Miniaturization of electron optical systems has gained much interest over the last decade [1,2]. In a scanning electron microscope, downscaling of the column dimensions is expected to allow for high resolution imaging at low electron beam voltage. Main advantages of low voltage imaging are lower penetration depth, increased secondary electron yield, less specimen charging and better topographic contrast [3].

We have developed a miniature scanning electron microscope (SEM) with high resolution at low beam energies. The outer dimensions of the miniaturized SEM column are 25 mm diameter and 95 mm length, including conventional field emitter electron source module. The column prototype is shown in Fig. 1. The size reduction has been achieved by the exclusive implementation of electrostatic column components. Electron optical simulations indicate that the retarding objective lens of the miniature SEM allows for a probe resolution of 3 nm at 1 keV beam energy. The secondary electrons are collected at an internal scintillator detector.