The present invention relates to a multi-stage vacuum equipment, preferably a two-stage equipment, whose normal operation requires different pressures to be set, wherein the pressure variation may be achieved by a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wire movement of a suitable element. The invention further discloses a method for operating said multi-stage vacuum equipment controlled by a SMA actuator.

The objective of the present invention is to maintain the surrounding of a sample at atmospheric pressure and efficiently detect secondary electrons. In a sample chamber of a charged particle device, a sample holder (4) has: a gas introduction pipe and a gas evacuation pipe for controlling the vicinity of a sample (20) to be an atmospheric pressure environment; a charged particle passage hole (18) and a micro-orifice (18) enabling detection of secondary electrons (15) emitted from the sample (20), co-located above the sample (20); and a charged particle passage hole (19) with a hole diameter larger than the micro-orifice (18) above the sample (20) so as to be capable of actively evacuating gas during gas introduction.

An electron microscope includes a charged particle beam generator, a detector, a film and a bearing unit. The charged particle beam generator generates a first charged particle beam to bomb an object. The detector detects a second charged particle from the object to form an image. The film disposes on downstream of charged particle beam generator and has a first surface and a second surface. A space between charged particle beam generator and the first surface of film is a vacuum environment. The bearing unit disposes at a side of second surface of film and has a bearing surface and a back surface. The object disposes on the bearing surface of the bearing unit and a distance between an analyzed surface of the object and the film is less than a predetermined spacing. A liquid space exists between the analyzed surface and the film to be filled a liquid.

A large current electron beam is stably emitted from an electron gun of a charged particle beam device. The electron gun of the charged particle beam device includes: a SE tip 202; a suppressor 303 disposed rearward of a distal end of the SE tip; a cup-shaped extraction electrode 204 including a bottom surface and a cylindrical portion and enclosing the SE tip and the suppressor; and an insulator 208 holding the suppressor and the extraction electrode. A shield electrode 301 of a conductive metal having a cylindrical portion 302 is provided between the suppressor and the cylindrical portion of the extraction electrode. A voltage lower than a voltage of the SE tip is applied to the shield electrode.

A lens element of a charged particle system comprises an electrode having a central opening. The lens element is configured for functionally cooperating with an aperture array that is located directly adjacent said electrode, wherein the aperture array is configured for blocking part of a charged particle beam passing through the central opening of said electrode. The electrode is configured to operate at a first electric potential and the aperture array is configured to operate at a second electric potential different from the first electric potential. The electrode and the aperture array together form an aberration correcting lens.

A focused ion beam system has a differentially-pumped vacuum unit and a focused ion beam column, comprising: a vacuum pad, of a porous material, with a suction surface exposed in a way that surrounds the outer edge of a substrate to be processed; a substrate support on which the substrate and vacuum pad are placed, and a vacuum pump for vacuum evacuation using the vacuum pad. The system provides an arrangement in which, while a head of the differentially-pumped vacuum unit partially falls out of the outer edge of the substrate, the suction surface allows an input of air evacuated from a region between the suction surface and the head, and the processing area on a substrate is expanded by allowing the processing with an ion beam to be performed even in the vicinity of the peripheral substrate surface without requiring a large vacuum chamber.

An aperture device (31) is described, which is attachable to a lens system (13). The lens system (13) is arranged to form a particle beam of charged particles, emitted from a sample surface (Ss).The aperture device (31) comprises an end surface (S) which is to be arranged facing the sample surface (Ss), at least one aperture (38) arranged in the end surface (S), a length axis (32) which extends through the centre of said at least one aperture (38), and at least one gas outlet (10), which is arranged at a transverse distance (T) perpendicular from the length axis (32), and is arranged to direct gas into a volume between at least one aperture (38) and the sample surface (Ss). The end surface (S) within a distance, equal to 1/3 of the transverse distance (T), perpendicular from the length axis (32) has a variation along the length axis (32) being smaller than 1/6 of the transverse distance (T).

According to one aspect of the technique of the present disclosure, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: a process vessel in which a substrate is processed; an outer vessel configured to cover an outer circumference of the process vessel; a gas flow path provided between the outer vessel and the outer circumference of the process vessel; an exhaust path in communication with the gas flow path; an adjusting valve configured to be capable of adjusting a conductance of the exhaust path; a first exhaust apparatus provided on the exhaust path downstream of the adjusting valve; a pressure sensor configured to measure an inner pressure of the outer vessel; and a controller configured to be capable of adjusting an exhaust volume flow rate of the first exhaust apparatus by controlling the first exhaust apparatus based on a pressure measured by the pressure sensor.

A charged particle beam apparatus (100) is described. The charged particle beam apparatus includes a first vacuum region (121) in which a charged particle beam emitter (105) for emitting a charged particle beam (102) along an optical axis (A) is arranged, a second vacuum region (122) downstream of the first vacuum region and separated from the first vacuum region by a first gas separation wall (132) with a first differential pumping aperture (131), wherein the first differential pumping aperture (131) is configured as a first beam limiting aperture for the charged particle beam (102); and a third vacuum region (123) downstream of the second vacuum region and separated from the second vacuum region by a second gas separation wall (134) with a second differential pumping aperture (133), wherein the second differential pumping aperture (133) is configured as a second beam limiting aperture for the charged particle beam (102). Further described are a scanning electron microscope and a method of operating a charged particle beam apparatus.

A lens element of a charged particle system comprises an electrode having a central opening. The lens element is configured for functionally cooperating with an aperture array that is located directly adjacent said electrode, wherein the aperture array is configured for blocking 5 part of a charged particle beam passing through the central opening of said electrode. The electrode is configured to operate at a first electric potential and the aperture array is configured to operate at a second electric potential different from the first electric potential. The electrode and the aperture array together form an aberration correcting lens.