Abstract
Owing to the spatial resolution and sensitivity (i.e., signal-to-background ratio), nano- and micro-X-ray beams are emerging tools with a strong impact in materials science. Although the optical quality of the X-ray focusing devices has limited the progress of X-ray microscopy, recent advances in fabrication techniques as well as in theoretical approaches have pushed the spatial resolution toward the diffraction limit. As a result, materials research using nano- and micro-X-ray beams has begun to extend toward the atomic domain, with concomitant and continuous developments of multiple analytical tools. The study of micro-/nanoscale objects, small embedded domains with weak signals, and/or heterogeneous structures at the (sub)micrometer scales has required the use of intense X-ray pencil beams. Additionally, stimulated by the great brilliance with reduced emittance of current third-generation synchrotron sources and new developments in X-ray detector technology, today intense (sub)micron X-ray beams are available with a variety of focusing devices. Finally, thanks to the multiple interactions of X-rays with matter, these X-ray probes can be used for manifold purposes, such as ultrasensitive elemental/chemical detection using X-ray fluorescence/X-ray absorption, or for identification of minority phases and/or strain fields by X-ray diffraction with (sub)micron resolution. Here we describe how (sub)micrometer X-ray beams are produced and used today using refractive, reflective, and diffractive X-ray optics. We show that micro- and nano-X-ray beams are key tools for space-resolved determination of structural and electronic properties and for chemical speciation of nanostructured or composite materials. Selected recent examples will range from phase separation in single nanowires to visualization of dislocations and buried interfacial defects to domain distortions and quantum confinement effects.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
J.F. Adam, J.P. Moy, J. Susini, Table-top water window transmission x-ray microscopy: review of the key issues, and conceptual design of an instrument for biology. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76, 091301 (2005); L. De Caro, D. Altamura, F.A. Vittoria et al., A superbright X-ray laboratory microsource empowered by a novel restoration algorithm. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 45, 1228–1235 (2012)
P. Aguado-Puente, J. Junquera, Structural and energetic properties of domains in PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices from first principles. Phys. Rev. B 85, 184105 (2002)
J. Als-Nielsen, D. McMorrow, Elements of Modern X-Ray Physics (Wiley, London, 2001)
A. Amassian, V.A. Pozdin, T.V. Desai et al., Post-deposition reorganization of pentacene films deposited on low-energy surfaces. J. Mater. Chem. 19, 5580–5592 (2009)
K.W. Ang, C.H. Tung, N. Balasubramanian et al., Strained n-channel transistors with silicon source and drain regions and embedded silicon/germanium as strain-transfer structure. IEEE Electron. Device Lett. 28, 609–612 (2007)
Z. Bao, J. Locklin, Organic Field Effect Transistors (CRS, Boca Raton, 2007)
H.R. Beguiristain, I.S. Anderson, C.D. Dewhurst et al., A simple neutron microscope using a compound refractive lens. Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 4290–4292 (2002)
P. Bleuet, E. Welcomme, E. Dooryhée et al., Probing the structure of heterogeneous diluted materials by diffraction tomography. Nat. Mater. 7, 468–472 (2008)
G. Bunker, Introduction to XAFS: A Practical Guide to X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York, 2010)
S.A. Burke, J.M. Topple, P. Grütter, Molecular dewetting on insulators. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 21, 423101 (2009)
W. Chao, D.B. Harteneck, J.A. Liddle et al., Soft X-ray microscopy at a spatial resolution better than 15 nm. Nature 435, 1210–1213 (2005)
W. Chao, J. Kim, S. Rekawa et al., Demonstration of 12 nm resolution Fresnel zone plate lens based soft x-ray microscopy. Opt. Express 17, 17669–17677 (2009)
W. Chao, P.P. Fischer, T. Tyliszczak et al., Real space soft x-ray imaging at 10 nm spatial resolution. Opt. Express 20, 9777–9783 (2012)
P. Chen, M.P. Cosgriff, Q. Zhang et al., Field-dependent domain distortion and interlayer polarization distribution in PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices. Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 047601 (2013)
P. Cloetens, W. Ludwig, J. Baruchel et al., Holotomography: quantitative phase tomography with micrometer resolution using hard synchrotron radiation x rays. Appl. Phys. Lett. 75, 2912–2914 (1999)
