A new microscope system can image down to sub-nanometer resolution and will be able to reach 0.1 nanometer (angstrom) imaging of atoms. It works by boosting wavelength to ultra-high harmonics using an aperture reflection-mode microscope illuminated by a 30-nanometer source. Full-field images of 40-to-80 nanometer lateral resolution result an axial resolution of just six angstroms (0.6 nanometers) with an exposure time of about one minute. The team is also working toward making movies of functioning nano systems with a temporal resolution of 10 femtoseconds
The secret sauce in their process is using coherent EUV light, unlike that used in lithography, which is an omnidirectional flash. By using femto-second pulses of EUV lasers the researchers hope to not only image tiny objects, but also to adapt the technology to memory devices and medical applications.
A computer algorithm is required to reconstruct the image from the light scattered by the 10-femtosecond pulses from the EUV laser that scans over the object to be imaged. For the future they plan on downsizing the beams from 30-nanometers to one-nanometer, producing sub-angstrom resolution — the size of atoms.
The laser-like beams of EUV are produced from the 27th harmonic of a 40-nanometer source and even more to 1-nanaometer by reaching up to 5000th harmonic.
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Tabletop EUV ptychography. (a) Schematic of the tabletop EUV microscope. (b) SEM of the sample with a scale bar is 10 um. (c) Representative diffraction pattern from the ptychographic scan. (d) Diffraction pattern from (c) after tilted plane correction.
Ultramicroscopy - High contrast 3D imaging of surfaces near the wavelength limit using tabletop EUV ptychography
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This image used false colors to bring out the details of a photo synthesized from the University of Colorado's extreme ultra violet (EUV) femtosecond laser pulses.(Source: University of Colorado)
Highlights
• High NA reflection ptychography with 40nm resolution (1.3λ) on a tabletop.
• Amplitude and phase contrast provides 3D surface mapping with composition sensitivity.
• 5 Angstrom axial resolution, validated with AFM.
• Higher contrast than standard SEM is achieved.
• Noninvasive technique with a long working distance over 3cm.
• Enables future nanoscale imaging with fs resolution.
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The secret sauce in their process is using coherent EUV light, unlike that used in lithography, which is an omnidirectional flash. By using femto-second pulses of EUV lasers the researchers hope to not only image tiny objects, but also to adapt the technology to memory devices and medical applications.
A computer algorithm is required to reconstruct the image from the light scattered by the 10-femtosecond pulses from the EUV laser that scans over the object to be imaged. For the future they plan on downsizing the beams from 30-nanometers to one-nanometer, producing sub-angstrom resolution — the size of atoms.
The laser-like beams of EUV are produced from the 27th harmonic of a 40-nanometer source and even more to 1-nanaometer by reaching up to 5000th harmonic.
Tabletop EUV ptychography. (a) Schematic of the tabletop EUV microscope. (b) SEM of the sample with a scale bar is 10 um. (c) Representative diffraction pattern from the ptychographic scan. (d) Diffraction pattern from (c) after tilted plane correction.
Ultramicroscopy - High contrast 3D imaging of surfaces near the wavelength limit using tabletop EUV ptychography
This image used false colors to bring out the details of a photo synthesized from the University of Colorado's extreme ultra violet (EUV) femtosecond laser pulses.(Source: University of Colorado)
Highlights
• High NA reflection ptychography with 40nm resolution (1.3λ) on a tabletop.
• Amplitude and phase contrast provides 3D surface mapping with composition sensitivity.
• 5 Angstrom axial resolution, validated with AFM.
• Higher contrast than standard SEM is achieved.
• Noninvasive technique with a long working distance over 3cm.
• Enables future nanoscale imaging with fs resolution.
Read more »
