Shimadzu Corporation

University of York Heslington

Torquil Wells

Shin Fujita

Mohamed El-Gomati

Provided is a Schottky emitter having the conical end with a radius of curvature of 2.0 &#x3bc;m on the emission side of an electron beam. Since a radius of curvature is 1 &#x3bc;m or more, a focal length of an electron gun can be longer than in a conventional practice wherein a radius of curvature is in the range of from 0.5 &#x3bc;m to not more than 0.6 &#x3bc;m. The focal length was found to be roughly proportional to the radius of the curvature. Since the angular current intensity (the beam current per unit solid angle) is proportional to square of the electron gun focal length, the former can be improved by an order of magnitude within a practicable increase in the emitter radius. A higher angular current intensity means a larger beam current available from the electron gun and the invention enables the Schottky emitters to be used in applications which require relatively high beam current of microampere regime such as microfocus X-ray tube, electron probe micro-analyzer, and electron beam lithography system.

Growing community of inventors

York, United Kingdom

Torquil Wells