Observation of MWCNTs with low-energy electron point source microscope

The low-energy electron point source (LEEPS) microscope, which creates enlarged projection images with low-energy field emission electron beams, can be used to observe the projection image of nano-scale samples and to characterize the coherence of the field emission beam. In this paper we report the design and test operation performance of a home-made LEEPS microscope. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) synthesized by the CVD method were observed by LEEPS microscope using a conventional tungsten tip, and projection images with the magnification of up to 10₄ was obtained. The resolution of the acquired images is \sim10 nm. A higher resolution and a larger magnification can be expected when the AC magnetic field inside the equipment is shielded and the vibration of the instrument reduced.