Studies on phase Ronchi gratings and the fabrication of soft x-ray condenser zone plates

Abstract

Ronchi gratings are widely used as beam splitters in interferometry. The phase Ronchi gratings are fabricated in K9 (or BK7) substrates using a photolithographic process and ion beam etching process. The geometry of the gratings was determined within the approximations of the scalar diffraction theory to minimize their diffraction intensities in 0 and 2 orders at 514.5nm. Their diffractive characteristics are measured using Ar+ laser at 514.5 and 496.5nm. The phase Ronchi gratings exhibit the diffraction intensity in 0 or 2 order to be three orders of magnitude less than that in 1 order. Soft x-ray condenser zone plates are one of the most essential condensing and dispersing elements in the field of soft x-ray microscopy. The zone-plates are used at 3.2nm, whose diameters are 2.8mm. The widths of their outermost zone are 647nm. The zone plate is made of Au. Self-supporting zone plates are fabricated by holography-ion beam etching process to obtain x-ray lithography mask, the x-ray lithography, photolithography and micro electroplating process were used to obtain their self-supporting structure. The self-supporting zone plates are free of membrane absorption and degradation.