A Novel Silicon Nanowire-based Electron Detector Utilized in Scanning Electron Microscopes

摘要

Electron microscopes are the scientific tools which utilize energetic electron beams (up to 40 keV) to overcome the light limitations in the study of specimen in nanometer scale. Electron detection has an important role in microscopic analysis and known as one of the most important building blocks of scanning electron microscope (SEM). For higher resolutions and better contrast, it is needed that the detector is brought as close to the specimen as possible to collect more secondary electrons. In this paper, a miniaturized detector is introduced utilizing a nano-structured silicon-based device which can be brought to the vicinity of the sample to improve the electron collection. The detector is fabricated by growing silicon nanowires (SiNWs) on a p-type silicon substrate covered by means of a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method. It can attract secondary electrons and converts the current to voltage directly. It is a low-cost, low-voltage operation detector which can be integrated on a probe for a proximity measurement.