Recollections of the early days of SEM in the Cambridge University Engineering Department, 1948–53

McMullan, D.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2818.1985.tb02630.x

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Despite the problems of surface cleanliness originally pointed out by McMullan (for a later review, see McMullan, 1985). the secondary electron (SE) signal rapidly became the most widely used for SEM imaging of surface topography with results which could be qualitatively analysed in terms of escape probabilities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent developments in secondary electron imaging

Howie

1995

Journal of Microscopy

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SUMMARY Some recent experimental and theoretical developments in secondary electron (SE) imaging are reviewed. Coincidence experiments identify inner‐shell excitations and single electron valence excitations often as more significant initial events in SE production than the more delocalized process of plasmon generation. Quantitative measurement and interpretation of escape depths in different materials are now becoming possible. Local variations in surface barrier height or work function can be imaged, e.g. at p‐n junctions in semiconductors, especially if the effects of external patch fields are overcome.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent developments in secondary electron imaging

Howie

1995

Journal of Microscopy

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The early history and future of the SEM

Wells

Joy

2006

Surface & Interface Analysis

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The early history and development of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) up to the time of the first commercial SEMs has been described by Oatley.1 In the first instance, commercial SEMs were manufactured both in England 2 and in Japan.3 -5 The history of the SEM has also been described by many authors.6 -21 Improvements in the performance and in the ease of operation of commercial SEMs have been remarkable and are expected to continue. Knoll 22,24 achieved four important experimental results using the apparatus shown in Fig. 1: (i) He obtained the specimen of a current image from solid polycrystalline sample as shown in Fig. 2. (ii) This image shows orientationdependent contrasts between grains as would now appear to be caused by electron channeling contrast. (iii) He measured the secondary electron (SE) plus backscattered electron (BSE) coefficient as a function of incident beam energy E 0 from various materials and showed that there is a 'second crossover' value of ¾1.5 keV for E 0 when SE C BSE coefficient is unity. The charging of the specimen is then minimized and is also stable. (iv) He measured the potential to which a nonconducting particle is charged by the beam by an early version of quantitative voltage contrast. Figure 3 shows an electron scattering model for the generation of SE that was proposed by von Ardenne, 25 which shows initial beam-broadening; wide-angle scattering; diffusion; escape of BSE and the excitation of SE at every stage. He proposed two kinds of high-resolution SE images. The first (now called SE-I imaging following a detailed discussion by Peters 26 ) is with E 0 equal to several tens of kiloelectronvolts so that the penetration depth (a few micrometers) is many times greater than the SE escape depth

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