Magnetically filtered low loss scanning electron microscopy

• US 4,962,306 A
• Filed: 12/04/1989
• Issued: 10/09/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: LeGoues, Francoise K., Wells, Oliver C., Hodgson, Rodney T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Berman, Jack I.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KIET TUAN
• Application Number:
  US07/444,926
• Time in Patent Office: 309 Days
• Field of Search: 250/310, 250/311, 250/306, 250/307, 250/397, 250/305
• US Class Current: 250/310
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/24475 Scattered electron detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/2448 Secondary particle detectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/24485 Energy spectrometers
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/2449 Detector devices with moving charges in electric or magnetic fields
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/24585 Other variables, e.g. energy, mass, velocity, time, temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/244 Detectors; Associated components or circuits therefor

Abstract

An electron microscope which includes a detector which is located in the magnetic field used to focus the primary electron beam onto the sample. The focusing magnetic field is used to energy-filter and/or energy analyze the scattered electrons without the need for additional equipment, such as a retarding-field energy filter. The magnetic field of the condenser-objective lens (or of any other type of magnetic lens) of the microscope provides the filtering and/or analyzing action, and the detector can be located so as to collect only low-loss electrons.

Claims

1. An electron apparatus including, in combination:

means for producing an electron beam,

means for directing said beam to a sample to be examined,

means for producing a magnetic field in which said sample is immersed, and

a detector for detecting electrons scattered from said sample, said detector being located in said magnetic field at a location such that only low-loss electrons scattered from said sample reach said detector.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, where said low-loss electrons have an energy within 5% of the energy of electrons in said beam.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, where said microscope is a scanning electron microscope.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, where said means for producing a magnetic field is a condenser-objective lens.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, where said sample is located in a high-field region of said magnetic lens.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, where said detector is located in a high-field region of said magnetic lens.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further including scanning means for scanning said electron beam across said sample.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, where said detector has a curved electron collecting surface substantially matching the envelope of the trajectories of said low-loss electrons in said magnetic field.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, including a plurality of detectors arranged in position substantially along the envelope of the trajectories of said low-loss electrons in said magnetic field.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, where said sample and said detector are attached to a single holder.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further including means for moving said detector relative to said holder.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, including a plurality of detectors having curved surfaces, the curved surfaces being substantially in a shape determined by the envelope of the trajectories of the scattered low-loss electrons.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, where said low-loss electrons scattered from said sample have energies within about 1% of the energies of electrons in said beam.

47. The apparatus of claim 1, where said low-loss electrons have minimum energies at least about 50% of the energy of the electrons in said beam.

14. In an electron microscope having a sample to be examined located within a focussing magnetic field and means for scanning an electron beam across said sample, the improvement comprising a detector for collecting low-loss electrons scattered from said sample, said detector being located at a position in said magnetic field intercepted only by the trajectories of scattered low-loss electrons.

48. The apparatus of claim 14, where said scattered low-loss electons have energies greater than about 50% of the energies of electrons in said electron beam that is scanned across said sample.

15. An apparatus, including:

means for producing a beam of charged particles,

means for directing said beam of charged particles to a sample to be examined,

means for producing a focussing electromagnetic field in which said sample is immersed, and

a detector for detecting charged particles scattered from said sample, said detector being located in a position in said electromagnetic field such that the envelope of the trajectories of charged particles, scattered from said sample with essentially the same energy as the charged particles incident upon said sample are tangent to a surface of said detector.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, where said detector has a curved surface for collecting said scattered charged particles, said curved surface having a shape corresponding to the envelope of the trajectories of charged particles scattered from said sample with essentially the same energies as the energies of the charged particles incident upon said sample.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, including a plurality of detectors being located so that the charged particle collecting surfaces of said detectors are substantially tangential to said trajectories.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, where said detector is comprised of a scintillator material, said scintillator material being adjacent to a light guide for conducting light produced by charged particles striking said scintillator material.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, where said detector is a semiconductor detector.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, including a plurality of detectors for collecting said charged particles scattered from said sample, said detectors being comprised of scintillator detectors connected to light pipes.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, where said detector is comprised of a scintillator material coated on an optical fiber.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, where the center of said optical fiber protrudes beyond a surface determined by said envelope of trajectories, the edges of said optical fiber being outside said envelope of trajectories.

