Ion Beam Analysis in the Helium Ion Microscope

Helium ion microscopes (HIM) have turned into a frequently used imaging device in several laboratories around the world. Beside a sub nano-meter resolution and its high field of depth the latest generation of HIM devices (Zeiss Orion NanoFab) offers the ability to make use of Neon ions enabling additional opportunities in terms of surface modifications on the nm scale . While the image generation in a HIM is based on evaluating the amount of secondary electrons the information carried by the back-scattered He/Ne projectiles (BSP) is not taken into consideration at the moment. Thus the HIM offers excellent topographic imaging capabilities but chemical information (in terms of elemental composition) of the surface is not accessible. Nevertheless back-scattered particles carry that information and may be used to provide additional contrast mechanism(s). First attempts to measure BSP energy spectra were done by Sijbrandij et al. and gave evidence for the general feasibility but also revealed that a quantitative chemical analysis of thin layers would require development of more sophisticated detection concepts than those used in their experiments (silicon surface barrier detector)