Measurement of the electric field distribution and potentials on the object surface in an emission electron microscope without restriction of the electron beams.

An emission electron microscope without restriction of the electron beams was used to visualize and measure the distribution of electric fields and potentials on the surface under study. Investigations of this kind can be performed in an emission electron microscope without any aperture diaphragm. The potentialities of this method have been demonstrated using measurements with a silicon p-n junction to which a voltage has been applied in the reverse direction. The quantitative analysis becomes more complicated if the specimen is characterized by a heterogeneous intensity distribution of the electron emission from different areas of its surface. In the latter case two images obtained at different accelerating voltages (i.e. different voltages of the microscope extractor) provide the information necessary for an analysis of electric field and potential distributions.

Use of emission electron microscope for potential mapping in semiconductor microelectronics.

An emission electron microscope was used for visualization and measurement of the distribution of electric fields and potentials on the surface under study. The contrast of microfields is caused by the fact that slow-moving electrons emitted from the object surface are deflected by these fields. The measurements were performed on a p-n junction to which a voltage was applied. It is shown that the type of contrast from the p-n junction can be reversed depending on the position of the contrast aperture restricting the electron beam. The same result was obtained by means of a computer simulation.

Peculiarities of imaging one- and two-dimensional structures using an electron microscope in the mirror operation mode.

Measurements performed in an electron microscope with the mirror operation mode are most sensitive to local electric fields and geometrical roughness of any kind of the object being studied. The object with a geometrical relief is equivalent to a smooth surface with an effective distribution of microfields. Electrons forming the image interact with the local microfields for an extended time: during approach to the object, deceleration and acceleration away from the object. As a result, the electron trajectories can be strongly distorted, and the contrast changes essentially, leading to image deformation of details of the object under investigation and to lowering of the resolution. These effects are theoretically described and are illustrated by experiments. An analysis of these effects enables the real size and the shape of the object involved to be reconstructed.

Imaging of three-dimensional objects in emission electron microscopy.

Under investigation by emission electron microscopy, the shape and size of three-dimensional objects are distorted because of the appearance of a characteristic potential relief and a possible contact potential difference between the particles and the substrate. An estimation of these effects for spherical particles is made. It is shown that the apparent size of particles observed in an emission electron microscope (EEM) could be increased as well as decreased depending on the relation between the work functions of the particle and the substrate. The corresponding formulae are given and several possibilities are shown which permit us to determine from the EEM image the real size of particles and their work function relative to the substrate.