Abstract
Recently, there are increasing demands for a low voltage scanning electron microscopy (LVSEM) in order to observe a sample surface without applying metal coating to insulator materials such as high polymer resist coated on Si-wafers and synthetic fibers. This is because the LVSEM technique enables not only avoiding charge-up disturbance but also reducing sample damage by electron beams. Besides, the most important reason for LVSEM is to make possible to observe their uppermost surface topography because of shorter penetration of impinging electrons to the solid surface. This means that surface topographies can be observed with more fidelitical way by means of LVSEM technique. In the present review, the authors will make a brief introduction of the field emission SEM (FESEM) with which an observation of higher magnification, say, higher than 10,000× at 1kV or less, is easily realized. Then, some of recent LVSEM applications for high polymer materials are described.
