Progress with MEMS x-ray micro pore optics

Our development of ultra light-weight X-ray micro pore optics based on MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) technologies is described. Using dry etching or X-ray lithography and electroplating, curvilinear sidewalls through a flat wafer are fabricated. Sidewalls vertical to the wafer surface are smoothed by use of high temperature annealing and/or magnetic field assisted finishing to work as X-ray mirrors. The wafer is then deformed to a spherical shape. When two spherical wafers with different radii of curvature are stacked, the combined system will be an approximated Wolter type-I telescope. This method in principle allows high angular resolution and ultra light-weight X-ray micro pore optics. In this paper, performance of a single-stage optic, coating of a heavy metal on sidewalls with atomic layer deposition, and assembly of a Wolter type-I telescope are reported.