Development of New Low Damage Observation and Analysis Method by Electron Beam Control Using High-speed Electrostatic Shutter

Abstract

In recent years, with the spread of aberration correction devices, observation and analysis with atomic resolution have been popular. However, it leads drastic increase in electron beam current density in parallel. As a result, previously inconspicuous electron beam damage is more likely to become more noticeable. On the other hand, the demand for observation and analysis of samples that are sensitive to an electron beam is increasing, and it is essential to reduce the dose for their observation and analysis. However, lowering the dose lowers the resulting signal-to-noise ratio. Therefore, there is a request for a method of suppressing damage to the electron beam without reducing the dose. In this paper, we proposed a new observation and/or analysis method that suppresses sample damage caused by electron beams, which is an intermittent irradiation method, using a newly developed high-speed electrostatic shutter. As a result, it was found that the damage caused by electrons was significantly reduced.