Shot noise-mitigated secondary electron imaging with ion count-aided microscopy
Abstract
Modern science is dependent on imaging on the nanoscale, often achieved through processes that detect secondary electrons created by a highly focused incident charged particle beam. Multiple types of measurement noise limit the ultimate trade-off between the image quality and the incident particle dose, which can preclude useful imaging of dose-sensitive samples. Existing methods to improve image quality do not fundamentally mitigate the noise sources. Furthermore, barriers to assigning a physically meaningful scale make the images qualitative. Here we introduce ion count-aided microscopy (ICAM), which is a quantitative imaging technique that uses statistically principled estimation of the secondary electron yield. With a readily implemented change in data collection, ICAM substantially reduces source shot noise. In helium ion microscopy, we demonstrate 3x dose reduction and a good match between these empirical results and theoretical performance predictions. ICAM facilitates imaging of fragile samples and may make imaging with heavier particles more attractive.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2311.07003,
title = {Shot noise-mitigated secondary electron imaging with ion count-aided microscopy},
author = {Akshay Agarwal and Leila Kasaei and Xinglin He and Ruangrawee Kitichotkul and Oguz Kagan Hitit and Minxu Peng and J. Albert Schultz and Leonard C. Feldman and Vivek K Goyal},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.07003},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
Updated Introduction, Updated Discussion and Outlook, Updated Methods. Main article: 17 pages, 4 figures