Electron beam scattering in an organic specimen

Abstract

The understanding of electron-solid interactions is of prime importance to both conventional transmission and scanning electron microscopists. Monte Carlo simulation of electron beam scattering in various target samples has made fundamental contributions to this understanding, especially in scanning electron microscopy where primary electron beams of a few to many kilovolts are utilized. A significant example is the understanding of energy dissipation patterns of incident electrons in an organic sample (polymethylmethacrylate-PMMA) which is very useful in electron beam lithography (1). Furthermore, with the close similarity between the organic sample and a biological specimen, a Monte Carlo approach is also very useful for the study of energy dissipation in biological specimens (2).To enhance our knowledge of these dissipation processes, a more comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation program has been developed. The program is based on the semi-direct technique of simulating individual inelastic scattering and elastic scattering with probabilistic weightings.