High spatial resolution STXM at 6.2 keV photon energy

We report on a zone-doubling technique that bypasses the electron-beam lithography limitations for the production of X-ray diffractive optics and enables the fabrication of Fresnel zone plates with smaller outermost zone widths than other well-established approaches.We have applied this method to manufacture hard X-ray Fresnel zone plates with outermost zone widths of 25 and 20 nm. These lenses have been tested in scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) at energies up to 6.2 keV, producing images of test structures that demonstrate a spatial resolution of 25 nm. High spatial resolution STXM images of several biological specimens have been acquired in transmission, dark-field and differential phase contrast modes. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.