Hello,
I am currently interested in the Absorbed current technique in the SEM used as a mapping or imaging system. My samples are BaTiO3 Based MLCC's and i was wondering if anyone has ever used this technique on any electronic component sample. Also what type of information can be inferid by this technique?
Absorbed current is simply what remains of the incident beam current after the production of back-scattered and secondary electron from the surface of the sample. As such, absorbed current mapping will probably not provide anymore information than looking at a BSE image.
As far as I know this is called "specimen current" imaging and - as already mentioned by J.H. Wittke - a somehow complementary signal to the backscattered coefficient. It is especially very beneficial if you do not have a BSE detector, or the BSE detector is not usable, e.g. for specific sample tilt conditions. However, the specimen current cannot be easily amplified so that for a good image you need to scan a long time in order to spread the contrast in a interpretable way. As J.H. Wittke already mentioned, this is no new technique so that the question "Has anyone ever used...." one can clearyl answer with "yes", from the beginning of SEM technology. But nowadays better detectors are available and therefore new SEMs even do not always have this mode as standard option anymore. However, it is easy to get. You only need to monitor your ground conductor coming from the sample stage. Therefore, other companies offer these imaging like the attached link shows.
https://deben.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/HC-EBIC.pdf
Thank you both for the information. from what i have read i thought that the Absorbed Current (specimen current) and induced current are two different signals. How is electron beam induced current (EBIC) different from the absorbed current (EBAC).
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