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The Determination and Application of the Point Spread Function in the Scanning Electron Microscope

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2018

Matthew D. Zotta ,
Mandy C. Nevins Open the ORCID record for Mandy C. Nevins [Opens in a new window] ,
Richard K. Hailstone  and
Eric Lifshin
Matthew D. Zotta
Affiliation:
Nanoscience Constellation of the Colleges of Nanoscience and Engineering, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Albany, NY 12203, USA
Mandy C. Nevins
Affiliation:
Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
Richard K. Hailstone
Affiliation:
Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
Eric Lifshin*
Affiliation:
Nanoscience Constellation of the Colleges of Nanoscience and Engineering, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Albany, NY 12203, USA
*
*Author for correspondence: Eric Lifshin, E-mail: ericlifshin@gmail.com
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Abstract

A method is presented to determine the spatial distribution of electrons in the focused beam of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Knowledge of the electron distribution is valuable for characterizing and monitoring SEM performance, as well as for modeling and simulation in computational scanning electron microscopy. Specifically, it can be used to characterize astigmatism as well as study the relationship between beam energy, beam current, working distance, and beam shape and size. In addition, knowledge of the distribution of electrons in the beam can be utilized with deconvolution methods to improve the resolution and quality of backscattered, secondary, and transmitted electron images obtained with thermionic, FEG, or Schottky source instruments. The proposed method represents an improvement over previous methods for determining the spatial distribution of electrons in an SEM beam. Several practical applications are presented.

Keywords

point spread functionscanning electron microscopyelectron distributionastigmatism correctionimage restoration
Type
Software and Instrumentation
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , August 2018 , pp. 396 - 405
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2018 

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Footnotes

†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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