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New technique for in‐situ measurement of backscattered and secondary electron yields for the calculation of signal‐to‐noise ratio in a SEM
Author(s) -
SIM K. S.,
WHITE J. D.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.2005.01448.x
Subject(s) - secondary electrons , signal to noise ratio (imaging) , yield (engineering) , noise (video) , signal (programming language) , metrology , scanning electron microscope , electron , range (aeronautics) , optics , reliability (semiconductor) , computational physics , physics , materials science , image (mathematics) , computer science , power (physics) , artificial intelligence , composite material , quantum mechanics , programming language , thermodynamics
Summary The quality of an image generated by a scanning electron microscope is dependent on secondary emission, which is a strong function of surface condition. Thus, empirical formulae and available databases are unable to take into account actual metrology conditions. This paper introduces a simple and reliable measurement technique to measure secondary electron yield (δ) and backscattered electron yield (η) that is suitable for in‐situ measurements on a specimen immediately prior to imaging. The reliability of this technique is validated on a number of homogenous surfaces. The measured electron yields are shown to be within the range of published data and the calculated signal‐to‐noise ratio compares favourably with that estimated from the image.