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Microcharacterization of Induced Electric Fields in Poorly Conducting Specimens Irradiated in an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Marion A. Stevens-Kalceff
Marion A. Stevens-Kalceff*
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, AustraliaMarion. Stevens-Kalceff@uts.edu.au
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Abstract

In a conventional scanning electron microscope, a thin, grounded conductive coating is applied to specimens that are poor electrical conductors to prevent retarding and deflection of the incident electron beam. in a variable pressure or environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM), excess charge on the surface of uncoated poorly conducting specimens is balanced using ionized environmental gas. Ionized gas in environmental mode and grounded conductive coatings in conventional or high vacuum mode minimize charging at the specimen surface, however significant charge trapping may still occur in the implanted sub-surface regions of poorly conducting materials. A small fraction (<10-6) of the incident electrons are trapped at irradiation induced or pre-existing defects within the irradiated specimen. The trapped charge induces a highly localized electric field which can result in electro-migration and micro-segregation of charged mobile defect species within the irradiated micro-volume of specimen.

Type
Technologists’ Forum: ESEM/Lv/Vp: Imaging at Low Vacuum (Organized by J. Killius)
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 7 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis 2001, Microscopy Society of America 59th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 35th Annual Meeting, Long Beach, California August 5-9, 2001 , August 2001 , pp. 786 - 787
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2001

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