Nanometer-Scale Incoherent Imaging Using Laser-Plasma EUV Source

Various imaging methods and techniques capable of reaching a nanometer spatial resolution are currently under development. One of them is an extreme ultraviolet microscopy, based on the Fresnel zone plates. In this paper a compact, high-repetition, laser-plasma EUV source, with a gas puff target, capable of emitting quasi-monochromatic radiation at 13.8 nm wavelength was used in the first demonstration of a desk-top EUV transmission microscopy with a spatial (half-pitch) resolution of 50 nm. EUV microscopy images of objects with various thicknesses and the spatial resolution measurements using the knife-edge test are presented.