Fabrication and Precise Alignment of Electron Lenses in the Microcolumn Using the Laser Diffraction Pattern

The quality of electron lenses and precision of their alignment are very important factors that determine the resolution of the microcolumn. In this work, we have fabricated the quality electron lenses using the semiconductor processing technologies and checked their circular shapes by using the laser diffraction pattern. The observed diffraction pattern by naked eyes was the circular Airy disk and the measured eccentricity of the lens aperture was found to be less than 0.02. We have also made precise alignment of the electron lenses by illuminating the laser beam through the roughly aligned electron lenses and adjusting the electron lenses while monitoring the diffraction pattern formed by the diffracted laser light from the lens apertures. This new method can replace the conventional alignment method where the expensive equipment like the aligner or the STM is required. We have also found the misalignment limit by measuring the e-beam current that came out from the microcolumn.