SummaryWe present a new model for the gas amplification effect used in many environmental scanning electron microscopes, wherein molecular complexity is shown to be the critical factor. Monte Carlo simulations, based on experimental electron scattering cross-sections, are used to deduce a predictive model for the amplification process that is superior to the Townsend gas capacitor model. These predictions are compared with experimentally obtained amplification curves. Significantly, it is shown that the ionization efficiency of the electrons changes dramatically over the gap distance, and a constant value cannot be assumed. Atomic and molecular excitations affect the amplification process in two ways: first, they serve to lower the average kinetic energy of the imaging electrons, thereby keeping a greater fraction near the ionization threshold energy. Second, molecular normal modes determine the effectiveness of positive gas ions in producing additional secondaries upon surface impact. Practical implications such as signal gain and fraction of useful signal as a function of operating conditions are discussed in the light of the new model. Finally, we speculate on potential new contrast mechanisms brought about by the presence of an imaging gas.

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An understanding of the scattering of an electron beam as it passes through a volume of low pressure gas is of critical importance for users of Low Vacuum and Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopes (LV-SEM & ESEM respectively) The ‘skirting’ of the primary beam as a result of scattering is of particular importance in X-ray microanalysis where scattered electrons, falling onto the sample away from the probe beam, can adversely affect the spatial resolution of the X-ray signal. A number of studies have attempted to quantify the width of the probe beam experimentally and hence determine optimum microscope operating parameters. Theoretical and computational work modelling the interactions of the beam with the gas have suggested that the shape of the probe beam can be modelled by some form of Gaussian. Experimental measurements, however, suggest that the probe has a skirted form rather than a Gaussian one.