Table-top soft x-ray imaging of nanometric films

Profiles of nanometric aluminum and parylene foils have been characterized by soft x-ray contact imaging using a laser-plasma source and a LiF crystal as detector. Due to the characteristic emission of this source in a 2 pi angle, it was possible to obtain the sample image in a wider field of view with respect to coherent sources. LiF crystal is a cheap and robust imaging detector for soft x-ray radiation, that allows one to get high spatial resolution images of thin films with thickness from hundreds down to a few tens of nanometers. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.