Hitachi-high-technologies Corporation

Hitachi, Ltd.

Kuniyasu Nakamura

Hiroshi Kakibayashi

Mikio Ichihashi

Masanari Koguchi

Takahito Hashimoto

Shigeto Isakozawa

Ruriko Tsuneta

Hiromi Inada

Hideo Todokoro

Kazutaka Tsuji

Katsuhiro Kuroda

Yasuhiro Mitsui

Kensuke Sekihara

Tatsuo Makishima

Jun Motoike

Yuji Sato

Mitsugu Sato

Yuji Takagi

Kaoru Umemura

Yoichi Ose

Hiroyuki Kobayashi

Ryo Miyake

Shigeyuki Hosoki

Takashi Onishi

Yoshifumi Taniguchi

Mitsuru Onuma

Shunichi Watanabe

Shun-ichi Watanabe

Tomonori Suzuki

Masaru Moriyama

Koichirou Saito

The objective of the present application is to suppress the occurrence of flares and to reduce the amount of secondary electrons arising at an aperture provided to the lead-out electrode of an electron gun. By coating a thin film having a low rate of secondary electron emission such as carbon onto the aperture of a lead-out electrode closest to an electron source in an electron gun, it is possible to reduce the amount of secondary electrons arising. Secondary electrons arising at the lead-out electrode, are reduced, and so as a result, flare is reduced. By incorporating two apertures to the lead-out electrode, and applying to the two apertures a potential that is equipotential to the lead-out electrode, it is possible to eliminate an electric field from seeping from under to over the lead-out electrode. Secondary electrons arising when an electron beam impacts the lead-out electrode cease to incur force in the direction of passage from the lead-out electrode, and consequently there is a reduction in flares.

Electron gun and charged particle beam device having an aperture with flare-suppressing coating

A scanning transmission electron microscope according to the present invention includes an electron lens system having a small spherical aberration coefficient for enabling three-dimensional observation of a 0.1 nm atomic size structure. The scanning transmission electron microscope according to the present invention also includes an aperture capable of changing an illumination angle; an illumination electron lens system capable of changing the probe size of an electron beam probe and the illumination angle; a secondary electron detector (); a transmission electron detector (); a forward scattered electron beam detector (); a focusing unit (); an image processor for identifying image contrast; an image processor for computing image sharpness; a processor for three-dimensional reconstruction of an image; and a mixer () for mixing a secondary electron signal and a specimen forward scattered electron signal.

Scanning electron microscope and scanning transmission electron microscope

A scanning transmission electron microscope equipped with an aberration corrector is capable of automatically aligning the position of a convergence aperture with the center of an optical axis irrespective of skill and experience of an operator. The scanning transmission electron microscope system includes an electron source; a condenser lens configured to converge an electron beam emitted from the electron source; a deflector configured to cause the electron beam to perform scanning on a sample; an aberration correction device configured to correct an aberration of the electron beam; a convergence aperture configured to determine a convergent angle of the electron beam; and a detector configured to detect electrons passing through or diffracted by the sample. The system acquires information on contrast of a Ronchigram formed by the electron beam passing through the sample, and determines a position of the convergence aperture on the basis of the information.

Scanning transmission electron microscope and axial adjustment method thereof

Electron microscope

A scanning transmission electron microscope for scanning a primary electron beam on a sample, detecting a transmitted electron from the sample by a detector, and forming an image of the transmitted electron. The scanning transmission electron microscope includes an electron-optics system which enables switching back the transmitted electron beam to the optical axis by a predetermined quantity, and a determining unit for determining the quantity based on a displacement of the transmitted electron with respect to the detector caused by the scanning of the primary electron beam.

Scanning transmission electron microscope and scanning transmission electron microscopy

The present invention provides a scanning transmission electron microscope which is capable of setting an acceptance angular range of an energy loss spectrometer independent of an acceptance angular range of a scattered electron detector, and makes it unnecessary to change a condition for the energy loss spectrometer with respect to a change in the acceptance angular range of the scattered electron detector. In such a scanning transmission electron microscope equipped with the energy loss spectrometer, a first rotationally symmetric type magnetic lens for setting an acceptance angle of an electron scattered by a specimen is disposed above the scattered electron detector for detecting the electron, a second rotationally symmetric type magnetic lens is disposed between the scattered electron detector and the energy loss spectrometer, the first rotationally symmetric type magnetic lens sets the acceptance angle of the scattered electron, and the second rotationally symmetric type magnetic lens sets an object point of the energy loss spectrometer.

