Fabrication of Ultra‐Thick Masks for X‐Ray Phase Contrast Imaging at Higher Energy
Abstract X‐ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) provides higher sensitivity to contrast between low absorbing objects that can be invisible to conventional attenuation‐based X‐ray imaging. XPCI's main application is so far focused on medical areas at relatively low energies (< 100 keV). The tra...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley-VCH
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Advanced Materials Interfaces |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400749 |
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| author | Alessandro Rossi Ian Buchanan Alberto Astolfo Martyna Michalska Daniel Briglin Anton Charman Daniel Josell Alessandro Olivo Ioannis Papakonstantinou |
| author_facet | Alessandro Rossi Ian Buchanan Alberto Astolfo Martyna Michalska Daniel Briglin Anton Charman Daniel Josell Alessandro Olivo Ioannis Papakonstantinou |
| author_sort | Alessandro Rossi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract X‐ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) provides higher sensitivity to contrast between low absorbing objects that can be invisible to conventional attenuation‐based X‐ray imaging. XPCI's main application is so far focused on medical areas at relatively low energies (< 100 keV). The translation to higher energy for industrial applications, where energies above 150 keV are often needed, is hindered by the lack of masks/gratings with sufficiently thick gold septa. Fabricating such structures with apertures of tens of micrometers becomes difficult at depths greater than a few hundreds of micrometers due to aspect ratio‐dependent effects such as anisotropic etching, and preferential gold (Au) deposition at the top of the apertures. In this work, these difficulties are overcome by Deep Reactive Ion Etching optimized by a stepped parameters approach and bismuth‐mediated superconformal filling of Au, ultimately resulting in 500 µm deep silicon masks filled with Au at bulk density. The obtained masks, tested in an Edge Illumination XPCI system with a conventional source and a photon‐counting detector, show good agreement with simulations at different energy thresholds. They also demonstrate a higher phase sensitivity for highly absorbing objects when compared to lower aspect ratio masks, proving their potential for industrial non‐destructive testing. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bf3c6394ad8b454caefd4af7777fdb1c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2196-7350 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Wiley-VCH |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advanced Materials Interfaces |
| spelling | doaj-art-bf3c6394ad8b454caefd4af7777fdb1c2025-08-20T03:18:26ZengWiley-VCHAdvanced Materials Interfaces2196-73502025-04-01128n/an/a10.1002/admi.202400749Fabrication of Ultra‐Thick Masks for X‐Ray Phase Contrast Imaging at Higher EnergyAlessandro Rossi0Ian Buchanan1Alberto Astolfo2Martyna Michalska3Daniel Briglin4Anton Charman5Daniel Josell6Alessandro Olivo7Ioannis Papakonstantinou8Photonic Innovations Lab Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering University College London Torrington Place London WC1E 7JE UKDepartment of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UKDepartment of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UKManufacturing Futures Lab Department of Mechanical Engineering University College London Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park London E20 3BS UKNikon X‐Tek Systems Tring Business Centre Tring Hertfordshire HP23 4JX UKNikon X‐Tek Systems Tring Business Centre Tring Hertfordshire HP23 4JX UKMaterials Science and Engineering Division National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg MD 20899 USDepartment of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UKPhotonic Innovations Lab Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering University College London Torrington Place London WC1E 7JE UKAbstract X‐ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) provides higher sensitivity to contrast between low absorbing objects that can be invisible to conventional attenuation‐based X‐ray imaging. XPCI's main application is so far focused on medical areas at relatively low energies (< 100 keV). The translation to higher energy for industrial applications, where energies above 150 keV are often needed, is hindered by the lack of masks/gratings with sufficiently thick gold septa. Fabricating such structures with apertures of tens of micrometers becomes difficult at depths greater than a few hundreds of micrometers due to aspect ratio‐dependent effects such as anisotropic etching, and preferential gold (Au) deposition at the top of the apertures. In this work, these difficulties are overcome by Deep Reactive Ion Etching optimized by a stepped parameters approach and bismuth‐mediated superconformal filling of Au, ultimately resulting in 500 µm deep silicon masks filled with Au at bulk density. The obtained masks, tested in an Edge Illumination XPCI system with a conventional source and a photon‐counting detector, show good agreement with simulations at different energy thresholds. They also demonstrate a higher phase sensitivity for highly absorbing objects when compared to lower aspect ratio masks, proving their potential for industrial non‐destructive testing.https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400749non‐destructive testingphase sensitivitystepped parameters etchingsuperconformal Au depositionX‐ray phase contrast imaging |
| spellingShingle | Alessandro Rossi Ian Buchanan Alberto Astolfo Martyna Michalska Daniel Briglin Anton Charman Daniel Josell Alessandro Olivo Ioannis Papakonstantinou Fabrication of Ultra‐Thick Masks for X‐Ray Phase Contrast Imaging at Higher Energy Advanced Materials Interfaces non‐destructive testing phase sensitivity stepped parameters etching superconformal Au deposition X‐ray phase contrast imaging |
| title | Fabrication of Ultra‐Thick Masks for X‐Ray Phase Contrast Imaging at Higher Energy |
| title_full | Fabrication of Ultra‐Thick Masks for X‐Ray Phase Contrast Imaging at Higher Energy |
| title_fullStr | Fabrication of Ultra‐Thick Masks for X‐Ray Phase Contrast Imaging at Higher Energy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fabrication of Ultra‐Thick Masks for X‐Ray Phase Contrast Imaging at Higher Energy |
| title_short | Fabrication of Ultra‐Thick Masks for X‐Ray Phase Contrast Imaging at Higher Energy |
| title_sort | fabrication of ultra thick masks for x ray phase contrast imaging at higher energy |
| topic | non‐destructive testing phase sensitivity stepped parameters etching superconformal Au deposition X‐ray phase contrast imaging |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400749 |
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