Cathodoluminescence Microscopy of nanostructures on glass substrates

Cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy is an emerging analysis technique in the fields of biology and photonics, where it is used for the characterization of nanometer sized structures. For these applications, the use of transparent substrates might be highly preferred, but the detection of CL from nanostructures on glass is challenging because of the strong background generated in these substrates and the relatively weak CL signal from the nanostructures. We present an imaging system for highly efficient CL detection through the substrate using a high numerical aperture objective lens. This system allows for detection of individual nanophosphors down to thirty nanometer in size as well as the up to ninth order plasmon resonance modes of a gold nanowire on ITO coated glass. We analyze the CL signal-to-background dependence on the primary electron beam energy and discuss different approaches to minimize its influence on the measurement.