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Spatial Resolution Optimization of Backscattered Electron Images Using Monte Carlo Simulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2012

Camille Probst ,
Hendrix Demers  and
Raynald Gauvin
Camille Probst
Affiliation:
McGill University, Mining and Materials Engineering, Montréal, Quebec H3A 2B2, Canada
Hendrix Demers
Affiliation:
McGill University, Mining and Materials Engineering, Montréal, Quebec H3A 2B2, Canada Universite de Sherbrooke, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1K 2R1, Canada
Raynald Gauvin*
Affiliation:
McGill University, Mining and Materials Engineering, Montréal, Quebec H3A 2B2, Canada
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: raynald.gauvin@mcgill.ca
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Abstract

The relation between probe size and spatial resolution of backscattered electron (BSE) images was studied. In addition, the effect of the accelerating voltage, the current intensity and the sample geometry and composition were analyzed. An image synthesis method was developed to generate the images from backscattered electron coefficients obtained from Monte Carlo simulations. Spatial resolutions of simulated images were determined with the SMART-J method, which is based on the Fourier transform of the image. The resolution can be improved by either increasing the signal or decreasing the noise of the backscattered electron image. The analyses demonstrate that using a probe size smaller than the size of the observed object (sample features) does not improve the spatial resolution. For a probe size larger than the feature size, the spatial resolution is proportional to the probe size.

Keywords

backscattered electronelectron microscopyMonte Carlo simulationprobe sizesecondary electronsignal-to-noise ratiospatial resolution
Type
Techniques Development
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , June 2012 , pp. 628 - 637
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2012

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