X-ray ptychographic topography, a new tool for strain imaging

TL;DR

This paper introduces X-ray ptychographic topography, a non-destructive high-resolution method for imaging strain fields in crystalline materials, overcoming limitations of existing techniques.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel X-ray ptychographic topography technique capable of non-destructively imaging strain with nanometer resolution in bulk crystals.

Findings

Achieved 30 nm spatial resolution in strain imaging.

Demonstrated robustness and non-destructive nature of the method.

Validated on an InSb micro-pillar after micro-compression.

Abstract

Strain and defects in crystalline materials are responsible for the distinct mechanical, electric and magnetic properties of a desired material, making their study an essential task in material characterization, fabrication and design. Existing techniques for the visualization of strain fields, such as transmission electron microscopy and diffraction, are destructive and limited to thin slices of the materials. On the other hand, non-destructive X-ray imaging methods either have a reduced resolution or are not robust enough for a broad range of applications. Here we present X-ray ptychographic topography, a new method for strain imaging, and demonstrate its use on an InSb micro-pillar after micro-compression, where the strained region is visualized with a spatial resolution of 30 nm. Thereby, X-ray ptychographic topography proves itself as a robust non-destructive approach for the imaging of strain fields within bulk crystalline specimens with a spatial resolution of a few tens of nanometers.