R. Conley, C. Liu, J. Qian et al., Wedged multilayer Laue lens. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79, 053104 (2008)
B.D. Cullity, Elements of X-Ray Diffraction (Addison-Wesley, Reading, 1978)
M.S. del Rio, L. Alianelli, Aspherical lens shapes for focusing synchrotron beams. J. Synchrotron Radiat. 19, 366–374 (2012)
S. Dhar, H. Kosina, V. Palankovski, Electron mobility model for strained-Si devices. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 52, 527–533 (2005)
P.C.J. Donoghue, S. Bengtson, X. Dong, Synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy of fossil embryos. Nature 442, 680–683 (2006)
W. Eerenstein, N.D. Mathur, J.F. Scott, Multiferroic and magnetoelectric materials. Nature 442, 759–765 (2006); R. Ramesh, N.A. Spaldin, Multiferroics: progress and prospects in thin films. Nature Mater. 6, 21–29 (2007)
P.J. Eng, M. Newville, M.L. Rivers et al., Dynamically figured Kirkpatrick Baez x-ray microfocusing optics. Proc. SPIE 3449, 145–156 (1998)
P.G. Evans, D.E. Savage, J.R. Prance et al., Nanoscale distortions of Si quantum wells in Si/SiGe quantum-electronic heterostructures. Adv. Mater. 24, 5217–5221 (2012)
K. Evans-Lutterodt, A. Stein, J.M. Ablett et al., Using compound kinoform hard-X-ray lenses to exceed the critical angle limit. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 134801 (2007)
C.T. Forwood, L.M. Clarebrough, Electron Microscopy of Interfaces in Metals and Alloys (Adam Hilger, London, 1991)
M. Friesen, P. Rugheimer, D.E. Savage et al., Practical design and simulation of silicon-based quantum-dot qubits. Phys. Rev. B 67, 121301 (2003)
G. Giri, E. Verploegen, S.C. Mannsfeld et al., Tuning charge transport in solution-sheared organic semiconductors using lattice strain. Nature 480, 504–508 (2008)
B. Golosio, A. Simionovici, A. Somogyi et al., Internal elemental microanalysis combining X-ray fluorescence, Compton and transmission tomography. J. Appl. Phys. 94, 145–156 (2003)
M. Gómez-Gómez, N. Garro, J. Segura-Ruiz et al., Spontaneous core–shell elemental distribution in In-rich InxGa1-xN nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Nanotechnology 25, 075705 (2014)
I. Gorczyca, S.P. Łepkowski, T. Suski et al., Influence of indium clustering on the band structure of semiconducting ternary and quaternary nitride alloys. Phys. Rev. B 80, 075202 (2009)
D.K. Gramotnev, S.I. Bozhevolnyi, Plasmonics beyond the diffraction limit. Nat. Photon. 4, 83–91 (2010)
D.J. Gundlach, J.E. Royers, S.K. Park et al., Contact-induced crystallinity for high-performance soluble acene-based transistors and circuits. Nat. Mater. 7, 216–221 (2008)
P. Guttmann, X. Zeng, M. Feser, Ellipsoidal capillary as condenser for the BESSY full-field x-ray microscope. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 186, 012064 (2009)
B. Hornberger, M. Feser, C. Jacobsen, Quantitative amplitude and phase contrast imaging in a scanning transmission X-ray microscope. Ultramicroscopy 107, 644–655 (2007)
N. Hrauda, J. Zhang, E. Wintersberger et al., X-ray nanodiffraction on a single SiGe quantum dot inside a functioning field-effect transistor. Nano Lett. 11, 2875-2880 (2011)
G.E. Ice, J.S. Chung, J.Z. Tischler, A. Lunt et al., Elliptical X-ray microprobe mirrors by differential deposition. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 71, 2635–2639 (2000)
K. Jefimovs, J. Vila-Comamala, T. Pilvi et al., Zone-doubling technique to produce ultrahigh-resolution X-ray optics. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 264801 (2007)
J.Y. Jo, R.J. Sichel, H.N. Lee, Piezoelectricity in the dielectric component of nanoscale dielectric-ferroelectric superlattices. Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 207601 (2010)
J.Y. Jo, P. Chen, R.J. Sichel, Nanosecond dynamics of ferroelectric/dielectric superlattices. Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 055501 (2011)
V. Jovanović, C. Biasotto, K.L. Nanver, n-Channel MOSFETs fabricated on SiGe dots for strain-enhanced mobility. IEEE Electron Device Lett. 31, 1083–1085 (2010)
C.J. Kaiser, The Transistor Handbook (C. J. Publishing, Olathe, 1999)
H.C. Kang, J. Maser, G.B. Stephenson et al., Nanometer linear focusing of hard X rays by a multilayer Laue lens. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 127401 (2006)
H.C. Kang, H.F. Yan, R.P. Winarski et al., Focusing of hard x-rays to 16 nanometers with a multilayer Laue lens. Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 221114 (2008)
