Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1689536 | Vacuum | 2016 | 9 Pages |
Abstract
The coaxial ion micro-source was developed as a part of the multi-functional equipment for SEM. This equipment contains a quadruple BSE ionization detector for 3D imaging and an axial SE detector serving optionally as the ion micro-source. The ion micro-source may be made as an independent unit as well. The source has been designed in the form of extended Pressure Limiting Aperture (PLA) used commonly in Variable Pressure/Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopes (VP/ESEM), so no additional vacuum arrangements are needed. Additionally, the vacuum-detector head was developed to provide an intermediate vacuum space necessary to apply the source in a classic SEM. The source operates at argon pressure of 100 Pa and delivers an ion current of a few μA at ions energy of 4 keV, which enables drilling or stripping away layers of material with lateral resolution of about 10 μm. The ion micro-source may work in two regimes: the glow discharge mode or the electron beam impact mode. Preliminary experiments were conducted on JSM 840 microscope equipped with the mentioned vacuum-detector head extending its capabilities to 3D VP/ESEM. The paper presents and roughly explains some noticed regularities in the source functioning basing on its simple and intuitive model.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Materials Science
Surfaces, Coatings and Films
Authors
W. Slówko, A. Wiatrowski,