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Journal of Electron Microscopy Advance Access originally published online on November 6, 2007
Journal of Electron Microscopy 2007 56(5):163-169; doi:10.1093/jmicro/dfm024
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Simulation Study on Image Contrast and Spatial Resolution in Helium Ion Microscope

Kensuke Inai1,*, Kaoru Ohya2 and Tohru Ishitani3

1 Department of Advanced Technology and Science, The University of Tokushima, Minamijosanjima-cho 2-1, Tokushima 770-8506, Japan
2 Institute of Technology and Science, The University of Tokushima, Minamijosanjima-cho 2-1, Tokushima 770-8506, Japan
3 Naka Division, Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, 882 Ichige, Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki-ken 312-8504, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ken-171{at}ee.tokushima-u.ac.jp

We performed Monte Carlo simulation of helium (He) ion induced secondary electron (SE) emission in order to compare the secondary electron image characteristics between He and gallium (Ga) scanning ion microscopes (SIM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). For 10–50 keV He ion bombardment SE yield increases gradually with increasing the atomic number, Z2, of the target, as well as for the electron bombardment. However, for 30 keV Ga ion bombardment, SE yield shows an opposite Z2 dependence. The calculated SE yield is much larger than that for both electron and Ga ion bombardment. The incident angle dependence of the SE yield approximately obeys the inverse cosine law even at high angles of 85° and more. On the other hand, for electron bombardment, the incident angle dependences are much weaker for low energy and high Z2. These indicate that the image contrast on He-SIM is clearer than those of SEM. Among the electron excitations by incident He ions, recoiled target atoms and excited electrons, the first one having narrow excitation volume dominates the SE yield, so that the spatial image resolution in SIM using zero-diameter He beams with the energies of 10–50 keV is prospected to be smaller or better (<0.1 nm) than for 30 keV Ga ion and 1 keV electron beams.

Keywords     spatial resolution, material contrast, topographic contrast, atomic number contrast, scanning ion microscope, scanning electron microscope

Received     22 July 2007, accepted 29 July 2007


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