Electron Optics

The SEM uses a highly focused electron beam to strike and interact with a sample
which is contained in a high vacuum environment to form a high resolution image.
Different types of images can be formed in the SEM. These are images from
secondary electrons, backscattered electrons, characteristic x-rays, Auger electrons,
and others that are emitted by the sample.
A typical SEM is comprised of the following:
o Electron Gun or Electron beam generation
o Tungsten filament cathode
o LaB6 cathode
o Field emission gun
o Cathode comparison
o Deflection coils
o Condenser lenses
o Vacuum system
o Detectors
 Electron Source (Gun)
The electron gun is used to generate a small, bright source of electrons that can be
focused onto the surface of the specimen. These electrons will then interact with
the sample and produce electrons or x-rays which will be detected and produce an
image of the sample.
There are three typical types of electron guns used in SEM. They are:
Tungsten hairpin (most common) (thermionic)
Lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) (thermionic)
Field emission electron gun (field emission)

Electrons may be emitted from a conducting

cathode material either by heating it to the
point where outer orbital electrons gain
sufficient energy to overcome the work
function barrier of the conductor (thermionic
sources) or by applying an electric field
sufficiently strong that electrons "tunnel"
through the barrier (field emission sources).
Most of the electron guns used in microprobes employ the thermionic method, in
which electrons are effectively evaporated from a resistively-heated tungsten
filament; some alternative names for the filament include cathode or emitter i.e. all
Electron Microscopes utilize an electron source of some kind with the majority
using a Thermionic Gun.
A Thermionic Electron Gun is a triode gun (3
electrode gun) functions in the following manner:

A positive electrical potential is applied to the

anode.
The filament (cathode) is heated until a stream of
electrons is produced.
The electrons are then accelerated by the positive
potential down the column.
A negative electrical potential (~500 V) is
applied to the Wehnelt Cap.
As the electrons move toward the anode they are
repelled by the Wehnelt Cap toward the optic axis
(horizontal center)
A collection of electrons occurs in the
space between the filament tip and
Wehnelt Cap. This collection is called a
space charge
Those electrons at the bottom of the
space charge (nearest to the anode) can
exit the gun area through the small (<1
mm) hole in the Wehnelt Cap
These electrons then move down the
column to be later used in imaging.

This process insures several things:

That the electrons later used for imaging will be emitted from a nearly perfect point
source (the space charge)
The electrons later used for imaging will all have similar energies (monochromatic)
Only electrons nearly parallel to the optic axis will be allowed out of the gun area.
The size and shape of the apparent source, beam acceleration and current are the
primary determining factors in the performance and resolution of a SEM.
Electron Gun Components:
Filament
Wehnelt Cap
Anode
Two types of sources are available:
-Thermoionic (Tungsten Filament and LaB6 )
- Field Emission
Thermionic Emission: occurs when enough heat is supplied to the emitter
so that electrons can overcome the work-function energy barrier EW of the
material and escape from the material.
E is the energy work necessary to take an
electron from its lowest energy state to the
EW vacuum.
EF is the electrons Fermi Energy. The
EF E highest energy state that an electron can have
at 0K.
EW (work function) energy required for a
small number of electrons (located close to
Metal Vacuum the Fermi level) to escape into the vacuum.
The cathode current density is given by the expression:
w
where ie = emission current density in Amp/cm2, i e = exp (
2
)
k B
A = constant with a theoretical value of 120 A/cm2.K (in reality it depends on the
material),
EW = work function, in eV (electron voltage);
kB = Boltzmanns constant = 8.62x10-5 eV/K and
T in K.
It is desirable to operate the electron gun at the lowest possible
temperature to reduce the evaporation of the filament:
Materials with low work function are required.
Metal EW (eV) A (Amp/10-4cm2K2) Melting Temp. (K)
Fe 4.48 0.26 x106 1808
Ni 4.61 0.31 x106 1726
Ta 4.19 0.55 x106 3269
W 4.50 0.60 x106 3650
LaB6 2.66 0.29 x106 2800
Choice of Emitter Materials:
W: Does not need a good vacuum (~10-4-10-
3mbar) as it has good oxidation resistance. It has a

high A value and high melting point and therefore

a high emission temperature can be used
(~2700K). ie= 3.4 A/cm2 . Two classes: hairpin
and point filament (up to 4 times brightness than
hairpin).
LaB6: (lanthanum hexaboride) It needs a high vacuum condition (~10-6 mbar). It
has a low EW value and therefore higher brightness (10 to 100 times higher than
W) can be obtained at its operational temperature of 1873K.
Some Important Definitions:
Emission Current ( ie ): total current emitted from the filament
Beam Current ( ib ): portion of electron current that leaves the gun through the
hole in the anode (at each lens and aperture along the column the beam current
becomes smaller).
Probe Current ( ip ): electron current measured at the specimen. It is several
orders of magnitude smaller than the beam current.
 Current Density
d is the cross over diameter and the
intensity distribution at the cross over is
taken to be Gaussian.
The current density of the beam (Jb) at the
cross-over (in Amp/cm2) is:
ib
Jb = 2
d d
o
2
Two important parameters for any
electron gun are:
-Amount of current it produces (# of e-
interacting with the sample) ib
-Current stability (information is
recorded as a function of time)
Brightness:
It measures gun performance.
It takes into account the current
density and the changes in the
angular spread of electrons as they
are focused.
It is defines as the current density
per solid angle, where the solid
angle is in steradians.
Brightness equation (A/cm2sr):

