HIGH-RESOLUTION ZONE PLATES FOR X-RAY MICROSCOPY

Gold zone plates have been fabricated by electron beam lithography at IESS in Rome. Finest line widths below 100 nm have been achieved, and tests of the zone plates on the x-ray microscopy beamline at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, showed a first order resolution of approximately 120 nm and a second order resolution below 70 nm. The measured second order resolution is smaller than the finest line width in the zone plate, illustrating that the resolution achievable with a zone plate is not necessarily limited by the finest line width that can be drawn.