The problem addressed by the present disclosure is to provide a stage device, a charged particle beam device, and a vacuum device, with which it is possible to increase the speed and the acceleration of positioning and to suppress the leakage of a magnetic field. As a means to resolve this problem, a stage device 100 comprises a support stage 10, a floating mechanism 20, and a movement stage 30. The movement stage 30 has a propulsion-applying unit 36, and the support stage 10 has a propulsion-receiving unit 11. The stage device 100 is configured so that when the movement stage 30 moves and the propulsion-applying unit 36 contacts or approaches the propulsion-receiving unit 11, the propulsion-applying unit 36 applies propulsion in the movement direction to the propulsion-receiving unit 11.

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.

Disclosed is a charged particle optical apparatus. The charged particle optical apparatus has a liner electrode in a first vacuum zone. The liner electrode is used to generate an electrostatic objective lens field. The apparatus has a second electrode which surrounds at least a section of the primary particle beam path. The section extends in the first vacuum zone and downstream of the liner electrode. A third electrode is provided having a differential pressure aperture through which the particle beam path exits from the first vacuum zone. A particle detector is configured for detecting emitted particles, which are emitted from the object and which pass through the differential pressure aperture of the third electrode. The liner electrode, the second and third electrodes are operable at different potentials relative to each other.

A spin polarimeter includes: a particle beam source or a photon beam source that is a probe for a sample; a sample chamber in which the sample is accommodated; a spin detector that includes a target to be irradiated with an electron generated from the sample by a particle beam or a photon beam from the probe, and a target chamber in which the target is accommodated, and is configured to detect a spin of the sample by detecting an electron scattered on the target; a first exhaust system that is configured to exhaust the sample chamber; a second exhaust system that is configured to exhaust the target chamber; and an orifice that is disposed between the target chamber and the sample chamber.

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.

Disclosed is a charged particle optical apparatus. The charged particle optical apparatus has a liner electrode in a first vacuum zone. The liner electrode is used to generate an electrostatic objective lens field. The apparatus has a second electrode which surrounds at least a section of the primary particle beam path. The section extends in the first vacuum zone and downstream of the liner electrode. A third electrode is provided having a differential pressure aperture through which the particle beam path exits from the first vacuum zone. A particle detector is configured for detecting emitted particles, which are emitted from the object and which pass through the differential pressure aperture of the third electrode. The liner electrode, the second and third electrodes are operable at different potentials relative to each other.

A spin polarimeter includes: a particle beam source or a photon beam source that is a probe for a sample; a sample chamber in which the sample is accommodated; a spin detector that includes a target to be irradiated with an electron generated from the sample by a particle beam or a photon beam from the probe, and a target chamber in which the target is accommodated, and is configured to detect a spin of the sample by detecting an electron scattered on the target; a first exhaust system that is configured to exhaust the sample chamber; a second exhaust system that is configured to exhaust the target chamber; and an orifice that is disposed between the target chamber and the sample chamber.

The problem addressed by the present disclosure is to provide a stage device, a charged particle beam device, and a vacuum device, with which it is possible to increase the speed and the acceleration of positioning and to suppress the leakage of a magnetic field. As a means to resolve this problem, a stage device 100 comprises a support stage 10, a floating mechanism 20, and a movement stage 30. The movement stage 30 has a propulsion-applying unit 36, and the support stage 10 has a propulsion-receiving unit 11. The stage device 100 is configured so that when the movement stage 30 moves and the propulsion-applying unit 36 contacts or approaches the propulsion-receiving unit 11, the propulsion-applying unit 36 applies propulsion in the movement direction to the propulsion-receiving unit 11.

A vacuum condition processing apparatus is provided, the top of which is connected to an external charged particle beam generating device, and the apparatus includes: a suction cup in contact with the specimen to be observed or the stage holding the specimen, a first gas controlling device connected to an external gas supplying system, and a second gas controlling device connected to an external pumping system; a window is deployed at the top of the apparatus, through which the particle beam can go into the apparatus; the first gas controlling device is arranged to connect the gas supplying system and the suction cup; the second gas controlling device is arranged to connect the gas pumping system and the suction cup. Also disclosed is a specimen observation system and method.

Provided herein are articles of manufacture, systems, and methods employing a gas-deflector plate in low to ultra-high vacuum systems that use differential pumping (e.g., gas-target particle accelerators, mass spectrometers, and windowless delivery ports). In certain embodiments, the gas-deflector plate is configured to be positioned between higher and lower pressure regions in a pressurized system, wherein the gas-deflector plate has a channel therethrough shaped and/or angled such that jetting gas moving through the channel enters the lower pressure region at an angle offset from the vertical axis of the gas-deflector plate and/or the channel. In other embodiments, a jet-deflector component is employed such that the jetting gas strikes such jet-deflector component and is re-directed in another direction.