Energy Filtered Electron Backscattering Images of 10-nm NbC and AIN Precipitates in Steels Computed by Monte Carlo Simulations

1996 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 150-151
Author(s):  
Raynald Gauvin ◽  
Dominique Drouin ◽  
Pierre Hovington
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Backscattered Electrons ◽  
Electron Backscattering ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Properties Of Materials ◽  
Scanning Electron

In modern materials science, it is important to improve the resolution of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) because small phases play a crutial role in the properties of materials. The Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) is the tool of choice for imaging small phases embedded in a given matrix. However, this technique is expensive and also is slow owing to specimen preparation. In this context, it is important to improve spatial resolution of the SEM.In electron backscattering images, it is well know that the backscattered electrons have an energetic distribution when they escape the specimen.The electrons having loss less energy are those which have travelled less in the specimen and thus escape closer to the electron beam. So, in filtering the energy of the backscattering electron and keeping those which have loss only a small amount of energy to create the image, a significant improvement of the resolution of such images is expected. New detectors are now under development to take advantage of this technique of imaging.

Focused Ion Beam Analysis of Low-K Dielectrics

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Bender ◽  
R. A. Donaton
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Single Step ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Beam Analysis ◽  
Low K ◽  
Scanning Electron

Abstract The characteristics of an organic low-k dielectric during investigation by focused ion beam (FIB) are discussed for the different FIB application modes: cross-section imaging, specimen preparation for transmission electron microscopy, and via milling for device modification. It is shown that the material is more stable under the ion beam than under the electron beam in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) or in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The milling of the material by H2O vapor assistance is strongly enhanced. Also by applying XeF2 etching an enhanced milling rate can be obtained so that both the polymer layer and the intermediate oxides can be etched in a single step.

Analysis of Interesting Materials in the Environmental SEM: You Put What in Your Microscope?

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 776-777
Author(s):  
John F. Mansfield
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Variable Pressure ◽  
Environmental Scanning ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopes ◽  
Scanning Electron

The environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM™) and variable pressure electron microscope (VPSEM) have become accepted tools in the contemporary electron microscopy facility. Their flexibility and their ability to image almost any sample with little, and often no, specimen preparation has proved so attractive that each manufacturer of scanning electron microscopes now markets a low vacuum model.The University of Michigan Electron Microbeam Analysis Laboratory (EMAL) operates two variable pressure instruments, an ElectroScan E3 ESEM and a Hitachi S3200N VPSEM. The E3 ESEM was acquired in the early 1990s with funding from the Amoco Foundation and it has been used to examine an extremely wide variety of different materials. Since EMAL serves the entire university community, and offers support to neighboring institutions and local industry, the types of materials examined span a wide range. There are users from Materials Science & Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Biology, Biophysics, Pharmacy and Pharmacology.

The Effect of Focused Ion Beam (Fib) Specimen Geometry on X-Ray Fluorescence During Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) Analysis in the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 856-857
Author(s):  
David M. Longo ◽  
James M. Howe ◽  
William C. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscope ◽  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Bulk Material ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Energy Dispersive ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Transmission Electron

The focused ion beam (FIB) has become an indispensable tool for a variety of applications in materials science, including that of specimen preparation for the transmission electron microscope (TEM). Several FIB specimen preparation techniques have been developed, but some problems result when FIB specimens are analyzed in the TEM. One of these is X-ray fluorescence from bulk material surrounding the thin membrane in FIB-prepared samples. This paper reports on a new FIB specimen preparation method which was devised for the reduction of X-ray fluorescence during energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) in the TEM.Figure 1 shows three membrane geometries that were investigated in this study on a single-crystal Si substrate with a RF sputter-deposited 50 nm Ni film. Membrane 1 is the most commonly reported geometry in the literature, with an approximately 20 urn wide trench and a membrane having a single wedge with a 1.5° incline.

Instrumentation and Computation

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-3
Author(s):  
P.B. Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Image Interpretation ◽  
Specimen Preparation ◽  
Scanning Tunnelling Microscope ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Types Of Information

The benefit to society arising from developments in instrumentation and computation can be judged primarily by the advances in knowledge and understanding generated by their application in different branches of science, covered in the other papers in this symposium. Without advances in instrumentation none of these advances is possible; developments in instrumentation and in image interpretation are therefore fundamental to and precede scientific advances in fields in which knowledge of structure is important. There is little doubt that the revolutionary first step was the development of the transmission electron microscope (TEM) in 1931 by Ernst Ruska; a second was the development of the scanning electron microscope (SEM); and the third the introduction of the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) for high resolution surface imaging, by Binnig and Rohrer.The TEM and SEM have undergone continuous developments over the last 50 years or so, and have had a far-reaching impact in a wide range of disciplines; the STM is a relative newcomer but no doubt it too will have an increasing impact in furthering our understanding of solids and surfaces in particular. Once the basic instruments became available subsequent developments have been driven by the demands of the scientific disciplines in which these instruments have been applied. Many of the new developments in instrumentation and interpretation have been pioneered by the users themselves, and these in turn have led to modifications in commercial instruments to make such advances in technique available to the user community as a whole. Other developments have been initiated directly by the manufacturers as a result of a perceived need. There has been and continues to be a close interaction between the developers of hardware (not only of electron microscopes but also of ancillary equipment, e.g. microanalysis attachments, image processing equipment, specialist specimen stages, and specimen preparation facilities) and the users, leading to extensions in the range of applications and the types of information which can be obtained by electron microscopy. The following examples from the developments of electron microscopy in Materials Science illustrate these interactions and the particular advances arising from specific developments:

