Provided are a charged particle beam apparatus and a charged particle beam inspection system capable of estimating electrical characteristics of a sample including capacitance characteristics. The charged particle beam apparatus estimates electrical characteristics of the sample using the correspondence data representing the correspondence between the node of the netlist and the coordinate on the sample and the pulsing condition when the sample is irradiated with the charged particle beam in a pulsed manner. The charged particle beam optical system irradiates a predetermined coordinate on the sample with a charged particle beam based on a pulsing condition, and the detector actually measures an emission amount of electrons. The emission amount calculation unit calculates, for the node on the netlist corresponding to a predetermined coordinate, an emission amount of electrons according to a temporal change in a charged state accompanying the irradiation of the charged particle beam based on the pulsing condition. The comparator compares a measurement result by the detector with a calculation result by the emission amount calculation unit.

A semiconductor storage device of an embodiment includes a stacked body including a plurality of conductive layers stacked via insulating layers, and a step portion in which end portions of the plurality of conductive layers have a stepwise shape, a plurality of pillars extending in the stacked body in a stacking direction of the stacked body, and forming a plurality of memory cells at intersection portions with at least part the plurality of conductive layers, and a plurality of contacts disposed for respective steps of the step portion, and to be electrically connected with the conductive layers of the respective steps. Among the plurality of contacts, a first plug is disposed on a contact connected to an (n1)-th (n is an integer of two or more) conductive layer from an undermost layer, and a second plug is disposed on the first plug, and among the plurality of contacts, the first plug is not disposed but the second plug is disposed on a contact connected to an n-th conductive layer from the undermost layer.

A semiconductor storage device of an embodiment includes a stacked body including a plurality of conductive layers stacked via insulating layers, and a step portion in which end portions of the plurality of conductive layers have a stepwise shape, a plurality of pillars extending in the stacked body in a stacking direction of the stacked body, and forming a plurality of memory cells at intersection portions with at least part the plurality of conductive layers, and a plurality of contacts disposed for respective steps of the step portion, and to be electrically connected with the conductive layers of the respective steps. Among the plurality of contacts, a first plug is disposed on a contact connected to an (n1)-th (n is an integer of two or more) conductive layer from an undermost layer, and a second plug is disposed on the first plug, and among the plurality of contacts, the first plug is not disposed but the second plug is disposed on a contact connected to an n-th conductive layer from the undermost layer.

A method for measuring electron mobility according to the present invention, which is performed by an apparatus comprising a chamber forming a sealed space, an electron gun provided in the chamber, and a metal sample disposed opposite to the electron gun in the sealed space, comprises: an electron irradiation step of irradiating the metal sample with electrons by the electron gun; a sample current measurement step of applying a voltage to the metal sample to measure a sample current obtained in the metal sample according to the applied voltage; a secondary electron current calculation step of calculating a secondary electron current through the measured sample current; and an effective incident current definition step of defining the sum of the measured sample current and the calculated secondary electron current as an effective incident current.

An object of the present invention relates to detecting a signal caused by a faulty point part of which the identification has been difficult with conventional EBAC. In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one probe is brought into contact with a sample on which a circuit is formed, the sample is scanned with a charged particle beam while power is supplied via the probe to the circuit identified by a contact of the probe, and a change in resistance value of a faulty point heated locally is measured via the probe. According to the present invention, even a signal caused by a high-resistance faulty point or a faulty point embedded in the sample can be easily detected.

An object of the present invention relates to detecting a signal caused by a faulty point part of which the identification has been difficult with conventional EBAC. In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one probe is brought into contact with a sample on which a circuit is formed, the sample is scanned with a charged particle beam while power is supplied via the probe to the circuit identified by a contact of the probe, and a change in resistance value of a faulty point heated locally is measured via the probe. According to the present invention, even a signal caused by a high-resistance faulty point or a faulty point embedded in the sample can be easily detected.

A computer program product and a method for dissipation of an electrical charge stored in a region of an object. The method may include (a) sensing, by at least one sensor, an electrical charging status of the region of the object, while the object is located within a vacuum chamber and while a gaseous pressure within the vacuum chamber is below a certain vacuum pressure threshold; and (b) performing, based on the charging status of the given region, an electrical charge dissipation process that comprises increasing the gaseous pressure within the vacuum chamber to be within a given gaseous pressure range that facilitates a dissipation, by breakdown, of the electrical charge stored in the region of the object to the vacuum chamber.

A computer program product and a method for dissipation of an electrical charge stored in a region of an object. The method may include (a) sensing, by at least one sensor, an electrical charging status of the region of the object, while the object is located within a vacuum chamber and while a gaseous pressure within the vacuum chamber is below a certain vacuum pressure threshold; and (b) performing, based on the charging status of the given region, an electrical charge dissipation process that comprises increasing the gaseous pressure within the vacuum chamber to be within a given gaseous pressure range that facilitates a dissipation, by breakdown, of the electrical charge stored in the region of the object to the vacuum chamber.

A voltage contrast imaging defect detection system includes a voltage contrast imaging tool and a controller coupled to the voltage contrast imaging tool. The controller is configured to generate one or more voltage contrast imaging metrics for one or more structures on a sample, determine one or more target areas on the sample based on the one or more voltage contrast imaging metrics, receive a voltage contrast imaging dataset for the one or more target areas on the sample from the voltage contrast imaging tool, and detect one or more defects based on the voltage contrast imaging dataset.

A voltage contrast imaging defect detection system includes a voltage contrast imaging tool and a controller coupled to the voltage contrast imaging tool. The controller is configured to generate one or more voltage contrast imaging metrics for one or more structures on a sample, determine one or more target areas on the sample based on the one or more voltage contrast imaging metrics, receive a voltage contrast imaging dataset for the one or more target areas on the sample from the voltage contrast imaging tool, and detect one or more defects based on the voltage contrast imaging dataset.