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The photocurrent from a semiconductor photocathode with a negative-electron affinity surface can be arbitrarily controlled by the excitation laser power. Applying this characteristic to a scanning electron microscope allows the probe current to be arbitrarily controlled at any location on the sample. A photocathode with a fast time response is required to control the probe current at high speed. This study used an InGaN photocathode for pulsed electron beam generation and investigated its time response. A pulsed electron beam with 3.8 ns pulse width and 8.1 × 103 A cm−2 current density was observed, and the rise and fall times of the photocurrent were found to be 1.7 and 2.0 ns, respectively. The results show that despite the bottleneck of the time response of the laser power, the InGaN photocathode generates an electron beam that can control the probe current on a pixel-by-pixel for a 270 MHz scan speed.

Pulsed electron beams from a photocathode using an InGaN semiconductor have brought selectively scanning technology to scanning electron microscopes, where the electron beam irradiation intensity and area can be arbitrarily selected within the field of view in SEM images. The p-type InGaN semiconductor crystals grown in the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition equipment were used as the photocathode material for the electron beam source after the surface was activated to a negative electron affinity state in the electron gun under ultrahigh vacuum. The InGaN semiconductor photocathode produced a pulsed electron beam with a rise and fall time of 3 ns, consistent with the time structure of the irradiated pulsed laser used for the optical excitation of electrons. The InGaN photocathode-based electron gun achieved a total beam operation time of 1300 h at 15 μA beam current with a downtime rate of 4% and a current stability of 0.033% after 23 cycles of surface activation and continuous beam operation. The InGaN photocathode-based electron gun has been installed in the conventional scanning electron microscope by replacing the original field emission gun. SEM imaging was performed by selective electron beaming, in which the scanning signal of the SEM system was synchronized with the laser for photocathode excitation to irradiate arbitrary regions in the SEM image at arbitrary intensity. The accuracy of the selection of regions in the SEM image by the selective electron beam was pixel by pixel at the TV scan speed (80 ns/pix, 25 frame/s) of the SEM.

The dependence of the electron emission current density on the excitation power density of a Cs/O-activated negative electron affinity (NEA) InGaN photocathode was investigated. The emission current density of the NEA-InGaN photocathode increased monotonically with the excitation power density in the measured range. The emission current density reached 5.6 × 103 A/cm2 at an excitation power density of 2.6 × 106 W/cm2. Using the electron thermal energy estimated by comparing simulation and experimental results [D. Sato, H. Shikano, A. Koizumi, T. Nishitani, Y. Honda, and H. Amano, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 39, 062209 (2021)], the reduced brightness of 4 × 108 A/m2 sr V was derived.

In this study, we generated 25 multielectron beam (MEB) using an InGaN photocathode with a negative electron affinity state irradiating with 25 multilaser beam. The uniformity of the MEB and the total electron beam current were evaluated. A laser beam was split into 25 laser beams using a spatial light modulator. The coefficient of variation (CV) of laser power was 20%. The CV of quantum efficiency was 1.1%. The CV of electron beam current was 12%, and the total current was about 1.2 μA. These results will enhance the development of the MEB‐defect inspection using the InGaN photocathode.

A III–V semiconductor with a few monolayers of alkali metals (e.g., Cs) forms a negative electron affinity (NEA) surface, for which the vacuum level lies below the conduction band minimum of the base semiconductor. The photocathodes that form an NEA surface (NEA photocathodes) have various advantages, such as low emittance, a large current, high spin polarization, and ultrashort pulsed operation. The NEA-InGaN photocathode, which is sensitive to blue light, has been studied as a material for the next-generation robust photocathode. However, the proper conditions for forming NEA surfaces remain unknown. The authors consider whether the suitable process for NEA surfaces can be understood by investigating the relationship between the electron emission and the adsorption state of alkali metals. In this study, the relationship between the electron emission and the adsorption state of Cs on the p-type InGaN (0001) was analyzed by the temperature-programed desorption (TPD) method using a quadrupole mass spectrometer. From the results of the TPD measurements, it was shown that there were several adsorption states of Cs on InGaN. The quantum efficiency (QE), which indicates the ratio of emitted electrons to incident photons, increased while Cs desorption occurred. The authors divided the formation process of an NEA surface into several sections to investigate the adsorption states of Cs related to the electron emission and to discuss the reasons why the QE increased despite the desorbed Cs. From the results of the NEA activation in each section, it was shown that there were sections where the QE increased by reacting with O2 after Cs supply stopped. There is a possibility that several layers reacting with O2 and those not reacting with O2 are formed by performing NEA activation until the QE saturates. From the results of the TPD measurements in each section, it was suggested that there was a Cs peak at above 700 °C when the TPD method was carried out immediately after confirming the electron emission. Therefore, the adsorption state of Cs that formed a peak at above 700 °C had a close relation to the electron emission. It is considered that the increase of the QE in the TPD was affected by adsorbed Cs compounds that reacted with O2. Although the mechanism is not understood, it is known that the QE was increased by the reaction of Cs adsorbed compounds and O2 in previous studies. It was suspected that layers that reacted with O2 appeared from TPD and then the QE increased by reacting with O2.A III–V semiconductor with a few monolayers of alkali metals (e.g., Cs) forms a negative electron affinity (NEA) surface, for which the vacuum level lies below the conduction band minimum of the base semiconductor. The photocathodes that form an NEA surface (NEA photocathodes) have various advantages, such as low emittance, a large current, high spin polarization, and ultrashort pulsed operation. The NEA-InGaN photocathode, which is sensitive to blue light, has been studied as a material for the next-generation robust photocathode. However, the proper conditions for forming NEA surfaces remain unknown. The authors consider whether the suitable process for NEA surfaces can be understood by investigating the relationship between the electron emission and the adsorption state of alkali metals. In this study, the relationship between the electron emission and the adsorption state of Cs on the p-type InGaN (0001) was analyzed by the temperature-programed desorption (TPD) method using a quadrupole mass spectrom...