Compact UHV system for fabrication and in situ analysis of electron beam deposited structures using a focused low energy electron beam

Abstract

A compact UHV system was developed in order to fabricate and analyze micro- and nanostructures on surfaces in situ. The system includes a low energy electron gun which provides a minimum spot size of ∼25nm in a diameter using electrostatic lenses, a cylindrical mirror analyzer for Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), a low energy electron diffraction (LEED) optics, and a scintillation counter for scanning electron microscopy. Thus, we can analyze electronic states of specific microstructures on surfaces. In addition, we can fabricate microscopic structures artificially by means of scanning a focused electron beam. In this article, first we show the performance of the present analysis system. Next, we provide an example of the fabrication of iron microstructures by electron-induced deposition of iron pentacarbonyl [Fe(CO)5]. We successfully analyzed the amount and chemical states of deposited iron by AES in situ. We also investigated coverage dependence of electronic structure and surface periodic structure by EELS and LEED measurements, respectively. Thus, this system enables us to fabricate and analyze microscopic structures on surfaces in situ.