RESUMEN
Electron microscopes are ubiquitous across the scientific landscape and have been improved to achieve ever smaller beam spots, a key parameter that determines the instrument's resolution. However, the traditional techniques to characterize the electron beam have limited effectiveness for today's instruments. Consequently, there is an ongoing need to develop detection technologies that can potentially measure the smallest electron beam, which is valuable for the continual advancement of microscope performance. We report on a new electron beam detector based on a single-wall carbon nanotube. The nanotubes are atomically smooth, have a well-defined diameter that is similar in size to the finest electron probes, and can be used to directly measure the beam profile. Additionally, by rotating the nanotube in a plane perpendicular to the beam path and scanning the beam at different angles, we can apply tomographic reconstruction techniques to determine the spatial intensity profile of an electron beam accurately.
RESUMEN
A method is presented to determine the spatial distribution of electrons in the focused beam of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Knowledge of the electron distribution is valuable for characterizing and monitoring SEM performance, as well as for modeling and simulation in computational scanning electron microscopy. Specifically, it can be used to characterize astigmatism as well as study the relationship between beam energy, beam current, working distance, and beam shape and size. In addition, knowledge of the distribution of electrons in the beam can be utilized with deconvolution methods to improve the resolution and quality of backscattered, secondary, and transmitted electron images obtained with thermionic, FEG, or Schottky source instruments. The proposed method represents an improvement over previous methods for determining the spatial distribution of electrons in an SEM beam. Several practical applications are presented.