49. The apparatus of claim 15, where the minimum energy of charged particles scattered from said sample is about 50% of the energy of charged particles in said beam of charged particles.

23. A method for analyzing a sample with a beam of charged particles, including the following steps:

immersing a sample in an electromagnetic field,

producing a beam of charged particles,

directing said beam to said sample,

collecting charged particles having a first energy range or scattering angle which are scattered from said sample to a detector located at a first position in said electromagnetic field, the trajectories of said scattered charged particles being determined by their energies after striking said sample and by said electromagnetic field, and

moving said detector to a second location in said electromagnetic field to collect charged particles scattered from said sample at a second energy range or scattering angle.

24. The method of claim 23, where said charged particles are electrons and said electromagnetic field is a magnetic field.

25. The method of claim 24, where said sample is located in a high-field region of said magnetic field.

26. The method of claim 23, where said detector is moved in said electromagnetic field, the positions of said detector being determined by the scattering angles of charged particles scattered from said sample.

27. An apparatus for examining a sample, including:

means for producing a beam of charged particles,

means for directing said beam to a sample,

field means for producing a field for focussing said beam of charged particles, the trajectories in said field of charged particles scattered from said sample being determined by the energies of said scattered charged particles and by said field, and

detector means located in said field at a position where the charged particles striking said detector after scattering from said sample are those which have essentially the same energy as charged particles in said beam.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, where said detector has a flat conducting surface placed tangentially to the envelope of the trajectories of said scattered charged particles, said conducting surface being connected to a current measuring device.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, where said detector has a conducting surface curved substantially in a shape determined by the envelope of the trajectories of said scattered charged particles.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, where said detector is a semiconductor detector.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, where the surface of said semiconductor detector is curved substantially in a shape determined by the envelope of the trajectories of said scattered charged particles.

32. The apparatus of claim 27, where said detector is comprised of a scintillator material, the surface of said scintillator material being substantially tangent to the envelope of the trajectories of said scattered charged particles, said scintillator surface being connected to a light measuring device.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, where said scintillator is connected to a light pipe which conducts light from the scintillator to a photodetector.

34. The apparatus of claim 27, where said detector is a scintillator detector having a curved surface, said surface being curved to a shape determined by the envelope of the trajectories of said scattered charged particles.

35. The apparatus of claim 27, where said detector is located at a position such that its collecting surface is substantially tangent to the trajectories of charged particles scattered from said sample with essentially the same energy as the charged particles in said beam.

36. The apparatus of claim 27, where said detector is a scintillator located over the center of an optical fiber, the end of said optical fiber being positioned substantially on a surface determined by the envelope of the trajectories of said scattered charge particles.

37. The apparatus of claim 27, including a plurality of detectors formed by a scintillator material coated on an array of optical fibers.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, where said fibers have a central portion which protrudes beyond a surface determined by the envelope of the trajectories of said scattered charged particles, said trajectories being substantially tangent to said surface.

39. The apparatus of claim 27, where said detector has a conducting surface placed at an angle to the trajectories of said scattered charged particles.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, where said conducting surface has an edge curved substantially in a shape matching the envelope of the trajectories of said scattered charged particles, the envelope of said trajectories being substantially tangent to the curved edge of said detector.

41. The apparatus of claim 27, where said beam of charged particles is a beam of electrons.

42. The apparatus of claim 40, where the means for producing a beam of charged particles is a scanning electron microscope.

43. The apparatus of claim 40, where said means for producing a beam of charged particles is a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM).

44. The apparatus of claim 40, where said means for producing a beam of charged particles is a transmission electron microscope (TEM).

45. The apparatus of claim 40, where said means for producing a beam of charged particles is a scanning tunneling microscope (STM).

46. The apparatus of claim 39, where said means for producing a beam of charged particles is an atomic force microscope (AFM).

50. The apparatus of claim 27, where the minimum energy of charged particles scattered from said sample is about 50% of the energy of charged particles in said beam of charged particles.