Soft X-ray Microscope Constructed with 130-nm Spatial Resolution Using a High Harmonic X-ray Source

Using high harmonic radiation as an X-ray light source, a soft X-ray microscope with nanometer-scale spatial resolution was investigated. A transmission soft X-ray microscope was constructed using a Mo/Si multilayer concave mirror as a condenser and a Fresnel zone plate as a microscope objective. The high-order harmonic source at 13 nm, emitted from neon atoms driven by intense femtosecond laser pulses, was optimized by controlling laser chirp. Objects, patterned on 160-nm-thick hydrogen silsesquioxane coated on a 100-nm-thick Si(3)N(4) membrane, were used for imaging. The analysis of object images, captured on an X-ray charge-coupled device, showed that the spatial resolution of the microscope was about 130 nm, verifying the usefulness of the tabletop soft X-ray source. (C) 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics