Read-out of soft x-ray contact microscopy microradiographs by focused ion beam/scanning electron microscope

A novel focused ion beam‐based technique is presented for the read‐out of microradiographs of Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes generated by soft x‐ray contact microscopy (SXCM). In previous studies, the read‐out was performed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), but in our work SXCM microradiographs were imaged by scanning ion microscopy (SIM) in a focused ion beam/scanning electron microscope (FIB/SEM). It allows an ad libitum selection of a sample region for gross morphologic to nanometric investigations, with a sequence of imaging and cutting. The FIB/SEM is less sensitive to height variation of the relief, and sectioning makes it possible to analyse the sample further. The SXCM can be coupled to SIM in a more efficient and faster way than to AFM. Scanning ion microscopy is the method of choice for the read‐out of microradiographs of small multicellular organisms.