Metrology of wide field of view nano-thickness foils' homogeneity by conventional and phase contrast soft x-ray imaging

A tabletop ultra-bright, debris-free femtosecond-laser-driven cluster-based plasma soft X-ray source, which emits more than 1012 photons/(sr·pulse) in the spectral range 1-10 nm within a 4π sr solid angle was developed. Using such source in combination with a high dynamic range LiF crystal soft X-ray detector allows obtaining contact and propagation-based phase-contrast images of nanostructures with 700 nm spatial resolutions in a wide field of view. It was demonstrated that the high precision of used techniques enable distinguishing inhomogeneity of measured intensities of ultrathin foils in the order of ±3%. All of this opens a new approach for PBPC imaging and metrology of full areas of free-standing or mesh-supported nano-thickness foils, or other nanostructures. (author)