Holographic imaging with a nanometer resolution using compact table-top EUV laser

Holographic 2D/3D imaging with nanometer resolution using short wavelength extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light is presented in this paper. Gabor’s holograms were recorded with a highly coherent table top EUV laser with different numerical apertures demonstrating ultimately a spatial resolution of 46+/−2 nm, comparable with the illumination wavelength, in 2D holographic imaging. Three dimensional images were obtained from a single high numerical aperture hologram recorded in a high resolution photoresist and numerically reconstructed at different image planes, allowing numerical optical sectioning with a lateral resolution ∼170 nm and depth resolution of 2.4 μm. The holograms were recorded in a high resolution photoresist and digitized with an atomic force microscope. To assess the spatial resolution of the numerical reconstructions of the holograms a correlation method was used. The algorithm allows for simultaneous estimation of the resolution and the feature size of the image under analysis.