider, G. Towards stacked zone plates. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 2009, 186, 012079.
Werner, S.; Rehbein, S.; Guttmann, P.; Heim, S.; Schneider, G. Towards high diffraction efficiency zone plates for X-ray microscopy. Microelectron. Eng. 2010, 87, 1557–1560.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Werner, S., Rehbein, S., Guttmann, P. et al. Three-dimensional structured on-chip stacked zone plates for nanoscale X-ray imaging with high efficiency. Nano Res. 7, 528–535 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0419-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0419-x