PSI researchers set new world X-ray record

A research team from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Southern California has succeeded in using X-rays generated at PSI's Swiss Light Source (SLS) to create a computer chip with a three-dimensional resolution never before achieved. According to a press release, they achieved a new world record with these images. The resolution of the images of the ultra-modern computer chip is four nanometers, or four millionths of a millimeter. The method used by the researchers for their experiments is called ptychography. This is an X-ray microscopy process that uses computer technology to combine many individual images into a high-resolution three-dimensional image. According to the press release, this technology enables advances in both information technology and the life sciences.

"Since 2010, we have continuously perfected our experimental setup and the positioning accuracy of the samples. In 2017, we finally succeeded in spatially imaging a computer chip with a resolution of 15 nanometers - a first record", says Mirko Holler, physicist at the Swiss Light Source Synchrotron at PSI. "Despite further optimizations in the setup and algorithm, the resolution in our instrument has remained constant ever since." For the current results, the researchers then worked with a shorter exposure time and an optimized algorithm to reconstruct the image of the sample in high resolution. The complex project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The researchers report on their results in the current issue of the scientific journal "Nature". ce/eb