Anjam Khursheed has produced a detailed research monograph on secondary electron energy (SE) spectroscopy in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The monograph should be of interest to material scientists, graduate students, and designers of SEM.
The author provides the reader with a detailed exposition of the design of the SE energy spectrometer and the wide-angle toroidal energy analyzer attachment, including a historical perspective. Furthermore, materials scientists will be interested in the coverage of material contrast through quantitative techniques. Topics like the Auger hydrocarbon contamination and mitigation of contamination effects are clearly discussed in the context of SE spectral properties.
In addition, doping profiling and characterization of semiconductor samples should be of interest to a wide readership. Another important application of the SE spectroscopy is the probing and mapping of charge distribution within SEM. This includes metal-semiconductor samples and buried charges at multifunctional oxide interfaces.
A perspective on future instruments addresses a variety of analyzer attachment improvements like multi-channel detection arrays and the inclusion of SE spectroscopy for high-resolution in-lens SEM columns.
Review by Axel Mainzer Koenig, CEO, Mainzer Koenig Research Associates, Portland, OR, USA.
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.