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Overview of S(T) EM electron detectors with garnet scintillators: Some potentials and limits
Author(s) -
Schauer Petr,
Lalinský Ondřej,
Kučera Miroslav
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.23634
Subject(s) - scintillator , scintillation , optics , materials science , optoelectronics , absorption (acoustics) , photomultiplier , optical transfer function , detector , physics
The paper is focused on a complete configuration and design of a scintillation electron detector in scanning electron and/or scanning transmission electron microscopes (S(T)EM) with garnet scintillators. All processes related to the scintillator and light guide were analyzed. In more detail, excitation electron trajectories and absorbed energy distributions, efficiencies and kinetics of scintillators, as well as the influence of their anti‐charging coatings and their substrates, assigned optical properties, and light guide efficiencies of different configurations were presented and discussed. The results indicate problems with low‐energy detection below 1 keV when the scandium conductive coating with a thickness of only 3 nm must be used to allow electron penetration without significant losses. It was shown that the short rise and decay time and low afterglow of LuGdGaAG:Ce liquid‐phase epitaxy garnet film scintillators guarantee a strong modulation transfer function of the entire imaging system resulting in a contrast transfer ability up to 0.6 lp/pixel. Small film scintillator thicknesses were found to be an advantage due to the low signal self‐absorption. The optical absorption coefficients, refractive indices, and the mirror optical reflectance of materials involved in the light transport to the photomultiplier tube photocathode were investigated. The computer‐optimized design SCIUNI application was used to configure the optimized light guide system. It was shown that nonoptimized edge‐guided systems possess very poor light guiding efficiency as low as 1%, while even very complex optimized ones can achieve more than 20%.