Nano-tomography based on hard X-ray microscopy with refractive lenses

~Received 19 March 2002; accepted for publication 25 June 2002!Based on parabolic refractive x-ray lenses we have built a hard x-ray microscope that allows one toimage the interior of opaque samples with submicrometer resolution. We have combined magnifiedimaging with tomography to obtain the three-dimensional structure of the sample at a resolutionwell below 1 mm. Using an aluminum lens to record a magnified tomogram of a test sample~microprocessor!, a resolution of slightly above 400 nm was found for the three-dimensionalreconstruction. Lenses made of beryllium are expected to improve this resolution to well below 100nm. The resulting challenges concerning instrumentation and numerical methods arediscussed. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. @DOI: 10.1063/1.1501451#One major advantage of hard x-ray microscopy overother microscopy techniques, such as visible light or electronmicroscopy, is the large penetration depth of hard x-rays thatallows one to investigate the interior of opaque sampleswithout the need to lay open the region of interest. By com-bining x-ray microscopy with tomographic techniques, thethree-dimensional structure inside a specimen can be recon-structed with minimal sample preparation. In particular, thethree-dimensional region of interest can be left untouched,widely avoiding the introduction of artifacts by samplepreparation. Over the last few years, hard x-ray microimag-ing and tomography have been developed to sophistication,