T. Kimura, S. Handa, H. Mimura et al., Wavefront control system for phase compensation in hard X-ray optics. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 48, 072503 (2009)
P. Kirkpatrick, A.V. Baez, Formation of optical images by X-rays. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 38, 766–773 (1948)
T. Koyama, H. Takenaka, S. Ichimaru et al., Development of multilayer Laue lenses; (2) circular type. AIP Conf. Proc. 1365, 24–27 (2011)
C.H. Lee, Y.-J. Kim, Y.J. Hong et al., Flexible inorganic nanostructure light-emitting diodes fabricated on graphene films. Adv. Mater. 23, 4614–4619 (2011)
B. Lengeler, C. Schroer, J. Tummler et al., Imaging by parabolic refractive lenses in the hard X-ray range. J. Synchrotron Radiat. 6, 1153–1167 (1999)
Y. Li, F. Qian, J. Xiang et al., Nanowire electronic and optoelectronic devices. Mater. Today 9, 18–27 (2006)
R. Li, J.W. Ward, D.M. Smilgies et al., Direct structural mapping of organic field-effect transistors reveals bottlenecks to carrier transport. Adv. Mater. 24, 5553–5558 (2012)
S. Lisenkov, L. Bellaiche, Phase diagrams of BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices from first principles. Phys. Rev. B 76, 020102 (2007)
W.J. Liu, G.E. Ice, L. Assoufid et al., Hard X-ray nano-focusing with Montel mirror optics. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A Accel. Spectrom. Detect. Assoc. Equip. 649, 169–171 (2011)
C.A. Liu, G.E. Ice, W. Liu et al., Fabrication of nested elliptical KB mirrors using profile coating for synchrotron radiation X-ray focusing. Appl. Surf. Sci. 258, 2182–2186 (2012)
E. Margui, X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry and Related Techniques: An Introduction (Momentum Press, LLC, New York, 2013)
G. Martinez-Criado, B. Alén, A. Homs et al., Scanning x-ray excited optical luminescence microscopy in GaN. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 221913 (2006)
G. Martinez-Criado, A. Homs, B. Alén et al., Probing quantum confinement within single core-multishell nanowire. Nano Lett. 12, 5829–5834 (2012)
G. Martinez-Criado, J. Segura-Ruiz, B. Alén et al., Exploring single semiconductor nanowires with a multimodal hard X-ray nanoprobe. Adv. Mater. (2014). doi:10.1002/adma.201304345
H. Mimura, H. Yumoto, S. Matsuyama et al., Efficient focusing of hard x rays to 25nm by a total reflection mirror. Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 051903 (2007)
H. Mimura, S. Handa, T. Kimura et al., Breaking the 10 nm barrier in hard-X-ray focusing. Nat. Phys. 6, 122–125 (2010)
L. Mino, D. Gianolio, G. Agostini et al., \(\upmu\)-EXAFS, \(\upmu\) -XRF, and \(\upmu\) -PL characterization of a multi-quantum-well electroabsorption modulated laser realized via selective area growth. Small 7, 930–938 (2011)
M. Montel, X-Ray Microscopy and Microradiography (Academic, New York, 1957)
C. Morawe, P. Pecci, J.C. Peffen et al., Design and performance of graded multilayers as focusing elements for x-ray optics. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 3227–3232 (1999)
F.R.N. Nabarro, M.S. Duesbery, Dislocation in Solids (North Holland, Amsterdam, 1979–2003)
S. Nakamura, The roles of structural imperfections in InGaN-based blue light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. Science 281, 956–961 (1998)
E.C. Nelson, P.V. Braun, Photonic crystals: photons and electrons confined. Nat. Photon. 2, 650–651 (2008)
U. Pietsch, V. Holy, T. Baumbach, High Resolution X-Ray Scattering (Springer, New York, 2004)
C. Reese, M. Roberts, M.M. Ling et al., Organic thin film transistors. Mater. Today 7, 20–27 (2004)
S. Rehbein, P. Guttmann, S. Werner et al., Characterization of the resolving power and contrast transfer function of a transmission X-ray microscope with partially coherent illumination. Opt. Express 20, 5830–5839 (2012)
I.K. Robinson, R. Harder, Coherent X-ray diffraction imaging of strain at the nanoscale. Nat. Mater. 8, 291–298 (2009)
J.M. Rodenburg, A.C. Hurst, A.G. Cullis et al., Hard-X-ray lensless imaging of extended objects. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 034801 (2007)
A. Sakdinawat, D. Attwood, Nanoscale X-ray imaging. Nat. Photonics 4, 840–848 (2010)
V. Schmidt, Electron Spectrometry of Atoms Using Synchrotron Radiation in Part of Cambridge Monographs on Atomic, Molecular and Chemical Physics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York, 1997)
O.G. Schmidt, K. Eberl, Self-assembled Ge/Si dots for faster field-effect transistors. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 48, 1175–1179 (2001)
