ultra-high resolution FE-SEM, ultra-high resolution SEM

The ultra-high resolution SEM, called the inlens type FE-SEM, is a SEM which achieves a resolution better than 1 nm at an accelerating voltage of 30 kV. This type of SEM was developed in the late 1990s combining a field emission gun (FEG) and an inlens objective lens. However in this type of SEM, as a specimen is placed inside the polepiece of the objective lens, only a narrow space is available for a specimen, that is, only a small specimen of a few mm squares and 1 to 2 mm thick can be handled.
Entering into the 2000s, in order to overcome this limitation (disadvantage), a semi-inlens objective lens and a low-aberration objective lens that combines a semi-inlens objective lens and an electrostatic lens were developed. The SEMs providing a resolution better than 1 nm, including not only an inlens FE-SEM but also a semi-inlens FE-SEM are currently called the ultra-high resolution SEM.

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