The grid cap is set at a voltage slightly

more negative than the filament to current 4 ib
= = 2 2 2
provide a focusing effect on the beam, area solid _ angle d
forcing the electrons to a cross over of
diameter d.
The theoretical maximum value for the brightness was EO
given by Langmuir in 1937; where ie is the emission MAX = i e .e.
current, EO is the accelerating voltage, kB is the .k B .T
Boltzmanns constant
ib 4 ib
Jb = 2 = 2 2 2
do d

2
Following the above i e .e.EO . 2

equations: J b ,MAX = . MAX . =

2
O
O
k B .T
Where Jb,max is the maximum current density at the cross over.

It can be seen that the brightness depends on the filaments nature, thus typical
values for a W filament are: T=2700K, ie=3.4A.cm-2, EO=100kV .
It gives a brightness of about 105A.cm2.sr..
The search for materials that produce higher brightness led to the development of
LaB6 giving ten times more brightness than W.
Tungsten Filament (Thermionic)
A bent tungsten wire filament, with a diameter of around
100 m, is spot welded to metal posts. These posts are
embedded in a ceramic holder and extend out the other
side to provide electrical connections.
In operation, the filament will be heated by passing an
electrical current through it. Optimum filament
temperature for the thermionic emission of electrons is
around 2700 degrees Kelvin.
LaB6 Filament (Thermionic)
The Lanthanum Hexaboride Filament is a
sharpened rod/block of single crystal LaB6. It is
about 50 m in diameter and about 0.5 mm long.
The LaB6 crystal is both supported and resistively
heated by either Carbon or Rhenium, two materials
that do not react to form a compound with LaB6.
To equal the current density of W the temperature of
the LaB6 can be reduced to 1500K.
Field Emission Filament
Another type of electron source (non-thermoionic) is field emission.
The filament used is usually a wire of single-crystal tungsten fashioned into a sharp
point (tip radius about 100 nm or less) and spot welded to a tungsten hairpin.
An electric field can be concentrated to an extreme level at the tip of the filament.
The electric field at the tip is very strong (107V/cm) due to the sharp effect.
Thus, the potential barrier for e-s becomes reduced and the e-s leave the cathode
(filament) without requiring any thermal energy to lift them over the work function
barrier.
 Field Emission
(x)
An electron at an energy E i is free
x to move inside the solid. When it
s(x) reach the surface it tries to move
away and out of the surface. The
m e(x) solid then lacks a negative charge
Ei and the resulting Coulomb force
Ef + - attracts the electron back into the
solid. The potential energy is s.
t(x) If an applied electric field directed
Ec toward the emitting surface. The
electron will experience an
additional potential energy.e
The total potential energy is t.

http://www.matter.org.uk/tem/electron_gun/electron_gun_simulation.htm
There are different types of field
emission guns:
Cold Field Emission (FE) e-s
excited only by the presence of an
electric field.
Thermal Field Emission (TF) e-s
excited by an electric field +
temperature
Schottky Emission (SE) e-s
excited by electric field +
temperature + a reduction of the
work function (EW) by coating.

Examples of EW:
W = 4.5 eV
LaB6 = 2.5eV
W/ZrO (ZrO coating on a <100>
tungsten facet) = 4.5 2.8eV
 Summary of filament properties:
Tip radius (A/cm2.sr) Current density Vacuum (torr)
(relative)
Point filament 1~ 10m 2x106 4 10-5
Hairpin filament 30m 5x105 1 10-5
LaB6 1~10m 7x106 14 10-6
Field Emission 50 nm 107~108 20 10-8-10-9
Filament Saturation
A condition of beam current saturation
must be established to ensure a stable
beam. A beam current saturation is
reached when a small increase or
decrease in the filament heating current
do not change the electron beam
current.

