Does your SEM really tell the truth? Part 2

Abstract

The scanning electron microscope (SEM) has gone through a tremendous evolution to become indispensable for many and diverse scientific and industrial applications. The first paper in this series, discussed some of the issues related to signal generation in the SEM, instrument calibration, electron beam interactions and the need for physics-based modelling to understand the actual image formation mechanisms. All these were summed together in a discussion of how these issues effect measurements made with the instrument. This second paper discusses another major issue confronting the microscopist which is specimen contamination. Over the years, NIST has done a great deal of research into the issue of sample contamination and its removal and elimination and some of this work is reviewed and discussed here. © 2013 SPIE.