ELECTRON BEAM APPARATUS

Abstract: An electron beam apparatus is disclosed which comprises a cylindrical chamber (30), ion pump exhaust zones (35, 361, 362) arranged in a substantially ring-­ like array, and an electron gun (31) located on the center axis of the ring-like array, thereby minimizing the distance between the exhaust zone of an ion pump and the electron gun for generating an electron beam. Since the ion pump exhaust zones are located immediately next to the electron gun, it is therefore possible to achieve substantially the same vacuum level at the location of the electron gun (31) as that at the ion pump per se.

Description: This invention relates to an electron beam apparatus such as an electron microscope and, in particular, to an improved gas exhaust system for use in an anode chamber for an electric field releasing type electron gun which requires a high vacuum level. In general, the performance of an electron beam apparatus, such as an electron microscope, is greatly influenced by the brightness of the electron gun (corresponding to an emitting current density for a unit solid angle). A thermal electron emitting type electron gun has been reduced to practice which uses lanthanum hexaboride as a cathode material for obtaining a high brightness level. Consequently, the field emission type electron gun has a wide range of applications. Tungsten and titanium carbide are primarily used as the cathode material of the field emission type electron gun. In order for the electron gun to operate stably, it is necessary that a high vacuum level, of the order of 133x10⁻⁹ to 133x10⁻¹¹Pa (10⁻⁹ to 10⁻¹¹ Torrs), be obtained. Generally, as shown in Fig. 1, ion pump 11 is coupled to gun chamber 13, for electron gun 15, via exhaust tube 12. The exhausting of a gas within gun chamber 13 is carried out by a residual gas trap section (i.e., exhaust zone) within ion pump 11. Fig. 2 shows one form of gas exhaust section 14 incorporated within ion pump 11. In Fig. 2, 21 shows cylindrical electrodes biased to a positive potential; 22 shows a parallel magnetic field; and 231 and 232 show plate-like electrodes biased to a negative potential, which function as getters. In the ion pump, magnetic field 22 is applied in a direction parallel to the axis of cylindrical electrodes 21 and electrons within cylindrical electrodes 21, accelerated by the electric field generated among electrodes 21 and 231, 232, are moved in spiral fashion. In the current technique, a vacuum level attained by the ion pump per se is of the order of 133x10⁻¹⁰Pa (10⁻¹⁰ Torrs). In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, the large distance between electron beam emitting section 10 and gas exhaust section 14 within ion pump 11, arises due to the mechanical geometry, of ion pump 11, exhaust tube 12, and anode chamber 13. Even if a vacuum level of the order of 133x10⁻¹¹Pa (10⁻¹¹' Torrs) is obtained at the location of the ion pump, the vacuum level of anode chamber 13 drops to about 133x10⁻⁹Pa to 133x10⁻¹⁰Pa (10⁻⁹ to 10⁻¹⁰ Torrs). Thus, in the conventional apparatus, as shown in Fig. 1, the vacuum level within the anode chamber is reduced by one to two orders of magnitude in comparison with that obtained at the ion pump. In order to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks, two solutions can be considered: (1) ion pump 11 is located as near to gun chamber 13 as possible, and (2) the exhausting capacity of ion pump 11 is made as large as possible. In the case of solution (1), there is a limit as to how close ion pump 11 can be located vis-a-vis chamber 13, due to exhaust tube 12 and flange 120 being interposed therebetween. With respect to solution (2), other problems arise, such as the price, size, and weight of various large-capacity ion pumps. Prior art document DD-B-115 969 describes an electron beam apparatus, comprising a vacuum chamber, an electron gun located within this vacuum chamber and an ion pump comprising positive electrodes, negative electrodes located one at each side of the positive electrodes, and magnetic field creating means for applying to the positive electrodes a magnetic field which contains magnetic components parallel to an axis of the respective positive electrodes. The magnetic field creating means includes a first ring magnet located coaxial with the axis of the electron gun, and a second ring magnet located coaxial with the axis of the electron gun. The positive electrodes and the negative electrodes are located between the first ring magnet and the second ring magnet, so that the axis of the positive electrodes 4 is parallel to the direction in which the magnetic field is created. In this prior art apparatus the positive electrodes have a "honeycomb"-structure, the first and second magnets are positioned outside the vacuum chamber, and both ring magnets are provided around the center axis of the vacuum chamber to have the same diameter. The field created by the ring magnets is directed parallel to the axis of the vacuum chamber. