Surface studies in a UHV field emission gun scanning electron microscope

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Abstract
SUMMARY: Recent instrumental advances have enabled scanning electron microscopy using a field emission gun (FEG) to be combined with an ultra high vacuum specimen chamber. The resulting instrument, the UHV‐FEG‐SEM, allows high spatial resolution microstructural and micro‐analytic information to be obtained reliably from clean surfaces for the first time.Such an instrument has been installed and developed at the University of Sussex. It incorporates SEM at ∼5 nm resolution, scanning Auger microscopy at ∼30 nm resolution, and various diffraction techniques, including RHEED and electron backscattering pattern (EBSP) techniques, at (lateral) resolutions which can approach 10 nm. The work function can also be measured microscopically as demonstrated in this paper. Combined with facilities for in situ cleaning and molecular beam deposition, these techniques represent a considerable improvement in our ability to study surface and near‐surface phenomena on a microscopic scale.Examples of recent work on technique development, including work‐function measurement and backscattering patterns, are described. Recent applications to metal and semiconductor systems are described, including the crystal growth of Ag on Si (111) and Mo (100), the composition profiles of GaAs lasers, and adsorbed Cs layers on tungsten.