Analysis and detection of low-energy electrons in scanning electron microscopes using a Bessel box electron energy analyser

Ashish Suri, Andrew Pratt, Steve Tear*, Christopher Walker, Cem Kincal, Umut Kamber, Oguzhan Gurlu, Mohamed El-Gomati

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The interpretation of images generated by scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) requires quantifiable and well-understood contrast. Furthermore, recent interest in probing samples using low-energy electrons to extract surface information is pushing towards the quantification of relative contrast in secondary-electron (SE) images. The detection and analysis of low-energy SEs remains at the heart of the development of such instruments and techniques. However, state-of-the-art SE detectors in most SEMs, which are largely using in-lens configurations, are mainly designed to favour the collection of primary-induced SEs, and hence fail to provide electron energy information that could be related to the sample composition. Here, we report on the development of a novel SE detector which makes use of the Bessel box (BB) electron energy analyser. We demonstrate a very compact analyser design (˜a volume of 12 mm3) through simulations and by acquiring an electron spectrum from a sample of graphene on copper. A resolution of 0.3% has been numerically computed and experimentally verified for the BB analyser.

Original languageEnglish
Article number146823
JournalJournal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena
Volume241
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of SIMDALEE2 consortium , FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN (Grant agreement No. 606988 ) and TUBITAK 1003 Graphene and Related Materials priority program with grant number 114F036 .

FundersFunder number
FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN
SIMDALEE2 consortium
TUBITAK 1003 Graphene and Related Materials priority program114F036
Seventh Framework Programme606988

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