Fabrication of X-ray Gratings for Interferometric Imaging by Conformal Seedless Gold Electroplating
We present a method to produce small pitch gratings for X-ray interferometric imaging applications, allowing the phase sensitivity to be increased and/or the length of the laboratory setup to be minimized. The method is based on fabrication of high aspect ratio silicon microstructures using deep rea...
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doaj-65c0a2b346044b91be19851396026f0d2021-05-31T23:12:22ZengMDPI AGMicromachines2072-666X2021-05-011251751710.3390/mi12050517Fabrication of X-ray Gratings for Interferometric Imaging by Conformal Seedless Gold ElectroplatingKonstantins Jefimovs0Joan Vila-Comamala1Carolina Arboleda2Zhentian Wang3Lucia Romano4Zhitian Shi5Matias Kagias6Marco Stampanoni7Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, SwitzerlandPaul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, SwitzerlandPaul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, SwitzerlandPaul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, SwitzerlandPaul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, SwitzerlandPaul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, SwitzerlandPaul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, SwitzerlandPaul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, SwitzerlandWe present a method to produce small pitch gratings for X-ray interferometric imaging applications, allowing the phase sensitivity to be increased and/or the length of the laboratory setup to be minimized. The method is based on fabrication of high aspect ratio silicon microstructures using deep reactive ion etching (Bosch technique) of dense grating arrays and followed by conformal electroplating of Au. We demonstrated that low resistivity Si substrates (<0.01 Ohm·cm) enable the metal seeding layer deposition step to be avoided, which is normally required to initiate the electroplating process. Etching conditions were optimized to realize Si recess structures with a slight bottom tapering, which ensured the void-free Au filling of the trenches. Vapor HF was used to remove the native oxide layer from the Si grating surface prior to electroplating in the cyanide-based Au electrolyte. Fabrication of Au gratings with pitch in the range 1.2–3.0 µm was successfully realized. A substantial improved aspect ratio of 45:1 for a pitch size of 1.2 µm was achieved with respect to the prior art on 4-inch wafer-based technology. The fabricated Au gratings were tested with X-ray interferometers in Talbot–Laue configuration with measured visibility of 13% at an X-ray design energy of 26 keV.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/12/5/517X-ray interferometryphase contrast imaginggratinghigh aspect ratiodeep reactive ion etchingBosch process |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Konstantins Jefimovs Joan Vila-Comamala Carolina Arboleda Zhentian Wang Lucia Romano Zhitian Shi Matias Kagias Marco Stampanoni |
spellingShingle |
Konstantins Jefimovs Joan Vila-Comamala Carolina Arboleda Zhentian Wang Lucia Romano Zhitian Shi Matias Kagias Marco Stampanoni Fabrication of X-ray Gratings for Interferometric Imaging by Conformal Seedless Gold Electroplating Micromachines X-ray interferometry phase contrast imaging grating high aspect ratio deep reactive ion etching Bosch process |
author_facet |
Konstantins Jefimovs Joan Vila-Comamala Carolina Arboleda Zhentian Wang Lucia Romano Zhitian Shi Matias Kagias Marco Stampanoni |
author_sort |
Konstantins Jefimovs |
title |
Fabrication of X-ray Gratings for Interferometric Imaging by Conformal Seedless Gold Electroplating |
title_short |
Fabrication of X-ray Gratings for Interferometric Imaging by Conformal Seedless Gold Electroplating |
title_full |
Fabrication of X-ray Gratings for Interferometric Imaging by Conformal Seedless Gold Electroplating |
title_fullStr |
Fabrication of X-ray Gratings for Interferometric Imaging by Conformal Seedless Gold Electroplating |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fabrication of X-ray Gratings for Interferometric Imaging by Conformal Seedless Gold Electroplating |
title_sort |
fabrication of x-ray gratings for interferometric imaging by conformal seedless gold electroplating |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Micromachines |
issn |
2072-666X |
publishDate |
2021-05-01 |
description |
We present a method to produce small pitch gratings for X-ray interferometric imaging applications, allowing the phase sensitivity to be increased and/or the length of the laboratory setup to be minimized. The method is based on fabrication of high aspect ratio silicon microstructures using deep reactive ion etching (Bosch technique) of dense grating arrays and followed by conformal electroplating of Au. We demonstrated that low resistivity Si substrates (<0.01 Ohm·cm) enable the metal seeding layer deposition step to be avoided, which is normally required to initiate the electroplating process. Etching conditions were optimized to realize Si recess structures with a slight bottom tapering, which ensured the void-free Au filling of the trenches. Vapor HF was used to remove the native oxide layer from the Si grating surface prior to electroplating in the cyanide-based Au electrolyte. Fabrication of Au gratings with pitch in the range 1.2–3.0 µm was successfully realized. A substantial improved aspect ratio of 45:1 for a pitch size of 1.2 µm was achieved with respect to the prior art on 4-inch wafer-based technology. The fabricated Au gratings were tested with X-ray interferometers in Talbot–Laue configuration with measured visibility of 13% at an X-ray design energy of 26 keV. |
topic |
X-ray interferometry phase contrast imaging grating high aspect ratio deep reactive ion etching Bosch process |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/12/5/517 |
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