Design of a 3000-Pixel Transition-Edge Sensor X-Ray Spectrometer for Microcircuit Tomography

Abstract A scanning electron microscope transition edge sensor has been developed to analyze the minor or trace constituents contained in a bulk sample and small particles on the sample under a low accelerating voltage (typically <3 keV). The low accelerating voltage enables to improve the spatial analysis resolution because the primary electron diffusion length is limited around the sample surface. The characteristic points of our transition edge sensor are 1) high-energy resolution at 7.2 eV@Al-Kα, 2) continuous operation by using a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator and 3) improvement of transmission efficiency at B-Kα by using thin X-ray film windows between the sample and detector (about 30 times better than our previous system). Our system could achieve a stabilization of the peak shift at Nd-Mα (978 eV) within 1 eV during an operation time of 27 000 s. The detection limits with B-Kα for detection times 600 and 27 000 s were 0.27 and 0.038 wt%, respectively. We investigated the peak separation ability by measuring the peak intensity ratio between the major constitute (silicon) and the minor constitute (tungsten) because the Si-Kα line differs from the W-Mα line by only 35 eV and a small W-Mα peak superimposed on the tail of the large Si-Kα peak. The peak intensity ratio (I(W-Mα)/I(Si-Kα)) was adjusted by the W particle area ratio compared with the Si substrate area. The transition edge sensor could clearly separate the Si-Kα and W-Mα lines even under a peak intensity ratio of 0.01.

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Analysis of Impedance and Noise Data of an X-Ray Transition-Edge Sensor Using Complex Thermal Models

Journal of Low Temperature Physics ◽

10.1007/s10909-012-0471-4 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 167 (3-4) ◽

pp. 129-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

M. R. J. Palosaari ◽

K. M. Kinnunen ◽

M. L. Ridder ◽

J. van der Kuur ◽

H. F. C. Hoevers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transition Edge Sensor ◽

Thermal Models ◽

X Ray ◽

Transition Edge ◽

Noise Data

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Quantitative analysis with the transition edge sensor microcalorimeter X-ray detector

Powder Diffraction ◽

10.1154/1.2737466 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 138-141 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Terrence Jach ◽

Nicholas Ritchie ◽

Joel Ullom ◽

James A. Beall

Keyword(s):

Quantitative Analysis ◽

Transition Edge Sensor ◽

High Energy ◽

Standard Reference Materials ◽

High Energy Resolution ◽

Chemical Methods ◽

X Ray ◽

Transition Edge ◽

Direct Measurements ◽

Better Than

We report on the use of a microcalorimeter X-ray detector with a transition edge sensor in an electron probe to perform quantitative analysis. We analyzed two bulk samples of multielement glasses that have been previously characterized by chemical methods for use as standard reference materials. The spectra were analyzed against standards using three different correction schemes. In one of the standards, the reference line was easily resolved despite its proximity within 45 eV of another line. With the exception of direct measurements of oxygen (a particularly challenging element), the results are in agreement with the certified characterization to better than 1% absolute or 8% relative. This demonstrates the potential of microcalorimeter detectors as replacements for conventional energy dispersive detectors in applications requiring high energy resolution.

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