Scanning Electron Microscopy

Advanced Physics Laboratories PL1

April 2024

João Pedro Rodrigues Simões Vinı́cius de Lima

1 Introduction
This work aims to present the method of scanning electron microscopy, describing the principles
behind its operation and the components that make up this equipment, discussing the advantages
and disadvantages of its use and the applications of this method.

2 History
Research in the field of electron microscopy began at the beginning of the 20th century, when
important discoveries about this particle allowed a better understanding of its behavior, such as
the wave-particle duality introduced by de Broglie. The use of electrons for microscopic analysis
began after light microscopes reached their theoretical limit of resolution, defined by the Rayleigh
criterion.
In 1931, two German scientists, Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll, found a way to obtain a resolution
greater than that of light; for this, they transmitted electrons through the sample to form an im-
age. From this discovery came the first transmission electron microscope (TEM). Ten years later,
Ruska created a similar but different method for studying a sample, using a focused beam of
electrons to scan the surface of the sample in a rectangular pattern to obtain information about
its topography and composition. Unlike TEM, the image of this new equipment was created
after the microscope captured and counted the scattered electrons, thus creating the scanning
electron microscope (SEM). Both methods have been improved over the years, providing results
with a magnification of more than four orders of magnitude compared to light microscopes.

Figure 1: Comparing length scales accessible by different types of microscopes.

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3 Operating Principle
Scanning electron microscopy is a very versatile technique that allows you to obtain high-
resolution images and detailed information about the sample surface. To do this, a focused
beam of electrons is projected and scanned onto the surface of the sample, and the signals pro-
duced are subsequently analyzed using specialized detectors. The signals produced come from
interactions between the emitted electrons and the sample atoms and can be used to obtain
information about the composition of the material and the topography of its surface.

When the electron beam reaches the surface of the sample, it penetrates it to a depth of a few
micrometers before interacting with its atoms. The extent of this interaction volume depends on
the voltage to which the electrons in the beam were subjected and the density of the sample.

Figure 2: Schematic of electron beam interaction.

Many signals are generated as a result of the electron beam interacting with the sample. The
most used signals in the SEM are:

• Back-scattered electrons (BSE):

Originating from elastic collisions with angles greater than 90° between the electrons in
the beam and the atoms in the sample, caused by the Coulomb interaction, they present
greater energy, which on the one hand affects the resolution of the generated image, but
on the other hand allows them to escape from deeper regions of the sample, thus allowing
an analysis of their composition.

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 Figure 3: Schematic diagram of Back-scattered electrons

The number of electrons that suffered back-scattering depends mainly on the atomic num-
ber of the sample components, so the higher this number, the greater the amount collected,
which makes it possible to create images using the contrast between the occurrences of these
events. Other factors that increase this contrast are the acceleration voltage that is applied
to the beam and the angle of the sample in relation to this beam. This type of interaction
is commonly used in the detection of chemical components in which there is more than one
phase in the sample.
• Secondary electrons (SE):
They are emitted when energy transfers occur between the electrons in the beam and the
valence electrons of the atoms that make up the sample due to the occurrence of inelastic
collisions. For this to occur, the electrons in the beam need to reach a minimum energy
level to cause the ionization of this atom. When this happens, a secondary electron is
emitted.

Figure 4: Schematic diagram of secondary electrons

These secondary electrons tend to have a very low energy, typically less than 50 eV, which

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 implies that the average path taken by these particles in the material is very small, thus
escaping a region within a few nanometers of the surface. In this way, secondary electrons
precisely highlight the position of the beam and provide topographic information, i.e.,
surface texture and roughness, with good resolution. The image generated depends on the
number of electrons that reach the detector, so regions with a low number of events are
marked with shading. To maximize the number of interactions, some inclination is usually
applied to the sample so that the volume of interaction is greater and consequently the
number of secondary electrons also increases.
• Characteristic X-rays:
When an electron from an inner shell is displaced due to a collision with electrons in the
beam, an electron from an outer shell can ’fall’ to that shell in order to reestablish the
charge balance in that orbital after an ionization event. Thus, after the emission of an
X-ray, the ionized atom can return to its minimum energy state.

As each element has well-defined energy levels, the signals resulting from the analysis of
the X-ray spectrum emitted by the sample are important for studying the elements that
make up the sample, their abundance, and their distribution.

Figure 5: Schematic diagram of emission of characteristic X-rays

Along with the characteristic peak of the X-ray, a continuous background is also emitted
due to the deceleration of high-energy electrons that interact with the electron cloud and
the nuclei of the atoms in the sample; this effect is called continuous X-ray. , and, despite
also providing information for understanding the sample, it is discarded from the spectrum
before analysis.

In addition to the events mentioned above, it is also possible for signals from Auger electrons,
cathodoluminescence, transmitted electrons, and specimen current to occur; however, these sig-
nals are not analyzed in the most common SEM configurations.

4 SEM Components
a

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 Figure 6: Schematic diagram of a scanning electron microscope

The SEM has the shape of a column where an electron gun is located at its top, which is
the place where these particles are produced and accelerated. There are three types of electron
guns that are commonly used; the main difference between them is the source of the electrons.
They are: the tungsten gun, which uses a V-shaped tungsten filament as a source; the lanthanum
hexaboride gun, which uses a crystal of this compound as a source; and the field emission gun,
which uses a tungsten crystal as a very sharp point as a source. This last method is the most used
currently because it does not need to depend on heating the source to generate electrons; only
a strong electric field is applied to the material. As a result, the emitted beam is more coherent
and about a hundred times brighter than that generated by the other methods. However, its
disadvantage is that it needs to operate under an extremely high vacuum.

The electrons produced are accelerated until they reach energies between 0.1 and 30 keV,
but the beam that comes out of the weapon is too wide for the scale intended to be studied,
preventing high-resolution images from being obtained. To solve this problem, the beam passes
through a set of electromagnetic lenses and apertures that demagnify the beam, which finally
passes through an objective lens to focus on the sample, thus having a diameter between 1-100
nm. For this to be possible, it is essential that the device have a high vacuum environment to
avoid scattering due to interaction with air.

The scan coil is responsible for deflecting the electron beam that hits the sample, allowing
analysis according to a rectangular pattern. This coil is synchronized with the image acquisition
software so that it can connect the position of the beam with the position of the generated im-
age. At the base of the column is located the chamber where the sample is placed, which, while
observation is carried out, is always under high vacuum.

As previously mentioned, there are several signals that can be emitted when the electron
beam interacts with the sample, and for each interaction there is a specific detector to analyze

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it. The most common are:

• Secondary electron detector (SED):

This device is called an Everhart-Thornley detector and consists of a photomultiplier, a
scintillator placed inside a Faraday cage, and a light pipe. The scintillator is subject to a
potential of the order of 10 kV so that any electron that strikes it has the energy necessary
to excite the material that makes up the device, which will consequently emit a photon
that will be carried through the light pipe to the photomultiplier, where it will be again
transformed into an electrical signal and amplified. The Faraday cage that surrounds the
scintillator is influenced by a potential of approximately 300 volts, and its function is to
suppress the effect caused by the potential in the scintillator on low-energy secondary
electrons, thus preventing their deflection.
• Back-scattered electron detector (BSD):
The most common type of this detector is a solid-state sensor. Its operation consists of the
formation of electron-hole pairs in the semiconductor present in the sensor, which generates
an electric current that is proportional to the quantity of electrons that are collected. This
type of detector is shaped like a ring and positioned above the sample in order to maximize
the number of electrons that are captured. Usually the ring is divided into four different
sectors, which allows a wide variation in the study of the sample.
• Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS):
It is the most common way to analyze the emission spectrum of the characteristic X-rays
of the sample. The most commonly used is a solid-state detector called a silicon drift
detector (SDD). Its operation consists of the formation of electron-hole pairs through the
absorption of emitted X-rays. By measuring the variation in charge over the time interval
during which the signal is collected, a graph of intensity is constructed as a function of the
X-ray energy, thus enabling the identification of practically all elements in the analyzed
region.

5 General Advantages and Disadvantages

As previously stated, the resolution of SEM is much higher than that of light microscopes, as
an electron beam can have a much shorter wavelength than the light in the visible spectrum.
However, when compared to another electron microscopy method, like TEM, it is possible to see
that the need to adjust the diameter of the electron beam and the size of the interaction volume
becomes a disadvantage as it makes it impossible to visualize structures that are the order of
magnitude of some atoms.

The other advantage of this method is the variety of information that it is possible to obtain
from a sample, since each different interaction can be studied with a specific detector, generating
almost complete knowledge of the structure of the specimen studied. But at the same time, this
can become a disadvantage since, as different detectors may be needed, the price of building this
equipment can become very high and its size will also become larger.

The last disadvantage is the care that needs to be taken with the samples due to the use of
high vacuum, which can even prevent the study of samples that cannot withstand this type of
pressure.

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6 Applications
Scanning Electron Microscopy is highly versatile and is therefore used in various fields of study,
such as:
• Material science: used for research, quality control, and failure analysis;
• Nanowires for gas sensing: it is important to help characterize nanowires and understand
their gas sensing behavior;
• Semiconductor inspection: offers an accurate measurement of the composition of the semi-
conductor;
• Microchip assembly: helps gain insight into the effectiveness of new production and fabri-
cation methods;

• Forensic investigations: used to uncover evidence and gain further forensic insight;
• Biological sciences: used to study viruses, bacteria, and animal tissue;
• Medical science: used to measure the effects of treatments on patients and to determine
the cause of illness by comparing blood and tissue samples;

7 References
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Retrieved from
https://www.thermofisher.com/blog/materials/the-history-of-the-electron-microscope/

The applications and practical uses of scanning electron microscopes (2019) ATA Scientific.(April
2024). Retrieved from
https://www.atascientific.com.au/sem-imaging-applications-practical-uses-scanning-electron-microscopes/

W. Zhou, R. Apkarian, Z. L. Wang and D. Joy, “Fundamentals of Scanning Electron Microscopy

(SEM),”

Scanning electron microscopy (2023a) Nanoscience Instruments.(April 2024). Retrieved from

https://www.nanoscience.com/techniques/scanning-electron-microscopy/

Mathias, J. (2020) Advantages and disadvantages of scanning electron microscopy, Innovatech

Labs.(April 2024). Retrieved from
https://www.innovatechlabs.com/newsroom/2083/advantages-disadvantages-scanning-electron-microscopy/