Abstract Scanning electron microscope (SEM) is frequently-used in analysis for micro/nanoscale structural information. During SEM analysis, besides the widely-known charging effect, the temperature rise because of electron beam bombardment has become an issue due to it also can modify SEM results with the downsizing of specimen. In this work, a sophisticated Monte Carlo (MC) model which considered the cascade electron production was adopted to quantitatively study the temperature rise during SEM imaging. The rule of temperature profile was explored focusing on four different materials (semi-infinite beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu) and gold (Au) bulks) and primary electron (PE) beam energies. It was concluded that the temperature profile presents three main characteristics: a) increasing first at surface until its maximum is reached, then has a sharp reduction as a function of depth from the surface for all materials; b) being affected seriously by PE energy and atomic number. The temperature rise integral from high to low is Be > Cu > Au > Mg; c) various elements show different capabilities of heat transfer direction and speed. The mechanism behind these observations was explained in detail. In addition, the temperature rise was investigated briefly on two overlayer structures (Be/Au and Au/Be), showing discontinuous jumping at the interface for two types of materials. This work on the one hand, provides a better understanding and elucidation for physical mechanism of electron-beam-induced deposition, of which process control, performance and reliability would thus get greater improved based on this study, on the other hand, reveals a potential implication that some damages caused by the heat transfer under electron irradiation in a SEM operation might be effectively avoided or reduced through selecting appropriate materials according to their different heat transfer performances.

中文翻译：

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探索各种材料在低能电子辐照下的温升

摘要 扫描电子显微镜（SEM）常用于微/纳米结构信息的分析。在 SEM 分析过程中，除了众所周知的充电效应外，电子束轰击引起的温升也成为一个问题，因为它还会随着样品尺寸的缩小而改变 SEM 结果。在这项工作中，采用考虑级联电子产生的复杂蒙特卡罗 (MC) 模型来定量研究 SEM 成像过程中的温升。研究了温度分布的规则，重点是四种不同的材料（半无限铍 (Be)、镁 (Mg)、铜 (Cu) 和金 (Au) 块体）和初级电子 (PE) 束能量。得出的结论是，温度分布呈现三个主要特征： a) 首先在表面增加，直到达到最大值，对于所有材料，作为距离表面深度的函数，然后急剧减少；b) 受到PE能量和原子序数的严重影响。温升积分由高到低为Be>Cu>Au>Mg；c) 各种元件表现出不同的传热方向和速度能力。详细解释了这些观察背后的机制。此外，对两种覆盖层结构（Be/Au 和 Au/Be）的温升进行了简要研究，表明两种材料在界面处不连续跳跃。这项工作一方面为电子束诱导沉积的物理机制提供了更好的理解和阐明，从而在此研究的基础上进一步提高了工艺控制、性能和可靠性，另一方面，