New Developments in Gemini® Fesem Technology

Abstract

The Field Emission SEM was introduced to improve imaging resolution available with conventional SEMs with a tungsten source. Thermal assisted or Schottky Field Emission SEMs were introduced in s the nineties by a number of companies as a stable source to overcome the beam instability of the cold FESEMs introduced earlier. The Gemini® based Field Emission SEM launched by Zeiss 12 years ago has been designed from the beginning as a high stability FESEM with a relatively large multi-ported chamber. The drive to develop Gemini® technology was the need for a FESEM capable of ultra-high resolution performance over the entire accelerating voltage range that also possessed the flexibility needed for a wide range of analytical applications.