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electron beam apparatus which can achieve substantially the same vacuum level at the gun chamber, for the generation of an electron beam, as that at an ion pump per se. Another object of this invention is to provide an electron beam apparatus which combines gun chamber and ion pump as one unit, so that a high vacuum level can be achieved without the need to increase, for example, the size and weight of the apparatus. To solve this object the present invention provides an electron beam apparatus as described-in claim 1. In order for the aforementioned object to be attained, a gun chamber of the electron beam apparatus contains a substantially ring-like array of ion pump exhaust zones, with an electron gun centered in the ring-like array, to thereby minimize the distance between the exhaust zones of the ion pump and the electron gun for generating an electron beam. Since the exhaust zones of the ion pump are located near the electron gun, it is possible to achieve substantially the same vacuum level at the location of the electron gun as that at the ion pump per se, without the need to increase the size, weight, and so on of the apparatus, as in the prior art. This invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view showing an electron beam apparatus using a conventional ion pump; Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing one form of an exhaust section within the ion pump of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view in horizontal cross-section showing an electron beam apparatus according to the embodiment of this invention; Fig. 4 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the apparatus of Fig. 3, taken along line IV-IV thereof; and Fig. 5 is a partial, perspective view showing the embodiment of Fig. 3. The electron beam apparatus according to this invention will now be explained below, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In Figs. 3 to 5, the same reference numerals are employed to designate like parts or elements for the sake of simplicity. Fig. 3 is a horizontal, cross-sectional view showing an ion pump-equipped electron beam apparatus (electron gun and others) according to the embodiment of this invention. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus, taken along line IV-IV in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a partially cut-away perspective view showing an arrangement of the apparatus of Fig. 3. The arrangement of gun chamber 30 in this embodiment will now be explained below. Electron gun 31 is arranged coaxial with axis 33 of cylindrical gun chamber 30, and anode 32 made of, for example, iron is located at the forward end side (a lower area in Fig. 4) of electron gun 31. Anode 32 has a pinhole on axis 33 of gun chamber 30, through which the electron beam passes. Magnetic shield 320 of a cylindrical configuration, such as Permalloy, is located outside of anode 32, such that it partially covers electron beam emitting end 310 of electron gun 31. Electron beam 38 emitted from electron gun 31 is accelerated by positively biased anode 32, and the accelerated beam 38 is output, via the pinhole of anode 32 and bottom hole 300 of gun chamber 30, to the exterior of chamber 30. Ring-like permanent magnets 341 and 342 are mounted outside of electron gun 31 and magnetic shield 320, such that they are located concentric with axis 33 of gun chamber 30. These magnets are set, for example, with the N pole inside of external magnet 341 and the S pole outside of internal magnet 342. Between permanent magnets 341 and 342 are created a ring-like static magnetic field radially spread with axis 33 of anode chamber 30 as an origin. The strength of the static magnetic field is selected to be about 0,1 to 0,2 Vsm⁻² (1000 to 2000 gauss). In this arrangement thus obtained, a magnetic null point is situated on the center axis of ring-like magnets 341 and 342 and thus on axis 33 of anode chamber 30. Consequently, electron beam 38 is hardly affected by the aforementioned radial static magnetic field even if magnetic shield 320 is not used. According to the arrangement of Fig. 3 - 5, however, any adverse influence due to said static magnetic field can more completely be eliminated by providing magnetic shield 320. Between permanent magnets 341 and 342 are provided a plurality of cylindrical positive electrodes 35 which are equidistantly located with their axes oriented to the direction of the radial static magnetic field. Electrodes 35 are made of, for example, stainless or aluminium, which hardly evolve any gas. Magnets 341 and 342 should not be made of any material which evolves gas. Cylindrical gettering electrodes 361 and 362 are located one at each side of the radial array of electrodes 35, such that electrodes 361 and 362 are placed coaxial with axis 33 of gun chamber 30. Gettering electrodes 361 and 362 are usually made of titanium, but a zirconium- or magnesium-based gettering material can be used for gettering electrodes. Gettering electrodes 361 and 362 are normally circuit-grounded and a plurality of positive electrodes 35 are biased to a high voltage potential of about 3 to 7 kV. The gas exhausting operation as an ion pump is performed between positive electrodes 35 and gettering electrodes 361 and 362. