Skip Navigation



Journal of Electron Microscopy Advance Access published online on October 19, 2009
Journal of Electron Microscopy, doi:10.1093/jmicro/dfp047
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kohashi, T.
Right arrow Articles by Koike, K.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kohashi, T.
Right arrow Articles by Koike, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

High-resolution spin-polarized scanning electron microscopy (spin SEM)

Teruo Kohashi1,2*, Makoto Konoto1,3,4 and Kazuyuki Koike2,5

1 Joint Research Center for Atom Technology (JRCAT), Angstrom Technology Partnership (ATP), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba 305-0046, Japan
2 Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., 1-280, Higashi-koigakubo Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo 185-8601, Japan
3 Correlated Electron Research Center (CERC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8562, Japan
4 Nanoelectronics Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8562, Japan
5 Joint Research Center for Atom Technology (JRCAT), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba 305-0046, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: teruo.kohashi.fc{at}hitachi.com

We have developed spin-polarized scanning electron microscopy (spin SEM) with a 5-nm resolution. The secondary electron optics is very important, as it needs to transfer a sufficient number of secondary electrons to the spin polarimeter, due to the low efficiency of the polarimeter. The optics was designed using a three-dimensional (3D) simulation program of the secondary electron trajectories, and it achieves highly efficient collection and transport of the secondary electrons even though the distance between the sample and the objective lens exit of the electron gun remains short. Moreover, the designed optics enables us to obtain clear SEM images in the spin SEM measurement and to precisely adjust the probe beam shape. These functions lead to images with high spatial resolution and sufficient signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios. This optics has been installed in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) spin SEM chamber with a Schottky-type electron gun for the probe electron beam. We observed recorded bits on a perpendicular magnetic recording medium and visualized small irregularities in the bit shapes around the track edges and bit boundaries. The high resolution of 5 nm was demonstrated by observing the smallest domain composed by a single grain in the recording medium.

Keywords     spin, magnetic domain, high resolution, SEM, secondary electrons, magnetic recording

Received     28 May 2009, accepted 4 September 2009


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.