A multi-beam apparatus for observing a sample with high resolution and high throughput is proposed. In the apparatus, a source-conversion unit forms plural and parallel images of one single electron source by deflecting plural beamlets of a parallel primary-electron beam therefrom, and one objective lens focuses the plural deflected beamlets onto a sample surface and forms plural probe spots thereon. A movable condenser lens is used to collimate the primary-electron beam and vary the currents of the plural probe spots, a pre-beamlet-forming means weakens the Coulomb effect of the primary-electron beam, and the source-conversion unit minimizes the sizes of the plural probe spots by minimizing and compensating the off-axis aberrations of the objective lens and condenser lens.

Multi-beam e-beam columns and inspection systems that use such multi-beam e-beam columns are disclosed. A multi-beam e-beam column configured in accordance with the present disclosure may include an electron source and a multi-lens array configured to produce a plurality of beamlets utilizing electrons provided by the electron source. The multi-lens array may be further configured to shift a focus of at least one particular beamlet of the plurality of beamlets such that the focus of the at least one particular beamlet is different from a focus of at least one other beamlet of the plurality of beamlets.

A system and method is provided for rapidly collecting high quality images of a specimen through controlling a re-focusable beam of an electron microscope. An intelligent acquisition system instructs the electron microscope to perform an initial low-resolution scan of a sample. A low-resolution image of the sample is received by the intelligent acquisition system as scanned image information from the electron microscope. The intelligent acquisition system then determines regions of interest within the low-resolution image and instructs the electron microscope to perform a high-resolution scan of the sample, only in areas of the sample corresponding to the determined regions of interest or portions of the determined regions of interest, so that other regions within the sample are not scanned at high-resolution, where the high-resolution scanning in the regions of interest is guided by a probability map using a deep neural network for segmentation.

A multi-beam apparatus for observing a sample with high resolution and high throughput is proposed. In the apparatus, a source-conversion unit forms plural and parallel images of one single electron source by deflecting plural beamlets of a parallel primary-electron beam therefrom, and one objective lens focuses the plural deflected beamlets onto a sample surface and forms plural probe spots thereon. A movable condenser lens is used to collimate the primary-electron beam and vary the currents of the plural probe spots, a pre-beamlet-forming means weakens the Coulomb effect of the primary-electron beam, and the source-conversion unit minimizes the sizes of the plural probe spots by minimizing and compensating the off-axis aberrations of the objective lens and condenser lens.

An ion implantation system and method provide a non-uniform flux of a ribbon ion beam. A spot ion beam is formed and provided to a scanner, and a scan waveform having a time-varying potential is applied to the scanner. The ion beam is scanned by the scanner across a scan path, generally defining a scanned ion beam comprised of a plurality of beamlets. The scanned beam is then passed through a corrector apparatus. The corrector apparatus is configured to direct the scanned ion beam toward a workpiece at a generally constant angle of incidence across the workpiece. The corrector apparatus further comprises a plurality of magnetic poles configured to provide a non-uniform flux profile of the scanned ion beam at the workpiece.

Provided is an electron beam observation device that includes: an electron source; an objective lens concentrating an electron beam emitted from the electron source; and a control unit configured to perform control such that a plurality of images is generated by capturing images of a reference sample having a specific pattern, and a frequency characteristic is calculated for each of the plurality of images, in which an image is generated based on a secondary signal generated from a sample due to irradiation of the sample with the electron beam, and the control unit holds the plurality of frequency characteristics.

A control unit for controlling a deflector in an imaging apparatus. The imaging apparatus includes an electron gun arranged to provide electron beam to scan a specimen, and the deflector. The deflector is arranged to move the electron beam in a first scanning direction and a second scanning direction that are in the same plane for scanning the specimen. The control unit is configured to determine the first scanning direction and the second scanning direction, and process the determined first scanning direction and the determined second scanning direction based on predetermined equations. The control unit is further configured to provide, based on the processing, a control signal to the deflector to adjust one or both of the first scanning direction and the second scanning direction such that they become substantially orthogonal.

The charged particle beam device includes a charged particle source and a beamlet-forming multiaperture plate. The device also includes a precompensator for reducing aberrations of the beamlets at a target, a scanner for scanning each of the beamlets, an objective lens for focusing each beamlet onto the target, and a controller configured to synchronize the precompensator and the scanner. The precompensator includes: at least one radially variable multiaperture electrode in which the diameter of each aperture thereof scales with the distance of the aperture from the optical axis, z; and at least one cartesianally variable multiaperture electrode in which the diameter of each aperture thereof scales with an x component of the position of the aperture.

A control unit for controlling a deflector in an imaging apparatus. The imaging apparatus includes an electron gun arranged to provide electron beam to scan a specimen, and the deflector. The deflector is arranged to move the electron beam in a first scanning direction and a second scanning direction that are in the same plane for scanning the specimen. The control unit is configured to determine the first scanning direction and the second scanning direction, and process the determined first scanning direction and the determined second scanning direction based on predetermined equations. The control unit is further configured to provide, based on the processing, a control signal to the deflector to adjust one or both of the first scanning direction and the second scanning direction such that they become substantially orthogonal.

A charged particle beam system includes a charged particle source, a multi beam generator, an objective lens, a projection system, and a detector system. The projection system includes a first subcomponent configured to provide low frequency adjustments, and the projection system comprises a second subcomponent configured to provide a high frequency adjustments.