PolyMethyl Methacrylate Thin-Film-Based Field Emission Microscope

Author

Sun, Yonghai ; Jaffray, David A. ; Chen, Liang-Yih ; Yeow, John T W

Author_Institution

Dept. of Syst. Design Eng., Univ. of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

Volume

11

Issue

3

fYear

2012

fDate

5/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

441

Lastpage

443

Abstract

A field emission microscope (FEM) is a useful tool for investigating molecular surface structures. Conventional FEMs suffer from poor image contrast level and low sensitivities when low-energy electron beams are applied. In this article, a new anode material is employed to improve the FEM imaging performance. We demonstrate that the device has the capability of clearly capturing images of facet boundaries of crystal structures at the tip of a zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire as defect sites on a Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) film that is exposed to electron beams. The clear image of facet boundaries has not been reported in conventional FEM images.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; field emission electron microscopy; nanowires; polymer films; thin film devices; wide band gap semiconductors; zinc compounds; FEM imaging performance; ZnO; anode material; crystal structure; defect sites; electron beams; facet boundaries; polymethyl methacrylate thin-film-based field emission microscope; zinc oxide nanowire; Cathodes; Crystals; Electron beams; Films; Finite element methods; Resists; Zinc oxide; Field emission microscope; polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA); zinc oxide;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nanotechnology, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-125X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNANO.2011.2180735

Filename

6111303