A method of dynamic chromatic aberration correction in low-voltage scanning electron microscopes

2005 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 255-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjam Khursheed
Keyword(s):  
Low Voltage ◽  
Chromatic Aberration ◽  
Aberration Correction ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopes ◽  
Voltage Scanning ◽  
Scanning Electron

The Low Voltage Scanning Electron Microscope

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1213-1214
Author(s):  
David C Joy
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
Backscattered Electrons ◽  
Mode Of Operation ◽  
Low Energy Electron ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopes ◽  
Enhanced Surface ◽  
Voltage Scanning ◽  
Scanning Electron

A majority of the scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) now in use are probably employed as low voltage SEMs (LVSEMs), that is to say they are operated to produce beams with energies below 5keV. This trend away from the more conventional mode of operation at 20 or 30keV has gathered momentum over the past decade and has been driven by both theoretical and practical considera-tions.Firstly, the distance travelled by an electron falls rapidly (in fact as about E1.6 ) as the incident ener-gy E is reduced. Images generated by low energy electron beams therefore contain enhanced surface information compared to those images recorded at higher energies. Since surfaces are of great inter-est in both the life sciences and in materials science this has been a persuasive factor. Secondly, both the secondary and the backscattered electrons now come from essentially the same interaction volume, rather than from volumes which are widely different in size and shape.

Chromatic Aberration Correction of a Low-Voltage SEM using a Wien Filter: Adjusting the Correction Strength

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 874-875
Author(s):  
T. Steffen ◽  
P.C. Tiemeijer ◽  
M.P.C.M. Krijn ◽  
S.A.M. Mentink
Keyword(s):  
Low Voltage ◽  
Spherical Aberration ◽  
Focal Length ◽  
Chromatic Aberration ◽  
Objective Lens ◽  
Aberration Correction ◽  
Wien Filter ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Working Distance ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopes

The resolution of state-of-the-art low-voltage scanning electron microscopes (LV SEM), which is currently limited by the chromatic and spherical aberrations of the objective lens, can be improved by incorporating an aberration correcting device. At present four different concepts are discussed in literature: Zach and Haider demonstrated that a quadrupole/octupole corrector can correct both chromatic and spherical aberration. Rose proposed a Wien filter for chromatic aberration correction, which has relaxed stability requirements. Recently, we reported a simplified version of this corrector and showed that a spherical aberration corrector can be integrated in a Wien filter. Henstra and co-workers suggested a purely electrostatic corrector that can correct both chromatic and spherical aberration.For all these concepts problems may arise when the lens-to-sample (working) distance for an aligned corrector is to be changed. in general, the corrector settings depend on the ratio Cc/f2, where Cc and f denote the coefficient of the chromatic aberration and the focal length of the objective lens, respectively. When the working distance is changed, this ratio is no longer perfectly matched to the corrector settings. The tedious realignments and readjustments, which then seem necessary, can be avoided by using a doublet objective lens as illustrated schematically in Figure 1.

Toward High-Resolution Low-Voltage SEM

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 218-219
Author(s):  
Zhifeng Shao
Keyword(s):  
Low Voltage ◽  
Spherical Aberration ◽  
Chromatic Aberration ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Operating Voltage ◽  
Probe Radius ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Image Position ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopes

Recently, low voltage (≤5kV) scanning electron microscopes have become popular because of their unprecedented advantages, such as minimized charging effects and smaller specimen damage, etc. Perhaps the most important advantage of LVSEM is that they may be able to provide ultrahigh resolution since the interaction volume decreases when electron energy is reduced. It is obvious that no matter how low the operating voltage is, the resolution is always poorer than the probe radius. To achieve 10Å resolution at 5kV (including non-local effects), we would require a probe radius of 5∽6 Å. At low voltages, we can no longer ignore the effects of chromatic aberration because of the increased ratio δV/V. The 3rd order spherical aberration is another major limiting factor. The optimized aperture should be calculated as

Current State of Biological High-Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 180-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus-Ruediger Peters
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
Backscattered Electrons ◽  
Lens Position ◽  
Low Voltage Operation ◽  
Signal Collection ◽  
Probe Size ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopes ◽  
Scanning Electron

A new generation of high performance field emission scanning electron microscopes (FSEM) is now commercially available (JEOL 890, Hitachi S 900, ISI OS 130-F) characterized by an "in lens" position of the specimen where probe diameters are reduced and signal collection improved. Additionally, low voltage operation is extended to 1 kV. Compared to the first generation of FSEM (JE0L JSM 30, Hitachi S 800), which utilized a specimen position below the final lens, specimen size had to be reduced but useful magnification could be impressively increased in both low (1-4 kV) and high (5-40 kV) voltage operation, i.e. from 50,000 to 200,000 and 250,000 to 1,000,000 x respectively.At high accelerating voltage and magnification, contrasts on biological specimens are well characterized1 and are produced by the entering probe electrons in the outmost surface layer within -vl nm depth. Backscattered electrons produce only a background signal. Under these conditions (FIG. 1) image quality is similar to conventional TEM (FIG. 2) and only limited at magnifications >1,000,000 x by probe size (0.5 nm) or non-localization effects (%0.5 nm).

Chromatic aberration and low-voltage SEM

1987 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 546-547
Author(s):  
Zhifeng Shao ◽  
A.V. Crewe
Keyword(s):  
Electron Energy ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
Spherical Aberration ◽  
Chromatic Aberration ◽  
Primary Electron ◽  
Probe Size ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Optical Treatment ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopes

For scanning electron microscopes, it is plausible that by lowering the primary electron energy, one can decrease the volume of interaction and improve resolution. As shown by Crewe /1/, at V0 =5kV a 10Å resolution (including non-local effects) is possible. To achieve this, we would need a probe size about 5Å. However, at low voltages, the chromatic aberration becomes the major concern even for field emission sources. In this case, δV/V = 0.1 V/5kV = 2x10-5. As a rough estimate, it has been shown that /2/ the chromatic aberration δC should be less than ⅓ of δ0 the probe size determined by diffraction and spherical aberration in order to neglect its effect. But this did not take into account the distribution of electron energy. We will show that by using a wave optical treatment, the tolerance on the chromatic aberration is much larger than we expected.

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