Applications of STEM to Problems in Materials Science

1980 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 102-105
Author(s):  
John B. Vander Sande ◽  
Anthony J. Garratt-Reed
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscope ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Data Interpretation ◽  
Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Scanning Transmission ◽  
Powerful Research Tool ◽  
Full Utilization ◽  
Scanning Electron

The scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) concept developed gradually as attempts were made to combine the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages of the transmission electron microscope, the scanning electron microscope, and the electron microprobe. However, the marketing of the first commercial dedicated STEM (the VG Microscopes HB5) spurred the development of the instrumentation and the understanding of the data interpretation required for full utilization of the technique. Today, while some avenues remain incompletely developed, the STEM is accepted as a powerful research tool, and the prospect of being able to study the products of the interaction of a very fine electron beam with a specimen has provoked workers to perform imaginative and informative experiments. Below are presented a few recent samples of the applications of such a STEM, in the authors’ laboratory, to problems in the field of materials science.

From the Scanning Electron Microscope to the Scanning Electron Macroscope with X-Ray Microanalysis in the ESEM

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (S2) ◽  
pp. 792-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raynald Gauvin
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Incident Beam ◽  
Correction Procedure ◽  
Measured Intensity ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Image Position ◽  
Corrected Intensity ◽  
Scanning Electron

Recently, a new correction procedure has been proposed in order to perform X-Ray microanalysis in the ESEM or in the VP-SEM1. This new correction procedure is based on this equation:where I is the measured intensity at a given pressure P, Ip is the intensity that would be generated without any gas in the microscope (the corrected intensity) and Im is the intensity with complete scattering of the electron beam. Im is therefore the contribution of the skirt on I. In equation (1), fp is the fraction of the incident beam, which is not scattered by the gas above the specimen, and it can be obtained from Monte Carlo simulations or from an analytical equation.

Simultaneous Study of Both the Surface and Interior Structure of Biological Specimens in a Scanning Electron Microscope

1975 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 208-209
Author(s):  
P. S. D. Lin ◽  
A. V. Crewe
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscope ◽  
Noble Metals ◽  
Interior Structure ◽  
Backscattered Electrons ◽  
Atom Scattering ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Simultaneous Study ◽  
Electron Microscopes ◽  
Scanning Electron

In contrast to optical and transmission electron microscopes, which probe the interior, the scanning electron microscope usually only reveals the exterior structure of the specimen to the biologist. This is due both to the collection of secondary electrons as signal and to the practice of coating the specimen with various heavy, noble metals.Taking advantage of their penetrating power, one can use backscattered electrons to study the interior structure of the biological specimen in a scanning electron microscope. Here a block of specimen is first stained by means similar to those practiced in transmission electron microscopy. Then a coating of carbon is applied to supress the undesirable specimen charge-up. Although the resolution in this mode will be degraded by electron-atom scattering events, this approach promises to yield more histochemical information than studying merely the topography of the specimen.

Detection and Measurement of Intermetallic Thin Films Using EDX Line Scanning

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Nail
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Tem Analysis ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Line Scanning ◽  
Scanning Electron

Abstract Elementally characterizing intermetallic compounds (IMCs) to identify phases has routinely required relatively expensive transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. A study was done characterizing IMCs using less expensive energydispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy tools to investigate it as a practical alternative to TEM. The study found that EDX line scanning can differentiate phases by tracking changes in count rate as the electron beam of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) passes from one phase to another.

scholarly journals Formation of pure Cu nanocrystals upon post-growth annealing of Cu–C material obtained from focused electron beam induced deposition: comparison of different methods

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1508-1517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Szkudlarek ◽  
Alfredo Rodrigues Vaz ◽  
Yucheng Zhang ◽  
Andrzej Rudkowski ◽  
Czesław Kapusta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Beam ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Amorphous Material ◽  
Nano Composite ◽  
Organometallic Precursor ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Electron Beam Induced Deposition ◽  
Pure Cu ◽  
Scanning Electron ◽  
Magnitude Improvement

In this paper we study in detail the post-growth annealing of a copper-containing material deposited with focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID). The organometallic precursor Cu(II)(hfac)2 was used for deposition and the results were compared to that of compared to earlier experiments with (hfac)Cu(I)(VTMS) and (hfac)Cu(I)(DMB). Transmission electron microscopy revealed the deposition of amorphous material from Cu(II)(hfac)2. In contrast, as-deposited material from (hfac)Cu(I)(VTMS) and (hfac)Cu(I)(DMB) was nano-composite with Cu nanocrystals dispersed in a carbonaceous matrix. After annealing at around 150–200 °C all deposits showed the formation of pure Cu nanocrystals at the outer surface of the initial deposit due to the migration of Cu atoms from the carbonaceous matrix containing the elements carbon, oxygen, and fluorine. Post-irradiation of deposits with 200 keV electrons in a transmission electron microscope favored the formation of Cu nanocrystals within the carbonaceous matrix of freestanding rods and suppressed the formation on their surface. Electrical four-point measurements on FEBID lines from Cu(hfac)2 showed five orders of magnitude improvement in conductivity when being annealed conventionally and by laser-induced heating in the scanning electron microscope chamber.

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