Vg Systems Limited

Fei Comapny

Bryan Barnard

Pavel Stejskal

Peter Coxon

Christopher Kenneth Glenister

Austin Penrose Day

Chris Stephens

Zoran Pesic

H Sebastian Von Harrach

A method and apparatus for detection of charged particles in spectroscopy. Charged particles, received from an energy dispersive spectroscopic analyser as a charged particle beam, are accelerated towards a detector. The accelerated charged particles are received at an array of detecting pixels, the array of detecting pixels forming the detector. The charged particles arriving at the detector have a spread in the energy dispersive direction.

Charged particle detection for spectroscopic techniques

The invention relates to an image capture assembly and method for use in an electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) system. An image capture assembly comprises a scintillation screen () including a predefined screen region (), an image sensor () comprising an array of photo sensors and a lens assembly (). The image capture assembly is configured to operate in at least a first configuration or a second configuration. In the first configuration the lens assembly () projects the predefined region () of the scintillation screen () onto the array and in the second configuration the lens assembly () projects the predefined region () of the scintillation screen () onto a sub-region () of the array. In each of the first and second configurations the field of view of the lens assembly () is the same.

Image capture assembly and method for electron back scatter diffraction

A method of processing one or more surfaces is provided, comprising: providing a switchable ion gun which is switchable between a cluster mode setting for producing an ion beam substantially comprising ionized gas clusters for irradiating a surface and an atomic mode setting for producing an ion beam substantially comprising ionized gas atoms for irradiating a surface; and selectively operating the ion gun in the cluster mode by mass selecting ionized gas clusters using a variable mass selector thereby irradiating a surface substantially with ionized gas clusters or the atomic mode by mass selecting ionized gas atoms using a variable mass selector thereby irradiating a surface substantially with ionized gas atoms. Also provided is a switchable ion gun comprising: a gas expansion nozzle for producing gas clusters; an ionization chamber for ionizing the gas clusters and gas atoms; and a variable (preferably a magnetic sector) mass selector for mass selecting the ionized gas clusters and ionized gas atoms to produce an ion beam variable between substantially comprising ionized gas clusters and substantially comprising ionized gas atoms. Preferably, the gun comprises an electrically floating flight tube for adjusting the energy of the ions while within the mass selector.

Switchable gas cluster and atomic ion gun, and method of surface processing using the gun

A switchable ion gun switchable between a cluster mode setting for producing an ion beam substantially comprising ionised gas clusters and an atomic mode setting for producing an ion beam substantially comprising ionised gas atoms, comprising:

Switchable ion gun with improved gas inlet arrangement

The invention provides a magnetic lens for generating a magnetic imaging field to focus charged particles emitted from a sample, the lens comprising a central pole piece and an outer pole piece disposed about the central pole piece, wherein the lens comprises a magnetic moveable element for movement relative to at least one of the pole pieces, whereby a focal length of the lens is variable by said movement of the magnetic moveable element, thereby enabling a zoom facility for changing the magnification of an image. The movement of the moveable element preferably changes the magnetic circuit between the pole pieces. Also provided is a method of focusing charged particles emitted from a sample and a charged particle energy analyzer, such as an imaging photoelectron spectroscopy system.

Magnetic lens, method for focusing charged particles and charged particle energy analyzer

A spectrometer and method of spectroscopy are provided for surface analysis. The spectrometer comprises an energy analyser for analysing the energies of charged particles liberated from a sample, a lens arranged to project a diffraction image of the analysis area at the image plane of the lens and a detector for detecting the charged particles. The analyser and lens are arranged to generate an image at the detector in which the charged particles are distributed along a first direction according to their emission angles and are distributed along another direction according to their energies. The detector is arranged to detect the distribution of charged particles in the image along the first direction to provide angle resolved energy spectra.

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East Grinstead, United Kingdom

Bryan Barnard