Strain in a silicon-on-insulator nanostructure revealed by 3D x-ray Bragg ptychography

Virginie Chamard (1) , Marc Allain (1) , P. Godard (2, 1) , A. Talneau (3) , G. Patriarche (3) , M. Burghammer (4, 5)

1 COMiX - Coherent Optical Microscopy and X-rays
2 PPrime [Poitiers] - Institut Pprime [UPR 3346]
3 LPN - Laboratoire de photonique et de nanostructures
4 UGENT - Universiteit Gent = Ghent University
5 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

Progresses in the design of well-defined electronic band structure and dedicated functionalities rely on the high control of complex architectural device nano-scaled structures. This includes the challenging accurate description of strain fields in crystalline structures, which requires non invasive and three-dimensional (3D) imaging methods. Here, we demonstrate in details how x-ray Bragg ptychography can be used to quantify in 3D a displacement field in a lithographically patterned silicon-on-insulator structure. The image of the crystalline properties, which results from the phase retrieval of a coherent intensity data set, is obtained from a well-controlled optimized process, for which all steps are detailed. These results confirm the promising perspectives of 3D Bragg ptychography for the investigation of complex nano-structured crystals in material science.

Mots clés: Microscopy; Nanoscale materials

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]; Optique / photonique; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Virginie Chamard, Marc Allain, P. Godard, A. Talneau, G. Patriarche, et al.. Strain in a silicon-on-insulator nanostructure revealed by 3D x-ray Bragg ptychography. Scientific Reports, 2015, 5, pp.9827. ⟨10.1038/srep09827⟩. ⟨hal-01205699⟩