Miniature electron beam column with a silicon micro field emitter

Abstract

Silicon micro field emitters (Si-MFEs) are expected to be promising as electron sources for their high brightness and ease in making arrayed microcolumns due to small physical size. We have developed a Si-MFE electron gun assembly that produces an electron beam of 1 keV. All components including the Si acceleration electrode are mounted on an integrated circuit (IC) package stem (TO-8) by anodic and eutectic bonding. A high brightness (75 μA/sr) and a long lifetime (>1000 h) have been observed. To overcome the intrinsic emission instability of Si-MFEs, we developed a simple feedback circuit which controls an extraction voltage. The source position shift and the aberration coefficient change caused by stabilization were evaluated analytically and found to be negligible due to the scaling law as applied to micron size. We confirmed that the total emission fluctuation could be stabilized to less than 1% by detecting the absorption current but also found that this detection should be done in the electron beam column to stabilize the probe current due to the instability of the emission angle. Using the Si-MFE electron gun along with a miniature electron beam column 5 cm in length, we evaluated the electron optical properties and succeeded in demonstrating a scanning electron microscope operation with a resolution less than 0.5 μm.