MULTILAYER REFLECTIVE X-RAY PHASE GRATINGS WITH PERIODS < .5MICRONS.

QUALITY X-RAY OPTICS WILL BE A KEY FACTOR IN THE SUCCESS OF X-RAY IMAGING APPLICATIONS SUCH AS X-RAY LITHOGROPHY, X-RAY LASERS, X-RAY MICROSCOPES, AND X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY. MULTI-LAYER LAMELLAR GRATINGS AND PHASE PATTERNED X-RAY OPTICS WOULD OFFER ADVANTAGES IN SPECTRAL RESOLUTION, SPATIAL RESOLUTION, AND POWER EFFICIENCY OVER CURRENT X-RAY OPTICS USED IN THESE APPLICATIONS. THE PRODUCTION OF REFLECTIVE PHASE STRUCTURES WILL REQUIRE INNOVATIVE SCHEMES FOR FABRICATION. THIS RESEARCH WILL DEVELOP A FABRICATION PROCESS SUITABLE FOR PHASE STRUCTURES BASED ON PROCESSES USED IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY. THE METHOD UTILIZED WILL BE SUITABLE FOR THE FABRICATION OF PHASE GRATINGS WITH PERIODS OF LESS THAN .2MUM OR THE LIMITS OF LITHOGRAPHIC RESOLUTION. THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS METHOD WILL BE SHOWN BYMAKING LARGE SCALE ( 5 SQUARE CM.) MULTILAYER PHASE GRATINGSOF .3MUM TO .8MUM PERIODICITY, WHICH WILL BE CHARACTERIZED ON THE BROOKHAVEN SYNCHROTRON. THE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS WILL BE COMPARED WITH A SCALAR THEORY UNDER DEVELOPMENT. THESE EXPERIMENTS WILL DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF MAKING GRATINGS OF LESS THAN .2MUM PERIODICITY. THE PROCESSES DEVELOPED UNDER THIS PROPOSAL WILL BE DIRECTLY APPLICABLE TOFABRICATING OTHER PHASE STRUCTURES SUCH AS ZONE PLATE X-RAY LENSES.