The objective of the present invention is to provide a charged-particle beam device capable of moving a field-of-view to an exact position even when moving the field-of-view above an actual sample. In order to attain this objective, a charged-particle beam device is proposed comprising an objective lens whereby a charged-particle beam is focused and irradiated onto a sample: a field-of-view moving deflector for deflecting the charged-particle beam; and a stage onto which the sample is placed. The charged-particle beam device is equipped with a control device which controls the lens conditions for the objective lens in such a manner that the charged-particle been focuses on the sample which is to be measured; moves the field-of-view via the field-of-view moving deflector while maintaining the lens conditions; acquires a plurality of images at each position among a reference pattern extending in a specified direction; and uses the plurality of acquired images to adjust the signal supplied to the field-of-view moving deflector.

Optical corrector modules for charged particle columns which comprise split multipoles, according to the present invention include at least one split multipole composed of two multipoles separated by a distance less than 10 mm, 1 m, 100 m, and/or 10 m. Each of the individual multipoles may comprise at least two electrodes positioned to partially define a beam path through the multipole. According to the present invention, each of the electrodes comprises: a first surface that faces upstream of a charged particle beam when used in the charged particle column; and a second surface that faces downstream of the charged particle beam when used in the charged particle column, wherein the thickness between the first surface and the second surface for each of the electrodes is less than 10 mm, 5 mm, and/or 3 mm. Within the scope of the disclosure, the split multipoles may be electrostatic and may correspond to hexapoles.

In one embodiment, a charged particle beam writing apparatus includes an emitter emitting a charged particle beam, a first aperture shaping the charged particle beam, a second aperture shaping the charged particle beam transmitted through the first aperture, a projection lens projecting the charged particle beam transmitted through the first aperture on the second aperture, an object lens focusing the charged particle beam transmitted through the second aperture, the object lens being a magnetic field-type lens, and an electrostatic lens performing focus correction of the charged particle beam in accordance with a surface height of a substrate that is a writing target. The electrostatic lens is disposed inside the object lens, a positive voltage is applied to an electrode of the electrostatic lens. A strength of a magnetic field of the object lens at an upper end of the electrode has a predetermined value or less.

An apparatus may include an electrode assembly, the electrode assembly comprising a plurality of electrodes, arranged in a plurality of electrode pairs arranged to conduct an ion beam therethrough. A given electrode pair lies along a radius of an arc describing a nominal central ray trajectory, wherein a radius of a first electrode pair and an adjacent electrode pair define an angular spacing. The plurality of electrode pairs may define a plurality of angular spacings, wherein, in a first configuration, the plurality of angular spacings are not all equal. The apparatus may also include a power supply in communication with the EM, the power supply configured to independently supply voltage to the plurality of electrodes.

An apparatus may include an electrode assembly, the electrode assembly comprising a plurality of electrodes, arranged in a plurality of electrode pairs arranged to conduct an ion beam therethrough. A given electrode pair lies along a radius of an arc describing a nominal central ray trajectory, wherein a radius of a first electrode pair and an adjacent electrode pair define an angular spacing. The plurality of electrode pairs may define a plurality of angular spacings, wherein, in a first configuration, the plurality of angular spacings are not all equal. The apparatus may also include a power supply in communication with the EM, the power supply configured to independently supply voltage to the plurality of electrodes.

A scanning electron microscopy system is disclosed. The system includes a multi-beam scanning electron microscopy (SEM) sub-system. The SEM sub-system includes a multi-beam electron source configured to form a plurality of electron beams, a sample stage configured to secure a sample, an electron-optical assembly to direct the electron beams onto a portion of the sample, and a detector assembly configured to simultaneously acquire multiple images of the surface of the sample. The system includes a controller configured to receive the images from the detector assembly, identify a best focus image of images by analyzing one or more image quality parameters of the images, and direct the multi-lens array to adjust a focus of one or more electron beams based on a focus of an electron beam corresponding with the identified best focus image.

A scanning electron microscopy system is disclosed. The system includes a multi-beam scanning electron microscopy (SEM) sub-system. The SEM sub-system includes a multi-beam electron source configured to form a plurality of electron beams, a sample stage configured to secure a sample, an electron-optical assembly to direct the electron beams onto a portion of the sample, and a detector assembly configured to simultaneously acquire multiple images of the surface of the sample. The system includes a controller configured to receive the images from the detector assembly, identify a best focus image of images by analyzing one or more image quality parameters of the images, and direct the multi-lens array to adjust a focus of one or more electron beams based on a focus of an electron beam corresponding with the identified best focus image.

In one embodiment, a multi-charged-particle beam writing apparatus includes an emission unit emitting a charged-particle beam, a limiting aperture substrate including a single first aperture, a shaping aperture array that has a plurality of second apertures and that is irradiated with the charged-particle beam having passed through the first aperture in a region including the plurality of second apertures and forms multi-beams by letting part of the charged-particle beam pass through the plurality of second apertures, and a blanking aperture array member including a plurality of third apertures through each of which a corresponding one of the multi-beams that have passed through the plurality of second apertures passes, the blanking aperture array member having a blanker in each of the third apertures, the blanker performing blanking deflection on the corresponding beam.

To realize a focused-ion-beam machining apparatus capable of machining a thin sample with a wide area and a uniform film thickness and a needle-like sample with a sharp tip, in a focused-ion-beam machining apparatus including: an ion source (1); an electronic lens (3) focusing an ion beam extracted from the ion source (1) and irradiating the ion beam to a sample (5); and a sample holder (13) holding the sample (5), the sample holder (13) is provided with a shield electrode (7) arranged in a manner such as to cover the sample (5), and the sample (5) and the shield electrode (7) are insulated from each other in a manner such that voltages can be applied to them separately from each other.

An electron energy loss spectrometer for electron microscopy is disclosed having an electrically isolated drift tube extending through the bending magnet and through subsequent optics that focus and magnify the spectrum. An electrostatic or magnetic lens is located either before or after or both before and after the drift tube and the lens or lenses are adjusted as a function of the bending magnet drift tube voltage to maintain a constant net focal length and to avoid defocusing. An energy selecting slit is included in certain embodiments to cleanly cut off electrons dispersed outside the energy range incident on the detector, thereby eliminating artifacts caused by unwanted electrons scattering back into the spectrum.