Fixed-Beam-Excitation Auger EM with Simulated Specimens: AEM-1

AEM-1 is the first in a series of three prototypes of a fixed-beam-excitation Auger electron microscope. Because Auger electrons have energies dependent only upon the structure of the atoms from which they are emitted, they are atomic signatures. If the Augers can be used for imaging the specimen, the sites of the emitting atoms can also be established. With such an energy-analyzing optical-imaging system, there is no need for heavy metal staining or isomorphic replacement for low-Z atoms, and thus our ultimate goal (with AEM-3) is the direct observation of atomic carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen in micrographs of biological material. AEM-1, however, was built specifically to study the problems of high quality imaging with very wide angle lenses, and it uses an Auger electron source simulated by an microgun of variable (50-700ev) energy.