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New perspectives on nano-engineering by secondary electron spectroscopy in the helium ion and scanning electron microscope

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Abstract

The helium ion microscope (HelM) holds immense promise for nano-engineering and imaging with scope for in-situ chemical analysis. Here we will examine the potential of secondary electron hyperspectral imaging (SEHI) as a new route to exploring chemical variations in both two and three dimensions. We present a range of early applications in the context of image interpretation in wider materials science and process control in ion beam-based nano-engineering. Necessary steps for SEHI in the HelM to evolve into a reliable technique which can be fully embedded into nano-engineering workflows are considered.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Fritz Vollrath and Alex Greenhalgh providing the spider silk sample. CR and CH would like to thank the EPSRC for funding (EP/N008065/1 and EP/K005693/1). The authors also thank The Royal Society international exchanges grant number IE140211 and The Leverhulme Trust for the PicoFib network.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Material Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield Faculty of Engineering, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK

    Nicola Stehling & Robert Masters

  2. School of Material Science and Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330031, China

    Yangbo Zhou

  3. School of Physics, University of Dublin Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Robert O’Connell & Hongzhou Zhang

  4. Material Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield Faculty of Engineering, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK

    Chris Holland & Cornelia Rodenburg

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  1. Nicola Stehling
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  6. Hongzhou Zhang
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  7. Cornelia Rodenburg
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Correspondence to Cornelia Rodenburg.

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Stehling, N., Masters, R., Zhou, Y. et al. New perspectives on nano-engineering by secondary electron spectroscopy in the helium ion and scanning electron microscope. MRS Communications 8, 226–240 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2018.75

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