A low-cost high-pressure cell to facilitate effective analysis of sample materials with high energy photon and electron beams. In one example, the cell includes a first micro-fabricated semiconductor substrate having a first membrane of a micro-fabricated material formed thereon and including a first membrane-covered region, and a second micro-fabricated semiconductor substrate having a second membrane of the micro-fabricated material formed thereon and including a second membrane-covered region, the first and second micro-fabricated semiconductor substrates being bonded together such that the first and second membrane-covered regions are at least partially aligned. The first and second membrane-covered regions may be separated by at least one spacer layer such that a cavity is formed between the membranes, the cavity being bounded on at least one side by one of membranes. Access to the cavity may be provided by micro-fabricated trenches cut into at least one of the first and second micro-fabricated semiconductor substrates.

Parts of a pair, in use, are disposed in abutting relation to one another to define a cell for use with an electron microscope, the cell having, disposed on opposite surfaces thereof, a pair of windows, the windows being arranged in spaced relation to one another to define a viewable interior volume of the cell at a region of overlap. A housing is adapted to receive one of the pair of parts and further adapted to define a chamber containing the one of the parts which chamber, in use, is evacuated. An arrangement is adapted, when the one of the parts is received by the housing and is in receipt of a sample and the chamber is evacuated, to position together the one of the pair of parts and the other of the pair of parts.

Parts of a pair, in use, are disposed in abutting relation to one another to define a cell for use with an electron microscope, the cell having, disposed on opposite surfaces thereof, a pair of windows, the windows being arranged in spaced relation to one another to define a viewable interior volume of the cell at a region of overlap. The spaced relation being determined by additional opposite surfaces with minimal contact area to warrant reproducible liquid thicknesses.

Various methods and systems are provided for imaging a sample under low vacuum with a charged particle beam. A magnetic field is provided in a detection area of the detector. Gas and plasma are provided in the detection area while detecting charged particles emitted from the sample. Sample image is formed based on the detected charged particles.

Specimen control means are disclosed for use with multipurpose particle beam instruments, such as with SEM, ESEM, TESEM, TEM, ETEM and ion microscopes. It provides a control stage located outside a chamber with a flexible wall that allows specimen movement inside the chamber. The same stage can open or close the bottom of the chamber base carrying a specimen stub, which is transferred to and from a conveyor belt or carousel supplied with a multitude of stubs filled with new specimens for examination. The chamber is further supplied with directed gas controls to regulate its gaseous environment. There is a supply of clean gas to maintain the instrument and specimen free of contamination, or to provide a reactant gas for microfabrication, or to enhance signal detection in a microscope. Stationary charged particle beam instruments are equipped with micro-mechanical specimen scanning for use in ultra-high resolution particle beam technologies.

The present invention provides an electron microscope and an observation method capable of observing secondary electrons in the atmosphere. In detail, a charged particle microscope of the invention includes: a partition wall that separates a non-vacuum space in which a sample is loaded from a vacuum space inside a charged particle optical lens barrel; an upper electrode; a lower electrode on which the sample is loaded; a power supply for applying a voltage to at least one of the upper electrode and the lower electrode; a sample gap adjusting mechanism for adjusting a gap between the sample and the partition wall; and an image forming unit for forming an image of the sample based on the current absorbed by the lower electrode. The secondary electrons are selectively measured by using an amplification effect due to ionization collision between electrons and gas molecules generated when a voltage is applied between the upper electrode and the lower electrode. As a detection method, a method is used which measures a current value flowing in a substrate.

A cell for use in a microscope has a pair of dies, the dies defining: a pair of slit-shaped windows disposed on opposite surfaces of the cell and arranged in perpendicular and spaced relation to one another to define a viewable volume interiorly of the cell at the region of overlap; a flow channel which includes the viewable volume and overlies and is substantially coterminous with one of the pair of slit-shaped windows; an elongate channel defined between the dies and leading towards the flow channel; and a conduit defined between the dies and coupling the elongate channel to the flow channel.

Various methods and systems are provided for imaging a sample under low vacuum with a charged particle beam. A magnetic field is provided in a detection area of the detector. Gas and plasma are provided in the detection area while detecting charged particles emitted from the sample. Sample image is formed based on the detected charged particles.

A transmission charged particle microscope includes a specimen holder for holding a specimen; a source for producing a charged particle beam; an illuminator for directing said beam to irradiate the specimen, wherein the illuminator comprising a monochromator and a condenser lens assembly; and an imaging system for receiving a flux of charged particles transmitted through the specimen. The microscope is controlled to produce a first energy spread of an emerging beam exiting said aperture by selecting at least one of parameters (a) an excitation of a first lens of said condenser lens assembly and (b) a width of a condenser aperture downstream of said first lens.

The present disclosure relates to a liquid chip for an electron microscope including a lower chip, an upper chip, and a waterway space part for supplying a liquid sample, and may attach a transmissive thin film layer made of a graphene material having an excellent bulging resistance property to a plurality of holes formed in a waterway space part to increase the thickness of a support not operating as a transmissive window to be larger than the conventional one, thereby supplying the liquid sample more stably and minimizing the loss of a spatial resolution and also suppressing the bulging phenomenon of the transmissive window.

To this end, according to the present disclosure, the lower chip includes a lower substrate formed with a lower cavity; a lower support disposed on the upper surface of the lower substrate, and formed with a plurality of lower holes in the lower cavity region; a spacer located on both ends of the lower support of the lower hole; and a lower transmissive thin film layer attached on the lower support so as to cover the lower hole, the upper chip includes an upper substrate formed with an upper cavity; an upper support disposed on the upper surface of the upper substrate, and formed with a plurality of upper holes in the upper cavity region; and an upper transmissive thin film layer having a constant bulging resistance property attached on the upper support so as to cover the plurality of upper holes, the waterway space part is formed by laminating the upper support disposed on the upper surface of the upper substrate on the spacer of the lower chip, and the transmissive thin film layer is located inside the waterway space part.