Scanning transmission electron microscope and electron energy loss spectroscopy

A scanning transmission electron microscope which enhances correction accuracy of a de-scanning coil for canceling a transmitted-electron-beam position change on an electron detector. Here, this transmitted-electron-beam position change appears in accompaniment with a primary-electron-beam position change on a specimen caused by a scanning coil. First, control over the scanning coil is digitized. Moreover, while being synchronized with a digital control signal resulting from this digitization, values in a de-scanning table registered in a FM() are outputted to the de-scanning coil. Here, the de-scanning table is created as follows: Diffraction images before and after activating the scanning coil and the de-scanning coil are photographed using a camera. Then, based on a result acquired by analyzing a resultant displacement quantity of the diffraction images by the image processing, the de-scanning table is created.

A bio electron microscope and an observation method which can observe a bio specimen by low damage and high contrast to perform high-accuracy image analysis, and conduct high-throughput specimen preparation. 1) A specimen is observed at an accelerating voltage 1.2 to 4.2 times a critical electron accelerating voltage possible to transmit a specimen obtained under predetermined conditions. 2) An electron energy filter of small and simplified construction is provided between the specimen and an electron detector for imaging by the electron beam in a specified energy region of the electron beams transmitting the specimen. 3) Similarity between an observed image such as virus or protein in the specimen and a reference image such as known virus or protein is subjected to quantitative analysis by image processing. 4) A preparation protocol of the bio specimen is made into a chip using an MEMS technique, which is then mounted on a specimen stage part of an electron microscope to conduct specimen introduction, preparation and transfer onto a specimen holder.

Bio electron microscope and observation method of specimen

A scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) has an electron source for generating a primary electron beam and an electron illuminating lens system for converging the primary electron beam from the electron source onto a specimen for illumination. An electron deflecting system is provided for scanning the specimen with the primary electron beam. The STEM also has a scattered electron detector for detecting scattered electrons transmitted through the specimen. A projection lens system projects the scattered electrons onto a detection surface of the scattered electron detector. An image displaying device displays the scanning transmission electron microscope image of the specimen using a detection signal from the scattered electron detector. A detection angle changing device for establishes the range of the scattering angle of the scattered electrons detected by the scattered electron detector. This structure enhances the contrast of a desired portion of the specimen under observation for a scanning transmitted image by selective establishment of detection angle ranges for the scattered electron detector.

Method and apparatus for scanning transmission electron microscopy

Disclosed is an observation apparatus and method using an electron beam, capable of measuring stress and strain information on a crystal structure in a specimen using electron beam diffraction images. A method according to the invention includes mounting a specimen on a specimen stage; irradiating a predetermined area in the specimen with an electron beam while scanning the electron beam, and acquiring an enlarged image of a specimen internal structure in the predetermined area; irradiating a specific portion included in the predetermined area and acquiring a diffraction image showing the crystal structure in the specimen; extracting information on the crystal structure in the specimen; displaying the information of the crystal structure in the specimen so as to be superimposed on the acquired enlarged image. The observation method according to the invention can obtain information on the crystal structure in a specimen with a high degree of sensitivity and with a high level of resolution.

Observation apparatus and observation method using an electron beam

In order to detect automatically at a high speed and a high probability rate the crystal defects and shape abnormalities in a specimen over a wide area of said specimen, a transmission electron microscope apparatus is employed which has an electron source, a first electrostatic lens, a second electrostatic lens, a third electrostatic lens, a first condenser lens, a second condenser lens, a pre-field objective lens, a deflection coil, a first projection lens, a second projection lens, a third projection lens, a first image shift coil, a second image shift coil, and an image acquisition apparatus, etc. The detection of crystal defects is made definite by observing the specimen image at the same location by multiple variations of the electron beam incidence direction using the deflection coil. In addition, the crystal defects are detected at a high speed by linking the deflection ratios of the deflection coil and of the first image shift coil and the second image shift coil, and carrying out compensation so that image shifts on the image acquisition apparatus due to the multiple electron beam incidence directions are mutually cancelled.

Transmission electron microscope apparatus with equipment for inspecting defects in specimen and method of inspecting defects in specimen using transmission electron microscope

3-dimensional observation on the atomic arrangement and atomic species in a thin-film specimen are carried out at high speed and accuracy by an electron microscope which measures electrons emitted at high angle from the specimen. A scanning transmission electron microscope has an electron detection device comprising a scintillator converting electrons detected thereby to photons, a photoconductive-film converting photons from the scintillator detected thereby to c.a. 1000 times as many electron-hole pairs as these photons.

A scanning transmission electron microscope including an electron detection system having a scattering angle limiting aperture (for the inner angle) and a scattering angle limiting aperture (for the outer angle) between a specimen and an electron detector (comprising a scintillator and a light guide) and only one electron detector is installed.

Growing community of inventors

Musashino, Japan

Kuniyasu Nakamura