Field emission scanning electron microscope

Abstract

A compact type field emission scanning electron microscope (JSM-F15) has recently been developed (Fig. 1). Moreover, due to the simplicity of the electron optical column and the automatically controlled ultra high vacuum system, a good quality and high resolution image can easily be obtained.The electron optical column, which is shown in Fig. 2, comprises a field emission gun, an electromagnetic lens, scanning coils, etc. The gun, which is composed of a field emitter, a wehnelt and an anode, is pre-aligned. The accelerating voltage is 15 kV and the emitter tip, made of tungsten single crystal, has a [310] orientation in the electron optical axis. The wehnelt is biased through a feedback circuit so as to maintain the emission current constant without varying the accelerating voltage.The electron probe current at the specimen surface is about 3 × 10-11 amp and the probe diameter is about 30Å at the working distance of 15 mm.