Helium ion microscope

A new stable helium ion beam microscope is now provided by the Atomic Level Ion Source (ALIS) technology that has an extremely high brightness with a sub-nanometer probe size in it. Field ion emission is the source which is from the apex of a sharp needle that is held at a high positive voltage in the presence of a gas. The ALIS emitter has a tip reforming process which causes a small number of atoms which protrude more than the others. The images extracted from this helium ion microscope shows distinct contrast levels which corresponds to the grains in the material. This microscope has a unique feature in that it has the ability to acquire Rutherford backscattered ion images (RBI) while it can also do quantitative analyses of materials due to its collection of backscattered helium ions.