LBNL, Berkeley, California, USA
UCB, Berkeley, California, USA
The Advanced Light Source has developed a compact tomographic microscope based on soft x-ray ptychography for the study of meso and nanoscale materials [1,2]. The microscope utilizes the sample manipulator mechanism from a commercial TEM coupled with laser interferometric feedback for zone plate positioning and a fast frame rate charge-coupled device detector for soft x-ray diffraction measurements. The microscope has achieved scan rates of greater than 50 Hz, including motor move, data readout and x-ray exposure, with a positioning accuracy of better than 2 nm RMS and has achieved spatial resolution of better than 5 nm. The instrument enables the use of commercially available sample holders compatible with FEI TEMs. This allows in-situ measurement of samples using both soft x-rays and electrons. This instrument is a refinement of a currently commissioned instrument called The Nanosurveyor, which has demonstrated resolution of better than 20nm in both two and three dimensions using 750 eV x-rays. [3] The instrument has been installed on the new COSMIC beamline at the ALS. It will enable spectromicroscopy and tomography of materials with wavelength limited spatial resolution.
[1] P. Thibault, et al, Science, 321, 379 (2008)
[2] P. Denes, et al, Rev. Sci. Inst., 80, 083302 (2009)
[3] D. Shapiro, et al, Nature Photonics volume 8, pages 765-769 (2014)
