On accout of its high brightness, small optical source size, and minimal energy spread, the field emission gun (FEG) has the advantage that it provides the conventional transmission electron microscope (TEM) with a highly coherent illumination system and directly improves the resolving power and signal-to-noise ratio of the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The FEG is generally classified into two types; the cold field emission (C-FEG) and thermal field emission gun (T-FEG). The former, in which a field emitter is used at the room temperature, was successfully developed as an electron source for the SEM. The latter, in which the emitter is heated to the temperature range of 1000-1800°K, was also proved to be very suited as an electron source for the TEM, as well as for the SEM. Some characteristics of the two types of the FEG have been studied and reported by many authors. However, the results of the respective types have been obtained separately under different experimental conditions.
