Fabrication and validation of a MEMS Electron Monochromator

Abstract

Electron monochromators are essential components for many applications in electron microscopy but are often large and complex to operate instruments. In prior work, we presented a concept for monochromation using the fringe fields around miniature electrostatic elements. This concept could be realized with a compact monochromator design that requires tuning of only 7 power supplies. In this manuscript, we present the fabrication using MEMS technology and experimental testing of such a miniaturized monochromator. The fabrication scheme involves Bosch deep reactive ion etching to shape lens and deflector electrodes and focused ion beam milling to create nanoscale apertures in a silicon nitride membrane. All elements are then coated, precisely aligned and, after stacking, wire bonded to connect to external power supplies. We use the assembled prototype to measure the electron-beam energy spread in a scanning electron microscope demonstrating the energy filtering capability of the device. These results highlight the possibilities for making miniaturized electron optics instruments using alignment and stacking of different MEMS fabricated elements, representing an important step towards the development of compact, lightweight, high performance electron-beam instrumentation.