Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. An x-ray metrology system comprising:an x-ray source for simultaneously generating a first x-ray beam and a second x-ray beam, each originating from a different spatial location in the source;a first zone plate for reshaping the first x-ray beam into a first reshaped beam portion, the first reshaped beam portion comprising a first plurality of converging x-rays focused onto a measurement spot on a first surface of a test sample; anda second zone plate for reshaping the second x-ray beam into a second reshaped beam portion, the second reshaped beam portion comprising a second plurality of converging x-rays focused onto the same measurement spot on the first surface of the test sample,wherein the first and second zone plates are formed on a single substrate and simultaneously focus a same wavelength. 2. An x-ray metrology system comprising:an x-ray source for simultaneously generating a first x-ray beam and a second x-ray beam, each originating from a different spatial location in the source;a first transmissive x-ray optical element for reshaping a portion of the first x-ray beam and directing a first reshaped beam at an area of a test sample;a second transmissive x-ray optical element for reshaping a portion of the second x-ray beam and directing a second reshaped beam at the area of the test sample, wherein the first and second transmissive x-ray optical elements operate in a parallel plane; anda detector for simultaneously taking multiple incident beam angle measurements on output x-rays to determine specified characteristics of the test sample. 3. The x-ray metrology system of claim 2, wherein the first transmissive x-ray optical element includes a zone plate. 4. The x-ray metrology system of claim 2, wherein the second transmissive x-ray optical element includes a zone plate. 5. The x-ray metrology system of claim 2, wherein the first transmissive x-ray optical element and the second transmissive x-ray optical element are formed on a single substrate. 6. An x-ray metrology system comprising:an x-ray source for generating a first x-ray beam;a multi-layer zone plate having multiple zone plates formed on a single substrate and operating in series, the multi-layer zone plate for reshaping a first portion of the first x-ray beam to generate a reshaped beam portion,wherein the reshaped beam portion comprises a plurality of collimated x-rays directed onto a test sample, a thin film on the test sample scattering a first portion of the plurality of collimated x-rays as a set of scattered x-rays; anda first detector for measuring the set of scattered x-rays. 7. The x-ray metrology system of claim 6, wherein each zone late is separated from an adjacent zone plate using a layer conducive to propagating x-rays. 8. The x-ray metrology system of claim 6, further comprising a computer, wherein the computer includes logic for analyzing scattering distributions measured by the first detector to perform small angle x-ray scattering operations. 9. The x-ray metrology system of claim 6, wherein the thin film comprises a porous dielectric material. 10. A method for performing x-ray metrology comprising:generating first and second x-ray beams;reshaping the first x-ray beam into a first reshaped beam using a first transmissive zone plate;simultaneously reshaping the second x-ray beam into a second reshaped beam using a second transmissive zone plate formed on a same substrate as the first transmissive zone plate, the first and second transmissive zone plates focusing a same wavelength;directing the first and second reshaped beams at a same measurement spot on the same surface of a test sample to generate a plurality of output x-rays; andtaking multiple incident beam angle measurements on the output x-rays to determine specified characteristics of the test sample. 11. A method for performing x-ray metrology comprising:generating a source x-ray beam;reshaping a first portion of the source x-ray beam into a first reshaped beam portion using a multi-layer zone plate having multiple zone plates formed on a single substrate and operating in series;directing the first reshaped beam portion at a first surface of a test sample to generate a plurality of output x-rays; andtaking measurements on the output x-rays to determine specified characteristics of the test sample,wherein the first portion of the source x-ray beam comprises a plurality of diverging x-rays, and wherein reshaping the first portion of the source x-ray beam comprises diffracting the plurality of diverging x-rays using the multi-layer zone plate into a plurality of collimated x-rays. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the each of the plurality of output x-rays comprises one of the plurality of collimated x-rays scattered by the test sample, and wherein taking measurements on the plurality of output x-rays comprises focusing the plurality of output x-rays onto a detector using a transmissive x-ray optical element.