Electrostatic optics and aberration correction in the 1940s and today

Author(s):  
Gertrude F. Rempfer

I became involved in electron optics in early 1945, when my husband Robert and I were hired by the Farrand Optical Company. My husband had a mathematics Ph.D.; my degree was in physics. My main responsibilities were connected with the development of an electrostatic electron microscope. Fortunately, my thesis research on thermionic and field emission, in the late 1930s under the direction of Professor Joseph E. Henderson at the University of Washington, provided a foundation for dealing with electron beams, high vacuum, and high voltage.At the Farrand Company my co-workers and I used an electron-optical bench to carry out an extensive series of tests on three-electrode electrostatic lenses, as a function of geometrical and voltage parameters. Our studies enabled us to select optimum designs for the lenses in the electron microscope. We early on discovered that, in general, electron lenses are not “thin” lenses, and that aberrations of focal point and aberrations of focal length are not the same. I found electron optics to be an intriguing blend of theory and experiment. A laboratory version of the electron microscope was built and tested, and a report was given at the December 1947 EMSA meeting. The micrograph in fig. 1 is one of several which were presented at the meeting. This micrograph also appeared on the cover of the January 1949 issue of Journal of Applied Physics. These were exciting times in electron microscopy; it seemed that almost everything that happened was new. Our opportunities to publish were limited to patents because Mr. Farrand envisaged a commercial instrument. Regrettably, a commercial version of our laboratory microscope was not produced.

Author(s):  
A. Tonomura ◽  
T. Komoda

We have developed a field emission electron microscope. Although field emission gun requires ultra high vacuum and skillful technique, it brings about the favorable characteristics of high brightness and small energy spread. This characteristics will enable a significant progress in coherent electron optics and high resolution electron microscopy, especially in electron beam holography.Its column is Hitachi HU-11C Electron Microscope modified for ultra high vacuum operation, and it is evacuated with five ion pumps. Field emission gun is divided into two parts and is evacuated differentially with two ion pumps and a sublimation pump. The final pressures in these rooms are 5x10-10 Torr and 5x10-8 Torr respectively.


Author(s):  
Arno J. Bleeker ◽  
J. Murray Gibson

Although the main use for Transmission electron microscopy is to study bulk phenomena it is also possible to do surface sensitive experiments with this type of instrument. In order to do reliable surface physical experiments it is necessary to improve the vacuum within the vicinity of the specimen to the Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) level. A number of authors report on such improvements. In most designs the experiments with the sample such as deposition and oxidation are done outside the main microscope column. This means that it is not possible to observe the sample under high resolution conditions during these experiments. The importance of the electron microscope as a surface sensitive instrument can be greatly enhanced if it would be possible to do surface physical experiments in-situ. In that way it would become possible to observe the specimen with high resolution during all kinds of surface processes. In order to be able to do these experiments there must exist a large free space around the sample. In this free space auxiliary equipment such as ion guns and MBE cells can be placed. To further enhance the capabilities of the instrument, analyzing tools such as an Auger spectrometer and SIMS equipment can be attached to the microscope. At the University of Illinois an electron microscope capable of imaging the sample during surface physical experiments is presently under construction. In this machine the objective lens section has been replaced by a large (800 mm diameter and 400 mm high) UHV chamber. The specimen is outside the magnetic field of the objective lens in order to obtain as much free space around the sample as possible thus sacrificing resolution.


Author(s):  
Richard E. Hartman ◽  
Roberta S. Hartman ◽  
Peter L. Ramos

We have long felt that some form of electronic information retrieval would be more desirable than conventional photographic methods in a high vacuum electron microscope for various reasons. The most obvious of these is the fact that with electronic data retrieval the major source of gas load is removed from the instrument. An equally important reason is that if any subsequent analysis of the data is to be made, a continuous record on magnetic tape gives a much larger quantity of data and gives it in a form far more satisfactory for subsequent processing.


