Preliminary research on imaging in MEMS electron microscope

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present preliminary results of research on imaging in a newly designed and micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) transmission electron microscope being developed. The main element of the MEMS microscope is an electron gun with an anode, which contains a very thin silicon nitride membrane; it separates the high-vacuum chamber of the microdevice from a sample that is located outside an electron optics column, on the anode in the air. The parallel electron beam that passes the membrane illuminates the studied sample. Thus, a new detection system, located outside the MEMS electron microscope structure, has to be developed. In this paper, the results of the computer simulations and the measurements of transmissivity and a scattering angle of the electron beam passing through a very thin silicon nitride membrane are presented. The influence of these parameters on the image generated on the scintillator crystal screen, placed above the anode with a sample, is considered. We also present an image of a copper wire placed over the thin silicon nitride membrane that was produced using the designed detection system.

Pressure Sensitivity of Electron Emission from SiOx Tunneling Diodes and their Outstanding Emission Performance under Rough Vacuum

“…Miniature electronic devices and instruments based on free electron beam, especially those scaled down on a chip by microfabrication technologies, are attracting more and more research interest, as they show the advantages of smaller footprint and cheaper batch fabrication when compared with their traditional counterparts. To date, many such compact devices and instruments have been reported, including X-ray sources, [1][2][3][4] electron microscopes, [5,6] mass spectrometers, [7][8][9] microwave amplifiers, [10,11] field emission displays, [12][13][14][15] sensors, [16,17] etc. An electron source for generating free electron beam is required for all those miniature vacuum electronic devices and instruments.…”