SBIR Phase II: Development of an Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目建议开发具有以下重要属性的创新X射线荧光(XFi)成像光谱仪：(1)对元素周期表中几乎所有元素进行特定元素成像，(2)高分辨率：成功完成第二阶段项目后的30纳米分辨率，(3)并行(全场)成像，从而高通量：高达一百万像素的同时成像，(4)无损：几乎不需要样品制备。建议的XFi光谱仪可用于大幅提高电子显微镜的性能，电子显微镜被广泛部署在研发和制造环境中，并使先进半导体生产线中的制造过程能够进行监控、诊断和表征。建议的XFi光谱仪满足了当前和新出现的对广泛应用的无损、高分辨率、元素分析、成像和表征的需求，尤其是纳米技术和半导体行业。开发具有纳米级分辨率的先进诊断和表征工具对于实现纳米技术的快速发展和商业化至关重要。以纳米技术为基础的产品与半导体行业的产品相结合，构成了国民经济的重要组成部分。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes to develop an innovative x-ray fluorescence (XFi) imaging spectrometer with the following important attributes: (1) element specific imaging for nearly all elements in the periodic table, (2) high resolution: 30nm resolution after successful completion of the phase II project, (3) parallel (full field) imaging and thus high throughput: up to a million pixels imaged simultaneously, (4) non-destructive: little or no sample preparation is required. The proposed spectrometer can be used to substantially enhance the performance of electron microscopes, which are widely deployed in the R&D and manufacturing environment, and to enable monitoring, diagnosis, and characterization of manufacturing processes in advanced semiconductor production lines.The proposed XFi spectrometer addresses current and emerging needs for nondestructive, high-resolution, elemental analysis, imaging, and characterization in a broad range of applications, especially for the nanotechnology and semiconductor industries. Development of advanced diagnostic and characterization tools with nanometer scale resolution is critical to enable rapid development and commercialization of nanotechnology. The combination of nanotechnology based products with the products from the semiconductor industry constitutes a significant part of the nationaleconomy.