Towards 10-nm Soft X-Ray Zone Plate Fabrication

In this paper the latest efforts to improve our nanofabrication process for soft x‐ray zone plates is presented. The resolving power, which is proportional to the smallest outermost zone width of the zone plate, is increased by introducing cold development of the electron beam resist that is used for the patterning. With this process we have fabricated Ni zone plates with 13‐nm outermost zone and shown potential for making 11‐nm half‐pitch lines in the electron beam resist. Maintaining the diffraction efficiency of the zone plate is a great concern when the outermost zone width is decreased. To resolve this problem we have developed the so‐called Ni‐Ge zone plate in which the zone plate is build up by Ni and Ge, resulting in an increase of the diffraction efficiency. In a proof‐of‐principle experiment with 25‐nm Ni‐Ge zone plates, we have shown a doubling of the diffraction efficiency. When combined with cold development, the Ni‐Ge process has been shown to work down to 16‐nm half‐pitch. It is plausible that further refinement of the process will make it possible to go to 10‐nm outermost zone widths.