Everhart-Thornley detector
Encyclopedia
The Everhart-Thornley Detector (E-T detector or ET detector) is a secondary electron
detector
used in scanning electron microscope
s (SEMs). It is named after its designers, Thomas E. Everhart and Richard F. M. Thornley who in 1960 published their design to increase the efficiency of existing secondary electron detectors by adding a light pipe to carry the photon signal from the scintillator inside the evacuated specimen chamber of the SEM to the photomultiplier
outside the chamber.
Prior to this Everhart had improved a design for a secondary electron detection by Vladimir Zworykin
and J. A. Rajchman by changing the electron multiplier to a photomultiplier. The Everhart-Thornley Detector with its lightguide and highly efficient photomultiplier is the most frequently used detector in SEMs.
The detector consists primarily of a scintillator
inside a Faraday cage
inside the specimen chamber of the microscope. A low positive voltage
is applied to the Faraday cage to attract the relatively low energy (less than 50 eVs by definition) secondary electrons. Other electrons within the specimen chamber are not attracted by this low voltage and will only reach the detector if their direction of travel takes them to it. The scintillator has a high positive voltage (in the nature of 10,000 eVs) to accelerate the incoming electrons to it where they can be converted to light photons. The direction of their travel is focused to the lightguide by a metal coating on the scintillator acting as a mirror. In the light pipe the photons travel outside of the microscope's vacuum chamber to a photomultiplier tube for amplification.
The E-T secondary electron detector can be used in the SEM's back-scattered electron mode by either turning off the Faraday cage or by applying a negative voltage to the Faraday cage. However, better back-scattered electron images come from dedicated BSE detectors rather than from using the E-T detector as a BSE detector.
Secondary electrons
Secondary electrons are electrons generated as ionization products. They are called 'secondary' because they are generated by other radiation . This radiation can be in the form of ions, electrons, or photons with sufficiently high energy, i.e. exceeding the ionization potential...
detector
Sensor
A sensor is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an instrument. For example, a mercury-in-glass thermometer converts the measured temperature into expansion and contraction of a liquid which can be read on a calibrated...
used in scanning electron microscope
Scanning electron microscope
A scanning electron microscope is a type of electron microscope that images a sample by scanning it with a high-energy beam of electrons in a raster scan pattern...
s (SEMs). It is named after its designers, Thomas E. Everhart and Richard F. M. Thornley who in 1960 published their design to increase the efficiency of existing secondary electron detectors by adding a light pipe to carry the photon signal from the scintillator inside the evacuated specimen chamber of the SEM to the photomultiplier
Photomultiplier
Photomultiplier tubes , members of the class of vacuum tubes, and more specifically phototubes, are extremely sensitive detectors of light in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum...
outside the chamber.
Prior to this Everhart had improved a design for a secondary electron detection by Vladimir Zworykin
Vladimir Zworykin
Vladimir Kozmich Zworykin was a Russian-American inventor, engineer, and pioneer of television technology. Zworykin invented a television transmitting and receiving system employing cathode ray tubes...
and J. A. Rajchman by changing the electron multiplier to a photomultiplier. The Everhart-Thornley Detector with its lightguide and highly efficient photomultiplier is the most frequently used detector in SEMs.
The detector consists primarily of a scintillator
Scintillator
A scintillator is a special material, which exhibits scintillation—the property of luminescence when excited by ionizing radiation. Luminescent materials, when struck by an incoming particle, absorb its energy and scintillate, i.e., reemit the absorbed energy in the form of light...
inside a Faraday cage
Faraday cage
A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure formed by conducting material or by a mesh of such material. Such an enclosure blocks out external static and non-static electric fields...
inside the specimen chamber of the microscope. A low positive voltage
Voltage
Voltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
is applied to the Faraday cage to attract the relatively low energy (less than 50 eVs by definition) secondary electrons. Other electrons within the specimen chamber are not attracted by this low voltage and will only reach the detector if their direction of travel takes them to it. The scintillator has a high positive voltage (in the nature of 10,000 eVs) to accelerate the incoming electrons to it where they can be converted to light photons. The direction of their travel is focused to the lightguide by a metal coating on the scintillator acting as a mirror. In the light pipe the photons travel outside of the microscope's vacuum chamber to a photomultiplier tube for amplification.
The E-T secondary electron detector can be used in the SEM's back-scattered electron mode by either turning off the Faraday cage or by applying a negative voltage to the Faraday cage. However, better back-scattered electron images come from dedicated BSE detectors rather than from using the E-T detector as a BSE detector.