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Variations in the Probe Beam Broadening with Operating Conditions in ESEM: Monte-Carlo Simulations and Edx Measurements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

I. C. Bache ,
S. Kitching ,
B. L. Thiel  and
A. M. Donald
I. C. Bache
Affiliation:
Polymers & Colloids Group, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHE
S. Kitching
Affiliation:
Polymers & Colloids Group, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHE
B. L. Thiel
Affiliation:
Polymers & Colloids Group, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHE
A. M. Donald
Affiliation:
Polymers & Colloids Group, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHE
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Extract

An understanding of the scattering of an electron beam as it passes through a volume of low pressure gas is of critical importance for users of Low Vacuum and Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopes (LV-SEM & ESEM respectively) The ‘skirting’ of the primary beam as a result of scattering is of particular importance in X-ray microanalysis where scattered electrons, falling onto the sample away from the probe beam, can adversely affect the spatial resolution of the X-ray signal. A number of studies have attempted to quantify the width of the probe beam experimentally and hence determine optimum microscope operating parameters. Theoretical and computational work modelling the interactions of the beam with the gas have suggested that the shape of the probe beam can be modelled by some form of Gaussian. Experimental measurements, however, suggest that the probe has a skirted form rather than a Gaussian one.

Type
Environmental SEM
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 3 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis '97, Microscopy Society of America 55th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 31st Annual Meeting, Histochemical Society 48th Annual Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio, August 10-14, 1997 , August 1997 , pp. 1211 - 1212
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

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References

REFERENCES

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5.The authors would like to thank the BBSRC and the DTI Colloid Technology Programme for funding, and Mr. Andrew Eddy for technical supportGoogle Scholar