PRECISION ALIGNMENT OF MICROCOLUMN TIP TO A MICRON-SIZE EXTRACTOR APERTURE

摘要

A method and an accompanied apparatus for aligning an electron emitter with an extractor hole of a microcolumn. Four V-grooves (240), defined together with the window (220) for forming the membrane and having bottoms situated on two axis are microfabricated on a chip. The axis intersect at a right angle and defines a center point for the extractor hole (230). The V-grooves are then used as references to align the electron emitter with the extractor hole, one axis at a time. The emitter is precisely aligned to the extractor hole because the extractor hole was formed with reference to the V-grooves. The thickness of the chip is used as the spacing reference between the emitter and the extractor.