Acquisition of a Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope

需要部分资金，用于购买场发射枪扫描电子显微镜(扫描电子显微镜)，主要用于金属、陶瓷、聚合物和复合材料的高分辨率成像。新仪器在30KV(2 NM)下的分辨率将比使用热电子枪的传统扫描电子显微镜高5倍。同时，电子束中的电流将是传统扫描电子显微镜的100倍，从而产生更好的电子图像对比度。在低加速电压(1kv)下的卓越性能将提供10 nm分辨率的未涂覆聚合物和陶瓷的表面图像，并且没有可检测到的电子束损伤。利用这些大电流在低电压下进行X射线发射光谱分析将大大改进轻元素的检测。因此，还需要一台轻元素X射线探测器。在过去的15年里，利哈伊大学在扫描电子显微镜研究和用户教育方面一直保持领先地位。目前有超过25名教职员工和超过50名研究生使用我们已有15年历史的研究扫描电子显微镜。由于增强的图像分辨率是拟议的场发射扫描电子显微镜的主要优势，所有这些用户都将从新机器中受益，其中一些用户显然将能够进行前所未有的实验。

Funds are requested in partial support of the purchase of a field-emission gun scanning electron microscope (SEM) primarily for high resolution imaging of metals, ceramics, polymers, and composite materials. The resolution capability of the new instrument at 30KV(2nm) will be 5 times better than conventional SEMs using thermionic guns. At the same time the current in the electron beam will be 100x greater than a conventional SEM leading to better electron image contrast. Exceptional performance at low accelerating voltages (1kv) will provide surface images of uncoated polymers and ceramics with 10nm resolution and without detectable electron beam damage. X-ray emission spectroscopy at low voltages using these high currents will provide a substantial improvement in light element detection. Thus, a light element x-ray detector is also requested. Over the last 15 years, Lehigh University has maintained a leadership position in SEM research and in the education of SEM users. Over 25 faculty and over 50 graduate students currently use our 15 year-old research SEM. Since enhanced image resolution is the major advantage of the proposed field-emission SEM, all of these users will benefit from the new machine, and some will clearly be able to perform experiments never before possible.