Zone-doubling technique to produce ultrahigh-resolution x-ray optics

A method for the fabrication of ultrahigh-resolution Fresnel zone plate lenses for x-ray microscopy is demonstrated. It is based on the deposition of a zone plate material (Ir) onto the sidewalls of a prepatterned template structure (Si) using an atomic layer deposition technique. This results in a doubling of the effective zone density, thus improving the achievable resolution of x-ray microscopes. Test structures with lines and spaces down to 15 nm were resolved in a scanning transmission x-ray microscope at 1 keV photon energy.