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US4090076A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

High resolution electron energy device and method

Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1976-07-16
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Granted: 1978-05-16
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Expires: 1996-07-16
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Abstract

Abstract A device and method for obtaining high resolution of electron energy in an electron beam is described. The device has a resonance chamber containing a gas which exhibits a narrow scattering resonance at a specific electron energy value. The device utilizes the narrow resonance property of the gas to filter the electron energy spectrum at that energy value. A preferred embodiment is a spectrometer having an electron accelerator, an electromagnetic filter, a resonance chamber containing helium, and a trapped electron detector device. The electrons in the beam are accelerated and the beam is passed through an electromagnetic filter centered at approximately 20.614 eV. The filtered beam passes into a resonance chamber where the electrons have inelastic collisions with the helium atoms to produce the He2 1 S excited state. The He2 1 S scattering resonance has a narrow width of less than 0.001 eV at its energy threshold of 20.614 eV and serves as a filter. Due to the steepness of the initial rise of the resonance structure the resolution of the spectrometer is about 0.0001 eV. The trapped electron device then detects the flux density of the scattered electrons.

Inventors

  • 👤 Heinrich Erwin Hunziker
  • 👤 Robert Kenyon Nesbet

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-05 17:54
CPC Classifications
G; G21; G21K; G21K1/00; G21K1/10; H; H01; H01J; H01J49/00; H01J49/44

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim 120 words
An electron spectrometer adapted to analyze the kinetic energy of electrons emitted from a sample comprising first means for varying the energy value of electrons from said sample to bring the energy value of said electrons to a range which includes the energy value of the resonance of a detector gas, a resonance chamber associated with said first means containing a detector gas adapted to exhibit a narrow scattering resonance at a specific energy value wherein said narrow resonance of said detector gas filters the electron energy spectrum in the vicinity of said specific energy value to emit particles resulting from the scattering process, and detector means associated with said chamber adapted to detect the presence of said emitted particles.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 120 words
An electron spectrometer adapted to analyze the kinetic energy of electrons emitted from a sample comprising first means for varying the energy value of electrons from said sample to bring the energy value of said electrons to a range which includes the energy value of the resonance of a detector gas, a resonance chamber associated with said first means containing a detector gas adapted to exhibit a narrow scattering resonance at a specific energy value wherein said narrow resonance of said detector gas filters the electron energy spectrum in the vicinity of said specific energy value to emit particles resulting from the scattering process, and detector means associated with said chamber adapted to detect the presence of said emitted particles.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 20 words
An electron spectrometer as described in claim 1 wherein said detector means detects inelastic scattering at said specific energy value.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 15 words
An electron spectrometer as described in claim 1 wherein said detector means detects elastic scattering.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 17 words
An electron spectrometer as described in claim 1 wherein said detector means is a trapped electron device.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 17 words
An electron spectrometer as described in claim 1 wherein said detector means is a metastable atom detector.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 23 words
An electron spectrometer as described in claim 1 wherein said detector gas is helium and said specific energy value is about 20.614 volts.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 12 words
An electron spectrometer as described in claim 1 including electron focusing devices.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 30 words
An electron spectrometer as described in claim 1 including second means positioned between said first means and said resonance chamber and adapted to electromagnetically filter electrons from said first means.
Claim 10
Independent Claim 101 words
A method of analyzing the kinetic energy of electrons emitted from a sample comprising the steps of varying the energy value of electrons from said sample to a range which includes the energy value of the resonance of a detector gas, passing the electrons into a resonance chamber containing a detector gas adapted to exhibit a narrow scattering resonance at a specific energy value whereby said narrow resonance of said detector gas filters the electron energy spectrum in the vicinity of said specific energy value to emit particles resulting from the scattering process, and detecting the presence of said emitted particles.
Claim 11
Independent Claim 101 words
A method of analyzing the kinetic energy of electrons emitted from a sample comprising the steps of varying the energy value of electrons from said sample to a range which includes the energy value of the resonance of a detector gas, passing the electrons into a resonance chamber containing a detector gas adapted to exhibit a narrow scattering resonance at a specific energy value whereby said narrow resonance of said detector gas filters the electron energy spectrum in the vicinity of said specific energy value to emit particles resulting from the scattering process, and detecting the presence of said emitted particles.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 38 words
A method as described in claim 9 including the step of electromagnetically filtering the electrons after they have attained the energy value of the resonance of a detector gas and prior to being passed into said resonance chamber.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 13 words
A method as described in claim 9 whereby the detector gas is helium.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 17 words
A method as described in claim 9 whereby scattered electrons are the emitted particles that are detected.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 17 words
A method as described in claim 9 whereby excited atoms are the emitted particles that are detected.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 17 words
A method as described in claim 9 whereby excited molecules are the emitted particles that are detected.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US3582648A Cited
US3670172A Cited
US3806728A Cited
US3769513A Cited
US3836775A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1981-05-15 1981-11-14 1982-05-16 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1985-05-15 1985-11-14 1986-05-16 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 1989-05-15 1989-11-14 1990-05-16 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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