An electron beam microcolumn for multi-beam applications

Summary form only given. Highly miniaturized electron beam columns based on a field emission source and microfabricated electron optical components have been developed. A 1 keV microcolumn operating with a miniaturized Zr/O/W Schottky emitter has been successfully evaluated for the first time. This paper will present the results obtained with the new microcolumn and discuss present efforts to further improve column performance with respect to resolution, beam current, and deflection field size.