A False Peak appears when there is an uneven temperature distribution and some
other part of the filament surface reaches emission temperature before the filament
tip. The beam current rises, and then falls, before the saturation condition is
established.
Brightness and bias voltage
At low bias, since little or no focusing takes place. The diameter d of the cross over is
large and the brightness obtained is not optimum.
At high bias, most of the emitted electrons will return to the filament and it will shut
down (cut-off) all the emission.
We want good emission, good focus (small d) and high brightness.
There is an optimum bias setting for maximum brightness.
Two kinds of adjustment are possible:
adjust the h (height) distance between the tip of the filament and the Wehnelt cap hole.
adjust the bias voltage,
 Comparison of Electron Sources
Characteristic W LaB6 Cold FE Thermal Schottky
Type of Emission Thermoionic Thermoionic Field emission Field emission Field emission
Vacuum (Pa) 10-4 10-5 10-7 10-7 10-6
Electron source size 30m 10m 5nm 5nm 20nm
Cathode Temp. K 2,800 1,800 293 1,800 1,800
Energy spread eV 2 1.5 0.2 0.3-1 0.5-1
Brightness (A.cm-3.sr) 106 107 109 108 108
Stability % 1 1 5 5 2
Life hours 50-100 200-1,000 2,000 2,000 6,000
Application Standard SEM. High Resolution HR-SEM
VP SEM. SEM. EDS,WDS
EDS EDS CL
WDS EBSP EBSP
Image Formation
 Electron Lenses
Electrons have a charge and their direction of travel can be altered by an
electromagnetic field.
An electron traveling in off-axis to a uniform magnetic field follows a helical
path. Electrons can be brought to focus by engineering the electrostatic and/or
magnetic fields.
Electron lenses are used to demagnify the image of the beam cros-over in the
electron gun (e.g. do~50m for a heated tungsten gun) to the final spot size on
the specimen (~10nm). This is a demagnification of 5000 times.
In a filed emission gun the source is small and only requires demagnifications
of 10-100 times to produce a 1-2nm probe size.
The electrons in the SEM are focused by electromagnetic lenses. These lenses
have smaller aberrations, however these perform poorly compared to typical
glass lenses.
 In the electromagnetic lens, the
intensity of the field (the magnetic
flux) causes a radial vector along
the optical axis, so when an electron
is accelerated through the pole
pieces, it takes a helical path
through the lens. The rotational
force is the product of the electron
velocity and the density of the
magnetic flux. This vector
interaction also results in focusing
as the strength of the lens is
changed
The focal length of the
electromagnetic lens is
controlled by varying the lens
current. The focal length is
approximately proportional to
V
(NI )2
where V is the accelerating
voltage, N is the number of
turns in the magnet coil and I
is the current.
 Beam-controlling lenses
The electron microscope has a number of electromagnetic lenses that are used for:
Centering beam on column
Adjusting and regulating microprobe current
Focussing beam on sample surface

Electromagnetic lenses
are composed of coils of
wire in a soft iron
housing. These must be
very symmetrical to avoid
beam distortion. Current
passed through coiled
wire creates a magnetic
field that deflects
electrons and causes them
to focus to a point. The
stronger the current to the
wires, the shorter the focal
length.
These lenses are created with high precision and even a hairline scratch can distort
their magnetic field and will have to be replaced.
Most electromagnetic lenses are cooled with water to prevent extra heating.
Their functions are similar to optical lenses.
A condenser lens can condense electrons; an objective lens can focus electrons on
the specimen, and a projector lens can project an image onto a screen.
1 1 1
= +
f p q
p dO
Demagnification = m = =
q d1
 Defects in Lenses
All lenses suffer of a number of defects or aberrations in their performance.
In contrast to light optics, the effects of aberrations in electron optics can not
be cancelled by using combinations of lenses.

Types of Defects
Chromatic Aberration
Spherical Aberration
Astigmatism
Aberrations in the Objective Lens
Aperture Diffraction
Chromatic Aberration
Since the focal length (f) of a lens is dependent on the strength of the lens, it
follows that different wavelengths will be focused to different positions. Chromatic
aberration of a lens is seen as fringes around the image due to a zone of focus.

In light optics wavelengths of higher energy

(blue) are bent more strongly and have a
shorter focal length.

In the electron microscope the exact opposite is

true in that electrons of higher energy (blue), or
shorter wavelengths are less effected and have a
longer focal length.
In light optics chromatic aberration can
be corrected by combining a converging
lens with a diverging lens. This is known
as a doublet lens.

A few manufacturers have combined

an electromagnetic (converging) lens
with an electrostatic (diverging) lens
to create an achromatic lens

LEO Gemini Lens

The chromatic aberration however can not

be totally cancelled and the best recourse
is to try to minimize this effect.
 The simplest way to correct for chromatic
aberration is to use illumination of a single
wavelength! This is accomplished in an
EM by having a very stable acceleration
voltage. If the e velocity is stable the
illumination source is monochromatic

The effects of chromatic aberration are most

profound at the edges of the lens so by placing
an aperture immediately after the specimen
chromatic aberration is reduced along with
increasing contrast.
Spherical Aberrations

The fact that wavelengths enter and

leave the lens field at different angles
results in a defect known as spherical
aberration. The result is similar to
that of chromatic aberration in that
wavelengths are brought to different
focal points

Spherical aberrations are worst at the periphery of

a lens so a small opening aperture that cuts off the
most offensive part of the lens is the best way to
reduce the effects of spherical aberration
 Aperture Diffraction

Diffraction occurs when a wavefront

encounters an edge of an object. This
results in the establishment of new
wavefronts.

When this occurs at the edges of an

aperture the diffracted waves tend to
spread out the focus rather than
concentrate them. This results in a
decrease in resolution, the effect
becoming more pronounced with
ever smaller apertures.