Advances in electron beam technology for microprocessing

TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 799/2004

Allan Sanderson reports on the latest research into low power electron beam processing

Background

Electron beams are now used in a wide spectrum of equipment from scientific instruments to metal melting and refining systems. Progress has been made in the development of very low power (sub-milliwatt) equipment for electron beam lithography and SEM machines and also in equipment using typically 100W to 100kW. However, for intermediate power levels offering small focused spot radii, there has been less development. This intermediate power range of a few watts to kilowatts combined with focused spot radii of 0.5 to 50µm respectively, presents a potentially useful area for development.

Objectives

• To re-examine factors limiting beam intensity for prototype equipment
• To employ FE analysis and empirical calculations to enhance performance of electron optics
• To upgrade existing equipment
• To generate beams and compare actual and theoretical beam radii
• To carry out micro-processing on a range of materials to assess capability