In one embodiment, a charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a current limiting aperture, a blanking deflector switching between beam ON and beam OFF so as to control an irradiation time by deflecting the charged particle beam having passed through the current limiting aperture, a blanking aperture blocking the charged particle beam deflected by the blanking deflector in such a manner that the beam OFF state is entered, and an electron lens disposed between the current limiting aperture and the blanking aperture. A lens value set for the electron lens is substituted into a given function to calculate an offset time. The offset time is added to an irradiation time for writing a pattern to correct the irradiation time. The blanking deflector switches between the beam ON and the beam OFF based on the corrected irradiation time.

Provided is a method of adjusting an electron-beam irradiated area in an electron beam irradiation apparatus that deflects an electron beam with a deflector to irradiate an object with the electron beam, the method including: emitting an electron beam while changing an irradiation position on an adjustment plate by controlling the deflector in accordance with an electron beam irradiation recipe, the adjustment plate detecting a current corresponding to the emitted electron beam; acquiring a current value detected from the adjustment plate; forming image data corresponding to the acquired current value; determining whether the electron-beam irradiated area is appropriate based on the formed image data; and updating the electron beam irradiation recipe when the electron-beam irradiated area is determined not to be appropriate.

Methods and systems for examining a dynamic specimen using a Transmission Charged Particle Microscope are disclosed. An example method includes sparsifying a beam of charged particles to produce at detector an image of a sample comprising a distribution of sub-images that are mutually isolated from one another at least along an elected scan path, and using a scanning assembly to cause relative motion of said image and said detector along said scan path during a time interval t so as to smear out each sub-image into a detection streak on said detector, each such streak capturing temporal evolution of its associated sub-image during said time interval t.

A blanking deflector according to an embodiment includes: a first electrode comprising a first insulator, a first material film coating all surfaces of the first insulator and having lower resistance than the first insulator, and a first low-resistance film coating part or all of surfaces of the first material film and having lower resistance than the first material film; and a second electrode comprising a second insulator, a second material film coating all surfaces of the second insulator and having lower resistance than the second insulator, and a second low-resistance film coating part or all of surfaces of the second material film and having lower resistance than the second material film, wherein the blanking deflector controls whether to irradiate a specimen with a charged particle beam by causing the charged particle beam to pass between the first electrode and the second electrode.

In one embodiment, an aperture for inspecting a multi-beam allows passage of one beam among multi-beams applied in a multi-beam writing apparatus. The aperture includes a scattering layer that is provided with a through-hole through which the one beam passes, and by which the other beams are scattered, and an absorbing layer that is provided with an opening having a diameter greater than the diameter of the through-hole and that absorbs at least some of the beams entering it.

Disclosed is a device for, in combination with a stop having an aperture, generating charged particle beam pulses, an apparatus for inspecting a surface of a sample, and a method for inspecting a surface of a sample. The device includes a deflection unit which is arranged for positioning in or along a trajectory of a charged particle beam. The deflection unit is arranged for generating an electric field for deflecting said charged particle beam over the stop and across the aperture. The device also includes an electrical driving circuit for providing a periodic signal. The electrical driving circuit is connected to the manipulation unit via a photoconductive switch, wherein the photoconductive switch is arranged for: substantially insulating the deflection unit from the electrical driving circuit, and for conductively connecting the deflection unit to the electrical driving circuit only when said photoconductive switch is illuminated by a light beam.

To provide a charged particle beam device which enables observation and evaluation of the surface and the inside of a sample with low damage to the sample, the charged particle beam device has: a charged particle beam source 2; a sample table 9 in which the sample 210 is placed; a charged particle beam optical system which pulsates a charged particle beam 100 and irradiates the charged particle beam to the sample at an acceleration voltage within a range of 0 kV to 5 kV; a split distance selector 125 for selecting a measurement object of the sample; and a split distance setting unit 124 for setting a split distance in one line scanning of the charged particle beam on the sample.

In one embodiment, a multi charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a plurality of reflective marks disposed on a stage, an inspection aperture member configured to allow one beam to pass therethrough, a first detector detecting a beam current of a beam passed through the inspection aperture member, a second detector detecting charged particles reflected from the reflective marks, a first beam shape calculator generating a beam image based on the beam currents detected by the first detector and calculating a reference beam shape, and a second beam shape calculator calculating a beam shape based on changes in intensity of the reflected charged particles and a position of the stage. The reference beam shape is calculated before writing. During writing, the beam shape based on reflected charged particles is calculated, and variation of the beam shape is added to the reference beam shape.

Continuous and automatic acquisition of electron beam holograms is made possible by using a sample holding mechanism that includes a sample end region that has a linear shape that is suited for electron beam holography, separates a thin-film rectangular window with an extreme-thin support film that supports a sample being disposed and a rectangular hole that has a linear-shaped edge and through which a reference wave is transmitted from each other, and configures a part of a layer that is thicker than the support film.

In one embodiment, a multi charged particle beam writing apparatus includes an emitter that emits a charged particle beam, an aperture plate in which a plurality of openings are formed and that forms multiple beams by allowing the charged particle beam to pass through the plurality of openings, a blanking plate provided with a plurality of blankers that each perform blanking deflection on a corresponding beam included in the multiple beams, a stage on which a substrate irradiated with the multiple beams, a detector that detects a reflection charged particle from the substrate, feature amount calculation circuitry that calculates a feature amount of an aperture image based on a detection value of the detector, and aberration correction circuitry that corrects aberration of the charged particle beam based on the feature amount.