Physics of Schottky Electron Sources: Theory and Optimum Operation - Hardcover

The Schottky electron emitter is a predominant electron-emitting source in today’s electron beam equipment. This book comprehensively covers the Schottky emitter, dealing with its theoretical as well as practical aspects. The main questions that are addressed in this book are: what is the Schottky electron emitter? How does it work? And how do its properties affect the performance of electron beam equipment?

The focus is on the direct link between the operating conditions of the source and the properties of the beam at the target level. This coupling is made clear by discussing the effect of the operating conditions and the geometry of the source and gun on the emission properties of the emitting surface, the effect of Coulomb interactions on the brightness and energy spread in the first few millimeters of the beam path, and the effect of the operating conditions and the shape of the emitter on the consequences of the beam at the target. The final chapter combines all these effects to demonstrate that there is a trade-off to be made between brightness, energy spread, and shape stability.

Merijn Bronsgeest obtained her M.Sc. cum laude in 2004 at the Materials Science & Engineering department at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, being honored with the award for Best MS&E Graduate of the Year. She earned her Ph.D. in applied physics cum laude from the same university in 2009 for her work on Schottky electron sources, which was a project in collaboration with FEI Company. In 2009 Merijn went to the University of Maryland to work on carbon nanotubes. In a first project, she designed and fabricated a write-one-read-many memory based on carbon nanotube transistors. After that, she focused on the characterization of thermal transport properties of carbon nanotubes with an in situ TEM technique. In 2011 she participated in a session of the Global School of Advanced Studies on graphene in Grenoble, France. This led to her moving to Grenoble in 2012 to work at CEA as a Eurotalents fellow on new two-dimensional materials.