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 to 5 within gun chamber (vacuum container) 30, electron gun 31 is located in close proximity to the gas exhaust operation section of the ion pump comprised of a plurality of blocks. (Here, each block of the ion pump is comprised of some positive electrodes 35 and gettering electrodes 361 and 362.) For this reason, a high vacuum level substantially equal to the exhausting capability of the ion pump per se can be obtained at the electron beam emitting zone (310) of electron gun 31. Inside of inner magnet 342, electron beam 38 is automatically shielded from the surrounding magnetic flux since beam 38 is on a magnetic null area not linked with the ambient magnetic flux. For this reason, magnetic shield 320 can be omitted as the case may be. According to this invention, the exhaust zone of the ion pump is created, in proximity to electron gun 31, within the same vacuum container (30), allowing a very high vacuum level to be attained at the electron beam emitting end (310). In the arrangement shown in Fig. 4, electron gun 31 is located at a null point in the magnetic field of magnets (341, 342), so that the ambient magnetic field hardly exercises any influence over electron beam 38. This invention is not restricted to the aforementioned embodiment, and can be modified in a variety of ways within the scope of the claims. For example, electrodes 35 can be replaced by an electromagnet (solenoid) in which case magnets 341 and 342 can be omitted. A plurality of sets of blocks each comprises of a flat array of ion pumps (as shown in Fig. 2) may be equidistantly arranged around electron gun 31 within vacuum container 30. Furthermore, gettering electrodes 361 and 362 may be not only flat in configuration but also a mesh-like or unevenly curvilinear in configuration.

Claims: An electron beam apparatus comprising: a vacuum chamber (30); an electron gun (31) located within the vacuum chamber (30); and an ion pump (341, 342, 35, 361, 362) comprising a plurality of ion pump blocks arranged around said electron gun (31), wherein: said electron gun (31) is located on a center axis (33) of an array of said ion pump blocks (341, 342, 35, 361, 362), each of said ion pump blocks comprises positive electrodes (35), negative getter electrodes (361, 362) located one at each side of said positive electrodes (35), and magnetic field creating means (341, 342) for applying to said positive electrodes (35) a magnetic field which contains magnetic components parallel to an axis of the respective positive electrodes, said magnetic field creating means (341, 342) includes a first ring magnet (342) located coaxial with the axis of said electron gun (31), and a second ring magnet (341) located coaxial with the axis of said electron gun (31), and said positive electrodes (35) and said negative getter electrodes (361, 362) are located between said first ring magnet (342) and said second ring magnet (341), so that the axis of said positive electrodes is parallel to the direction in which said magnetic field is created, characterized in that said positive electrodes are formed by cylindrical positive electrodes (35), said first and second ring magnets (341, 342) are located within said vacuum chamber (30) and create a ring-like magnetic field radially spread with the axis (33) of the vacuum chamber (30), said first ring magnet forms an inner ring magnet (342) and said second ring magnet forms an outer ring magnet (341) located coaxial with the axis of said inner ring magnet (342), and said electron gun (31) is located at a magnetic null point at which the power of the magnetic field generated by the inner and outer ring magnets (342, 341) is at a minimum. An electron beam apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that a magnetic shield member (320) is located around an electron beam emitting portion (310) of said electron gun (31).

Inventors: MIYOSHI, MOTOSUKE PATENT DIVISION, OKUMURA, KATSUYA PATENT DIVISION
Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
Application year: 1987
Main classification: H01J7
IPC codes: H01J37, H01J41