Quality and parameter control of X-ray absorption gratings by angular X-ray transmission.

Here we report on non-destructive, spatially resolving and easy to implement quality and parameter control method for high aspect ratio X-ray absorption gratings. Based on angular X-ray transmission measurements, our proposed technique allows to determine the duty cycle, the transmittance, the height, as well as the local inclination of the absorbing grating structures. A key advantage of the presented method is a fast and extensive grating quality evaluation without the need of implementing an entire grating interferometer. In addition to the local and surface-based analysis using a scanning electron microscope, our non-destructive method provides global averaged macroscopic and spatially resolved grating structure information without the requirement of resolving individual grating lines. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement