Electron Microscopy

By
Dr. Kaustab Ghosh
 Differences from optical
microscopy
 Wavelength of accelerated electrons is very
much smaller than the wavelength of visible or
UV photons.
• Greater resolution for electron imaging.
 Electrons interact much more strongly with
matter than photons.
• Thus all optical paths in an electron microscope
must usually be under a vacuum of at least 10-4
Pa.
 Electrons are charged particles and may thus be
focused by magnetic or electric fields.
 E-beam generation
• Thermionic emission - Thermal energy is
used to overcome the surface potential
barrier (work function) of a solid source
and so allow extraction of electrons from
the conduction band of an emitter.

• Field emission - Extremely high electric

field is employed to reduce the surface
potential barrier of an emitter.
 Brightness
• Brightness of the source is the current density
per unit solid angle.
• Improves sensitivity and image contrast
• Brightness can be increased by
• Materials - Using a lanthanum hexaboride
(LaB6 ) filament that possesses a lower work
function than tungsten.
• Smaller source size (1 μm)
• Employing field emission - A brightness increase
of 104 over a thermionic tungsten filament.
 Electron-specimen interaction
 Electron atom interaction - Secondary electrons
• Any electrons that escape from the specimen with kinetic energies below
about 50 eV.
• They are most likely to arise from ionized electrons previously associated
with atoms close to the surface of the solid
• These electrons have gained a small amount of kinetic energy and escaped.
• Secondary electrons are extremely abundant and the secondary electron
yield, (the number emitted per primary electron), is dependent on the
accelerating voltage and can even exceed 1.
• Extensively used for imaging in SEM.

 Electron nucleus interaction – Backscattered electrons

• Undergoes large deflection with little change in kinetic energy
• Electron yield low compared to that of secondary electrons and is
independent of accelerating voltage.
• backscattered electrons are also used for imaging in SEM as is strongly
dependent on atomic number Z
 ----Continuation

 Atomic excitation due to electronic excitation - Auger electrons and

emitted X-rays
• Atoms which have undergone inner shell ionization and have been
promoted into an excited state by the primary electron beam relax
when electrons from higher energy levels drop into the vacant inner
shells.
• This process results in the release of the excess energy between
the electron energy levels involved in the transitions (E), producing
low-energy (100–1000 eV) Auger electrons, or X-rays, or visible
photons of wavelength, λ = hc/ΔE.
• Auger yield is small and is extremely useful for surface analysis.
• The energies and wavelengths of the emitted X-rays, which are
characteristic of the atom involved, are used in elemental analysis.
 Scanning Electron Microscopy-
Block Diagram

Source: Nanoscale Science and Technology: Ed (Kelsall, Hamley and Geoghegan)

 Secondary and backscattered
electron imaging

Source: Nanoscale Science and Technology: Ed (Kelsall, Hamley and Geoghegan)