Author(s):  
A. V. Crewe

The high resolution STEM is now a fact of life. I think that we have, in the last few years, demonstrated that this instrument is capable of the same resolving power as a CEM but is sufficiently different in its imaging characteristics to offer some real advantages.It seems possible to prove in a quite general way that only a field emission source can give adequate intensity for the highest resolution^ and at the moment this means operating at ultra high vacuum levels. Our experience, however, is that neither the source nor the vacuum are difficult to manage and indeed are simpler than many other systems and substantially trouble-free.


Author(s):  
N. Yoshimura ◽  
K. Shirota ◽  
T. Etoh

One of the most important requirements for a high-performance EM, especially an analytical EM using a fine beam probe, is to prevent specimen contamination by providing a clean high vacuum in the vicinity of the specimen. However, in almost all commercial EMs, the pressure in the vicinity of the specimen under observation is usually more than ten times higher than the pressure measured at the punping line. The EM column inevitably requires the use of greased Viton O-rings for fine movement, and specimens and films need to be exchanged frequently and several attachments may also be exchanged. For these reasons, a high speed pumping system, as well as a clean vacuum system, is now required. A newly developed electron microscope, the JEM-100CX features clean high vacuum in the vicinity of the specimen, realized by the use of a CASCADE type diffusion pump system which has been essentially improved over its predeces- sorD employed on the JEM-100C.


Author(s):  
J. S. Lally ◽  
R. Evans

One of the instrumental factors often limiting the resolution of the electron microscope is image defocussing due to changes in accelerating voltage or objective lens current. This factor is particularly important in high voltage electron microscopes both because of the higher voltages and lens currents required but also because of the inherently longer focal lengths, i.e. 6 mm in contrast to 1.5-2.2 mm for modern short focal length objectives.The usual practice in commercial electron microscopes is to design separately stabilized accelerating voltage and lens supplies. In this case chromatic aberration in the image is caused by the random and independent fluctuations of both the high voltage and objective lens current.


Author(s):  
Mircea Fotino

A new 1-MeV transmission electron microscope (Model JEM-1000) was installed at the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology of the University of Colorado in Boulder during the summer and fall of 1972 under the sponsorship of the Division of Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health. The installation was completed in October, 1972. It is installed primarily for the study of biological materials without many of the limitations hitherto unavoidable in standard transmission electron microscopy. Only the technical characteristics of the installation are briefly reviewed here. A more detailed discussion of the experimental program under way is being published elsewhere.


Author(s):  
Michel Troyonal ◽  
Huei Pei Kuoal ◽  
Benjamin M. Siegelal

A field emission system for our experimental ultra high vacuum electron microscope has been designed, constructed and tested. The electron optical system is based on the prototype whose performance has already been reported. A cross-sectional schematic illustrating the field emission source, preaccelerator lens and accelerator is given in Fig. 1. This field emission system is designed to be used with an electron microscope operated at 100-150kV in the conventional transmission mode. The electron optical system used to control the imaging of the field emission beam on the specimen consists of a weak condenser lens and the pre-field of a strong objective lens. The pre-accelerator lens is an einzel lens and is operated together with the accelerator in the constant angular magnification mode (CAM).


Author(s):  
William P. Wergin ◽  
Eric F. Erbe ◽  
Eugene L. Vigil

Investigators have long realized the potential advantages of using a low temperature (LT) stage to examine fresh, frozen specimens in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). However, long working distances (W.D.), thick sputter coatings and surface contamination have prevented LTSEM from achieving results comparable to those from TEM freeze etch. To improve results, we recently modified techniques that involve a Hitachi S570 SEM, an Emscope SP2000 Sputter Cryo System and a Denton freeze etch unit. Because investigators have frequently utilized the fractured E face of the plasmalemma of yeast, this tissue was selected as a standard for comparison in the present study.In place of a standard specimen holder, a modified rivet was used to achieve a shorter W.D. (1 to -2 mm) and to gain access to the upper detector. However, the additional height afforded by the rivet, precluded use of the standard shroud on the Emscope specimen transfer device. Consequently, the sample became heavily contaminated (Fig. 1). A removable shroud was devised and used to reduce contamination (Fig. 2), but the specimen lacked clean fractured edges. This result suggested that low vacuum sputter coating was also limiting resolution.


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