Aspects of the disclosure relate to apparatus for the fabrication of waveguides. In one example, an angled ion source is utilized to project ions toward a substrate to form a waveguide which includes angled gratings. In another example, an angled electron beam source is utilized to project electrons toward a substrate to form a waveguide which includes angled gratings. Further aspects of the disclosure provide for methods of forming angled gratings on waveguides utilizing an angled ion beam source and an angled electron beam source.

An ion beam generating device includes a liquid metal ion source configured to melt metal and emit an ion beam, and an extractor disposed under the liquid metal ion source and configured to extract the ion beam emitted from the liquid metal ion source. The liquid metal ion source includes a storage configured to accommodate the metal, an emitter configured to receive the metal from the storage and emit the ion beam, and a heater configured to heat the emitter or the storage. The heater is configured to directly heat the metal accommodated in the storage to melt the metal into a liquid state, and an amount of the ion beam to be extracted is controlled by a voltage difference that changes based on a distance between the emitter and the extractor.

An charged particle beam apparatus includes: a gas introduction chamber to which raw gas is introduced; a plasma generation chamber connected to the gas introduction chamber; a coil wound around an outer circumference of the plasma generation chamber and receiving a high-frequency power; an extraction electrode applying an extraction voltage to plasma discharged from a plasma aperture at an outlet of the plasma generation chamber; an ampere meter measuring a magnitude of a plasma current caused by the plasma moved out of the plasma aperture; an extraction voltage calculator calculating, based on variation in the magnitude of the plasma current measured by the ampere meter with respect to variation in the extraction voltage, an extraction voltage set value; and a controller controlling the extraction voltage based on the extraction voltage set value calculated by the extraction voltage calculator.

The present invention is to provide an electron microscope capable of being activated to an appropriate temperature by disposing an NEG at an extraction electrode around an electron source. The present invention is an electron microscope provided with an electron gun, in which the electron gun includes an electron source, an extraction electrode, and an accelerating tube, the accelerating tube is connected to the extraction electrode at a connection portion, the extraction electrode includes a first heater and a first NEG, and the first heater and the first NEG are spaced apart in an axial direction of an electron beam emitted from the electron source.

Thermionic cathodes and an electron emission apparatus are provided. The thermionic cathodes comprise perovskite material in crystal or sintered form. The thermionic cathodes provide strong electron emission at low operating temperatures.

A thermionic cathode, an electron emission apparatus, and a method of fabricating the thermionic cathode are provided. The thermionic cathode includes an emitter. The emitter includes a lanthanum hexaboride (LaB.sub.6) crystal having a crystallographic orientation of (310). The operating temperature of the thermionic cathode is greater than 1800 K.

Adjustable resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy methods and apparatus are disclosed herein. An example method includes operating an electron microscope in a first state, the first state including operating a source of the electron microscope at a first temperature, obtaining, by the electron microscope, a first EELS spectrum of a sample at a first resolution, the first resolution based on the first temperature, operating the electron microscope in a second state, the second state including operating the source of the electron microscope at a second temperature, the second temperature different than the first temperature, and obtaining, by the electron microscope, a second EELS spectrum of the sample at a second resolution, the second resolution based on the second temperature, wherein the second resolution is different than the first resolution.

Electron gun systems with a particular inner width dimension, sweep electrodes, or a combination of a particular inner width dimension and sweep electrodes are disclosed. The inner width dimension may be less than twice a value of a Larmor radius of secondary electrons in a channel downstream of a beam limiting aperture, and a Larmor time for the secondary electrons may be greater than 1 ns. The sweep electrode can generates an electric field in a drift region, which can increase kinetic energy of secondary electrons in the channel.

A method for operating a particle beam generator for a particle beam device, and a particle beam device for carrying out this method, are provided. An extractor voltage may be set to an extractor value using a first variable voltage supply unit. An emission current of the particle beam generator may be measured. When the emission current of the particle beam generator decreases, a suppressor voltage applied to a suppressor electrode may be adjusted using a second variable voltage supply unit such that a specific emission current of the particle beam generator is reached or maintained. When the emission current of the particle beam generator increases, the extractor voltage applied to the extractor electrode may be adjusted using the first variable voltage supply unit such that the specific emission current of the particle beam generator is reached or maintained.

The present disclosure relates to an ion beam etching (IBE) system including a plasma chamber configured to provide plasma, a screen grid, an extraction grid, an accelerator grid, and a decelerator grid. The screen grid receives a screen grid voltage to extract ions from the plasma within the plasma chamber to form an ion beam through a hole. The extraction grid receives an extraction grid voltage, where a voltage difference between the screen grid voltage and the extraction grid voltage determines an ion current density of the ion beam. The accelerator grid receives an accelerator grid voltage. A voltage difference between the extraction grid voltage and the accelerator grid voltage determines an ion beam energy for the ion beam. The IBE system can further includes a deflector system having a first deflector plate and a second deflector plate around a hole to control the direction of the ion beam.