CANTILEVER WITH INFINITESIMAL ELECTRON SOURCE

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To emit an electron beam with high controllability by providing an electrode at the periphery of the chip of a cantilever, and incorporating the function of an infinitesimal electron source. SOLUTION: One end of a lever 2 is fixed to a supporting base 3, and a needle-like chip 1 is provided at the end of the lever 2. An insulating layer 7 is provided on the lever 2, a drawing electrode 4 is provided on the layer 7, and a pad 5 for connecting an external circuit to the electrode 4 and chip 1 is provided on the base 3. A voltage is applied between the chip 1 and electrode 4, hence electrons are emitted from the end of the chip 1, and a current value is controlled by regulating the variable voltage 8 to be applied to the electrode 4 from several mV to about 100V. A sample 15 at this time is stably emitted with an electron beam 10 as a ground voltage. In this case, the positional relationship between the chip 1 and the electrode 4 in its vicinity is desired to dispose the electrode 4 at the lower position by several hundreds nm to several μm from the end of the chip 1 to raise the emitting efficiency of the beam.