Ion charge neutralization effects in scanning electron microscopes.

The use of low energy ion charge neutralization to stabilize surface potentials in scanning microscopes leads to the observation of new effects. Among the most important of these, are effects which result from the primary beam being scanned in a raster. A new theory which describes raster charge-up for highly insulating specimens is presented. It is shown that the required neutralizing ion current is a surprisingly strong function of the primary electron current, the raster parameters, specimen parameters, and magnification. Contrary to intuition, the required ion current is not linearly related to the primary electron current. Methods of adjusting parameters to achieve better ion charge neutralization are discussed.