Imaging of Specimens at Optimized Low and Very Low Energies in Scanning Electron Microscopes

0205378 - UPT-D 20010017 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Müllerová, Ilona
Imaging of Specimens at Optimized Low and Very Low Energies in Scanning Electron Microscopes.
Scanning. Roč. 23, č. 6 (2001), s. 379-394. ISSN 0161-0457. E-ISSN 1932-8745
R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA1065901
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z2065902
Keywords : contrast mechanisms * low electron energies * scanning electron microscope
Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering
Impact factor: 0.389, year: 2001

The modern trend towards low electron energies in scanning electron microscopy (SEM), characterised by lowering the acceleration voltages in low-voltage SEM (LVSEM) or by utilising a retarding-field optical element in low-energy SEM (LESEM), makes the energy range where new contrasts appear accessible. This range is further extended by a scanning low-energy electron microscope (SLEEM) fitted with a cathode lens that achieves nearly constant spatial resolution throughout the energy scale. This enables one to optimise freely the electron beam energy according to the given task. At low energies, there exist classes of image contrast that make particular specimen data visible most effectively or even exclusively within certain energy intervals or at certain energy values. Some contrasts are well understood and can presently be utilised for practical surface examinations, but others have not yet been reliably explained and therefore supplementary experiments are needed.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0100992