C.G. Schroer, B. Lengeler, Focusing hard X rays to nanometer dimensions by adiabatically focusing lenses. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 054802 (2005)
C.G. Schroer, O. Kurapova, J. Patommel et al., Hard x-ray nanoprobe based on refractive x-ray lenses. Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 124103 (2005)
C.G. Schroer, A. Schropp, P. Boye et al., Hard X-ray scanning microscopy with coherent diffraction contrast. AIP Conf. Proc. 1365, 227–230 (2011)
J. Segura-Ruiz, G. Martínez-Criado, C. Denker et al., Phase separation in single Inx Ga1–xN nanowires revealed through a hard X-ray synchrotron nanoprobe. Nano Lett. 14, 1300–1305 (2014)
R. Signorato, T. Ishikawa, R&D on third generation multi-segmented piezoelectric bimorph mirror substrates at Spring-8. Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 467, 271–274 (2001)
D.M. Smilgies, R. Li, G. Giri et al., Look fast: crystallization of conjugated molecules during solution shearing probed in-situ and in real time by X-ray scattering. Phys. Status Solidi RRL 7, 177–179 (2013)
A. Snigirev, I. Snigireva, High energy X-ray micro-optics. C. R. Phys. 9, 507–516 (2008)
A. Snigirev, V. Kohn, I. Snigireva et al., A compound refractive lens for focusing high-energy X-rays. Nature 384, 49–51 (1996)
A. Somogyi, F. Polack, T. Moreno, Status of the nanoscopium scanning nanoprobe beamline of synchrotron soleil. AIP Conf. Proc. 1234, 395–398 (2010)
S. Srinivasan, Fuel Cells: From Fundamentals to Applications (Springer, New York, 2010)
A. Stein, K. Evans-Lutterodt, N. Bozovic et al., Fabrication of silicon kinoform lenses for hard X-ray focusing by electron beam lithography and deep reactive ion etching. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 26, 122–127 (2008)
M. Stockmar, P. Cloetens, I. Zanette et al., Near-field ptychography: phase retrieval for inline holography using a structured illumination. Sci. Rep. 3, 1927 (2012)
N. Stribeck, X-Ray Scattering of Soft Matter (Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, 2007)
Y. Takahashi, A. Suzuki, S. Furutaku et al., Bragg x-ray ptychography of a silicon crystal: visualization of the dislocation strain field and the production of a vortex beam. Phys. Rev. B 87, 121201 (2013)
B.K. Tanner, X-Ray Diffraction Topography (Pergamon, Oxford, 1976)
M. Van Veenendaal, I. McNulty, Prediction of strong dichroism induced by X rays carrying orbital momentum. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 157401 (2007)
J. Vila-Comamala, S. Gorelick, V.A. Guzenko et al., Dense high aspect ratio hydrogen silsesquioxane nanostructures by 100 keV electron beam lithography. Nanotechnology 21, 285305 (2010)
Y. Waseda, Anomalous X-Ray Scattering for Materials Characterization (Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, 2002)
B.M. Wong, F. Leonard, Q. Li et al., Nanoscale effects on heterojunction electron gases in GaN/AlGaN core/shell nanowires. Nano Lett. 11, 3074–3079 (2011)
H.F. Yan, X-ray nanofocusing by kinoform lenses: a comparative study using different modeling approaches. Phys. Rev. B 81, 075402 (2010)
H.F. Yan, J. Maser, A. Macrander et al., X-ray dynamical diffraction from multilayer Laue lenses with rough interfaces. Phys. Rev. B 76, 115438 (2009)
H.F. Yan, H.C. Kang, R. Conley et al., Multilayer Laue lens: a path toward one nanometer X-ray focusing. X-Ray Opt. Instrum. 1, 401854 (2010)
H.F. Yan, V. Rose, D.M. Shu et al., Two dimensional hard x-ray nanofocusing with crossed multilayer Laue lenses. Opt. Express 19, 15069–15076 (2011)
H. Yan, Y.S. Chu, J. Maser et al., Quantitative x-ray phase imaging at the nanoscale by multilayer Laue lenses. Sci. Rep. 3, 1307 (2013)
G.C. Yin, Y.F. Song, M.T. Tang et al., 30nm resolution x-ray imaging at 8keV using third order diffraction of a zone plate lens objective in a transmission microscope. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 221122 (2006)
H. Yumoto, H. Mimura, S. Matsuyama et al., Fabrication of elliptically figured mirror for focusing hard x rays to size less than 50nm. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76, 063708 (2005)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this entry
Cite this entry
Martı́nez-Criado, G. (2015). Application of Micro- and Nanobeams for Materials Science. In: Jaeschke, E., Khan, S., Schneider, J., Hastings, J. (eds) Synchrotron Light Sources and Free-Electron Lasers. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04507-8_46-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04507-8_46-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-04507-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics