O. Schmidt

Recent progress in photoemission microscopy with emphasis on chemical and magnetic sensitivity

Abstract With the improved access to synchrotron radiation sources photoemission electron microscopy is developing into a versatile analytical tool in surface and materials science. The broad spectral range and the well-defined polarization characteristics of synchrotron light permit a unique combination of topographic, chemical, and even magnetic investigations down to a mesoscopic scale. The potentiality of photoemission electron microscopy is demonstrated by several experiments on surfaces and microstructured thin film systems, which have been carried out with a newly designed instrument. We discuss its different modes of operation with respect to both microscopy and spectroscopy. A combination of elemental selectivity and magnetic sensitivity is achieved by using circularly polarized soft X-rays and exploiting the effect of magnetic circular dichroism. This way one obtains information about the magnetic state of individual chemical components within the sample.

Microspectroscopy and imaging using a delay line detector in time-of-flight photoemission microscopy

A method for microspectroscopy and energy-selective imaging using a special photoemission electron microscope (PEEM) is presented. A modified commercial PEEM was combined with a delay line device as x, y, t detector serving as the basic arrangement for spectromicroscopy. One can measure the time of flight of the electrons passing a drift section in order to analyze the energy distribution of photoelectrons in PEEM. The time of flight is referenced to the time structure of the synchrotron radiation from an electron storage ring. At electron kinetic energies of less than 20 eV within the drift region a spatial resolution of about 100 nm has been obtained. Fast counting electronics (instead of a camera) delivers an image for real-time monitoring on an oscilloscope screen or for image acquisition by a computer. A time resolution of about 500 ps has been obtained with the potential of further improvement. The spatial resolution of the delay line detector is about 50 μm in the image plane corresponding to 1000 ...

Time-of-flight photoelectron emission microscopy TOF-PEEM: first results

The time structure of the synchrotron radiation at BESSY (Berlin) is used to operate a photoemission electron microscope in a time-of-flight (TOF) mode. The electrons which are emitted from the sample surface with different energies are dispersed in a drift tube subsequent to the imaging optics. The screen of the microscope was replaced by a fast scintillator (tau = 1.4 ns) and the light is detected by an ultra fast gated intensified CCD camera (800 ps gate 1 MHz repetition rate). The resolving power in the energy domain is demonstrated and possible implications on the spatial resolution (chromatic correction) are discussed. Additionally, an improved contrast at very low emission energies is shown. The capability of the setup as an efficient microspectroscopic tool is illustrated

Microspectroscopy and spectromicroscopy with photoemission electron microscopy using a new kind of imaging energy filter

The use of an imaging retarding field analyser attached to the FOCUS IS-PEEM is described. This kind of energy filter is a simple, powerful tool to obtain microspectra from areas of down to about 1 μm using (V)UV and X-ray excitation sources. First results of microspectroscopy measured by excitation with a laboratory as well as a synchrotron X-ray source are presented.

Time-of-flight photoemission electron microscopy – a new way to chemical surface analysis

The time structure of synchrotron radiation at BESSY 1 (Berlin) was utilised to operate a photoemission electron microscope in the time-of-flight mode. The electrons that are emitted from the sample surface with different energies are dispersed in a drift tube subsequent to the imaging optics. Two ways of fast image detection have been explored, a fast gated intensified CCD camera (800 ps gate time) and a special counting electronics in combination with a 3D (x.y, t)-resolving delay line detector (time resolution < 500 ps). The latter device has a lateral resolution of about 50 μm in the image plane being equivalent to 1000 pixels along the image diagonal. An energy resolution of 400 meV has been achieved. The future potential of time-resolving photoemission microscopy is discussed.

Fast elemental mapping and magnetic imaging with high lateral resolution using a novel photoemission microscope

Abstract Using tunable soft X-ray synchrotron radiation and a new-generation photoemission electron microscope with integral sample stage and microarea selector, elemental images and local XANES spectra have been measured. Given the present conditions (PM3 at BESSY), the lateral resolution was in the range of 130 nm with the potential of considerable improvement with high-brilliance sources (a base resolution of 25 nm was obtained in threshold photoemission). Measurements at the oxygen K-edge demonstrate that differences in the local chemical environment of the emitter atom are clearly revealed and can thus be used as a fingerprint technique for its chemical state and geometrical surroundings. By exploiting the magnetic circular dichroism effect it was possible to view magnetic domains and domain walls.

Orbital mapping of carbon thin films by XANES-spectromicroscopy

Abstract A laterally resolved micro-XANES study (X-ray absorption near edge structure) of amorphous carbon, hydrogen terminated CVD-diamond (100) and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) is presented. The results were obtained by means of a photoemission electron microscope. Using this technique the well-known spectral features of carbon in its different chemical states (sp 2 , sp 3 ) could be recorded. The sp 2 /sp 3 content of the films was extracted from the spectra. Images, taken at X-ray energies corresponding to maxima (π*, C–H*) of the unoccupied density of states in these spectra, map the lateral distribution of the different orbitals at the sample surface. This study revealed graphitic areas on a well-ordered diamond surface and shows the location of C–H bonds on edges of the basal plane of the HOPG. Profiting from the elemental selectivity of the method, even weak traces of iron contaminations are mapped at the diamond surface.

The spatial distribution of non-linear effects in multi-photon photoemission from metallic adsorbates on Si(111)

Multi-photon excitations from thin metallic films on silicon substrates have been observed utilising photoemission electron microscopy. The photoelectrons have been excited by means of high power femtosecond laser pulses with a photon energy below the work function threshold. The strong spatial variations of the non-linear effects became directly visible in electron emission from the adsorbed thin films. Centres of enhanced photoelectron yield, so-called hot spots, were observed on the surfaces of various samples. The multi-photon electron yield of the metallic films (permalloy and lead) depends strongly on the sample topography and the photon polarisation.

Imaging of three‐dimensional objects in emission electron microscopy

Under investigation by emission electron microscopy, the shape and size of three‐dimensional objects are distorted because of the appearance of a characteristic potential relief and a possible contact potential difference between the particles and the substrate. An estimation of these effects for spherical particles is made. It is shown that the apparent size of particles observed in an emission electron microscope (EEM) could be increased as well as decreased depending on the relation between the work functions of the particle and the substrate. The corresponding formulae are given and several possibilities are shown which permit us to determine from the EEM image the real size of particles and their work function relative to the substrate.

Size dependence of magnetic domain patterns in exchange-biased Permalloy/NiO microstructures

The magnetic domain structure in Permalloy (Ni81Fe19) micropatterns (10?100??m) on NiO has been investigated by means of soft x-ray photoemission electron microscopy. The exchange anisotropy between the Ni81Fe19 patterns and the NiO layer results in the formation of complex domain structures which markedly differ from the simple Landau?Lifshitz configurations. The domain structures reflect the competition between the exchange anisotropy and the dipole?dipole interaction in a weakly coupled system. The observed domain structures change with the feature size, as the domain patterns lose complexity in the smaller structures.