Imaging of specimens at optimized low and very low energies in scanning electron microscopy

0205544 - UPT-D 20020094 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Müllerová, Ilona
Imaging of specimens at optimized low and very low energies in scanning electron microscopy.
Scanning Microscopy. Roč. 13, č. 1 (1999), s. 7 - 22. ISSN 0891-7035
R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA2065502; GA ČR GA202/95/0280; GA ČR GA202/96/0961
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z2065902
Keywords : contrast mechanisms * scanning electron microscope * low electron energies
Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering
Impact factor: 0.000, year: 1999

A modern trend toward 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 cathode-lens equipped scanning low energy electron microscope (SLEEM) which achieves nearly constant spatial resolution throughout the energy scale. This enables one to optimise freely the electron beam energy according to the ask. At low energies, classes of image contrast exist that make visitable particular specimen data most effectively or even exclusively within certain energy intervals or at certain energy values only. Some contrasts are well understood and can already be utilised for practical surface examinations but others are not yet reliably explained and complementary experiments are needed.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0101157