972 CD DOI: 10.

1017/S1431927607077161

Microsc Microanal 13(Suppl 2), 2007 Copyright 2007 Microscopy Society of America

Observation of Crystalline Contrast with Using Low Energy Electrons in SEM

Naoki Kikuchi,* Takehiko Shinzawa,* Tsutomu Negishi,* Kazumichi Ogura* and Charles H. Nielsen** *JEOL Ltd., Electron Optics Division, 1-2 Musashino 3-Chome Akishima Tokyo 196-8558 JAPAN **JEOL USA, INC. 11 Dearborn Road Peabody, MA 01960 USA A backscattered electron image is widely used to observe crystalline contrast with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), because the backscattered electron image shows stronger contrast of crystalline orientations than a secondary electron image. In order to observe crystalline contrast from fine crystal grains in a very thin top layer, it is necessary to use low energy electrons in order to minimize penetration depth of the incident electrons in the specimens. However, there are two problems for observation of crystalline contrast with low energy electrons. The first is sensitivity; the sensitivity of a backscattered electron becomes lower as the electron energy is reduced. The second is resolution; a conventional backscattered electron detector is used at a relatively long working distance so that the resolution of the backscattered electron image may not be sufficient for the observation of fine crystal grains. The authors succeeded in solving these two problems by combining the newly developed backscattered electron detector with applying a deceleration mode to the latest FE SEM, in which the incident electrons were decelerated by applying a bias voltage on the specimen stage, and in observing the crystalline contrast in a thin recording layer of DVD-RAM in electron energy below 1kV. JEOL JSM-7500F was used for this observation. The deceleration mode accelerates the backscattered electrons generated from a specimen. The accelerated backscattered electrons are detected efficiently. A newly developed backscattered electron detector is mounted directly on the bottom of the objective lens pole-piece, so that a specimen can be observed at a shorter working distance to improve the resolution at lower electron energy. Fig. 1 shows comparison of backscattered electron images taken at the same landing voltage (1kV) but in the deceleration mode and normal mode. A specimen is gold particles evaporated on a carbon substrate. In the deceleration mode, image contrast is comparatively higher than that in the normal mode. Figure 2 shows a backscattered electron image obtained at 0.8kV. The specimen is the recoding surface of a DVD-RAM. Fine crystal grains with sizes from a few tens nm to 100 nm are observed in the area where no data are recorded. Oval patterns with a size of 0.4 m x 0.7 m indicate the amorphous area where data are recorded.

Microsc Microanal 13(Suppl 2), 2007

973 CD

a) deceleration mode (bias voltage:0.5kV )

b) normal mode (no bias)

Figure 1:Comparison of backscattered electron images at 1kV. Specimen: Gold particles evaporated on carbon substrate

Figure 2: The recording surface of DVD-RAM observed at 0.8kV