A Simple Scanning Electron Microscope

Abstract

A simple scanning microscope has been built which uses a field emission electron gun alone, without the aid of auxiliary lenses. The design and operation of the microscope are described and the calculated performance is compared with experiment. Resolution of 100 Å has been obtained and is shown in transmission electron micrographs. The probe current is of the order of 10−10 to 10−11 A, a value which is high enough to allow micrographs to be taken with scan times of 10 sec.