Nanoscale imaging of buried structures with elemental specificity using resonant x-ray diffraction microscopy

Abstract

We report the first demonstration of resonant x-ray diffraction microscopy for element specific imaging of buried structures with a pixel resolution of similar to 15 nm by exploiting the abrupt change in the scattering cross section near electronic resonances. We performed nondestructive and quantitative imaging of buried Bi structures inside a Si crystal by directly phasing coherent x-ray diffraction patterns acquired below and above the Bi M-5 edge. We anticipate that resonant x-ray diffraction microscopy will be applied to element and chemical state specific imaging of a broad range of systems including magnetic materials, semiconductors, organic materials, biominerals, and biological specimens.