The rapid secondary electron imaging system of the proton beam writer at CIBA

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms Vol. 260; no. 1; pp. 390 - 395
• Main Authors: Udalagama, C.N.B., Bettiol, A.A., van Kan, J.A., Teo, E.J., Watt, F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.07.2007
• Subjects: Data acquisition; p-Beam writing; Rapid imaging; Secondary electrons; 42.30.Va; 07.05.Hd; Data acquisition; 85.40.Hp; Rapid imaging; p-Beam writing; 41.85.Lc; 79.20.Hx; Secondary electrons
• ISSN: 0168-583X; 1872-9584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2007.02.112

The recent years have witnessed a proliferation of research involving proton beam (p-beam) writing. This has prompted investigations into means of optimizing the process of p-beam writing so as to make it less time consuming and more efficient. One such avenue is the improvement of the pre-writing preparatory procedures that involves beam focusing and sample alignment which is centred on acquiring images of a resolution standard or sample. The conventional mode of imaging used up to now has utilized conventional nuclear microprobe signals that are of a pulsed nature and are inherently slow. In this work, we report the new imaging system that has been introduced, which uses proton induced secondary electrons. This in conjunction with software developed in-house that uses a National Instruments DAQ card with hardware triggering, facilitates large data transfer rates enabling rapid imaging. Frame rates as much as 10 frames/s have been achieved at an imaging resolution of 512 × 512 pixels.