Contrast of positively charged oxide precipitate in out-lens, in-lens and in-column SE image.

Modern scanning electron microscopes are usually equipped with multiple detectors and enable simultaneous collection of two or even three secondary electron images. The secondary electrons become divided between the detectors in dependence on their initial kinetic energy and emission angle. In this study, sharing of the secondary electrons by out-lens, in-lens and in-column detectors has been systematically investigated. Energy filtering of the signal electrons is demonstrated by separation of the voltage and the topographical contrast in the micrographs obtained by out-lens and in-lens/in-column detectors. The presence of two detectors inside the electron column enables further filtering of the low kinetic energy secondary electrons, which results to unusual contrasts and phenomena. In this paper, inversion of the contrast sign between a positively charged oxide particle and conductive steel matrix (i.e. voltage contrast) in SE images collected under specific imaging conditions is demonstrated.