Experimental evidence explaining the extremely low-threshold electron emission from diamond reported in 1996 has been obtained for the first time. Direct observation using combined ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy/field emission spectroscopy (UPS/FES) proved that the origin of field-induced electron emission from heavily nitrogen (N)-doped chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond was at conduction band minimum (CBM) utilising negative electron affinity (NEA). The significance of the result is that not only does it prove the utilisation of NEA as the dominant factor for the extremely low-threshold electron emission from heavily N-doped CVD diamond, but also strongly implies that such low-threshold emission is possible from other types of diamond, and even other materials having NEA surface. The low-threshold voltage, along with the stable intensity and remarkably narrow energy width, suggests that this type of electron emission can be applied to develop a next generation vacuum nano-electronic devices with long lifetime and high energy resolution.

We have developed a new nano-beam time-of-flight secondary neutral mass spectrometry system: laser ionization mass nanoscope or LIMAS. The primary ion beam column was equipped with a Ga liquid metal ion source and aberration correction optics. The primary ion beam was down to 40 nm in diameter under a current of 100 pA with an energy of 20 keV. The sputtered particles were post-ionized under non-resonance mode by a femtosecond laser. The post-ionized ions were introduced into a multi-turn mass spectrometer. A mass resolution of up to 40 000 was achieved. The vacuum of the sample chamber was maintained under an ultrahigh vacuum of 2 Â 10 À8 Pa. This instrument would be effective for ultrahigh sensitive analysis of nanosized particles such as return samples from asteroids, comets, and planets.

An approach for simultaneous measurement of two-dimensional angular distribution of charged particles is proposed. This concerns spherical aberration correction in electrostatic lenses with potential use of a mesh. In an earlier work, an effective use of a spherical mesh has succeeded to obtain a large acceptance angle limited to around 60 degrees (+/- 30 degrees). The present work is aimed at dramatically increasing acceptance angles limited in conventional lenses. For this purpose, spherical aberration behavior of mesh lenses is studied in detail using an analytical approximation and ray tracing, with particular attention paid to the effect of the mesh shape. It is shown here that the lens ability to correct spherical aberration over wide aperture angles can be effectively enhanced by the ellipsoidal deformation of a spherical mesh. We demonstrate that an effective use of an ellipsoidal mesh provides remarkable performance characteristics for electrostatic lenses, which opens new possibilities in surface and materials analysis techniques. Simple examples of ellipsoidal mesh lenses are presented that allow very wide acceptance angles of up to 120 degrees.

Discrimination of thin film elements by backscattered electron (BSE) imaging of field emission scanning electron microscope was examined. Incident electron acceleration voltage dependence on thin films' BSE intensities in five elements (Au, Ag, Ge, Cu and Fe) on a silicon substrate was experimentally measured from 3 to 30 kV. Normalization of BSE intensities using the difference between maximum and minimum brightness was proposed and allowed reproducible comparison among the elements. Measured intensities, which have correlation with electron backscattering coefficient against atomic number, indicated the existence of adequate acceleration voltage for improvement of resolution to discriminate different elements, showing the possibility of discriminating at least these six elements simultaneously by BSE imaging with nanometer-scale spatial resolution.

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