There is provided a sample holder which is for use in a charged particle beam system and which can prevent damage to a sample stage during transportation of a cartridge. The sample holder includes: the cartridge having the sample stage for holding a sample therein; and a holder base having a mounting portion to which the cartridge can be mounted. The cartridge has: a tilt mechanism for tilting the sample stage; and a lock lever which, when the cartridge has been taken out from the mounting portion, makes contact with the sample stage and limits tilt of the stage.

There is provided a sample holder capable of reducing positional deviation of a cartridge in the heightwise direction of a sample. The sample holder includes the cartridge and a holder base having a mounting portion for the cartridge. The mounting portion includes a placement surface, a first tilted surface, and a rotary drive mechanism for imparting a rotary force to the cartridge. The cartridge includes an opposing first tilted surface opposite to the first tilted surface of the mounting portion. As the rotary drive mechanism imparts the rotary force to the cartridge, the first tilted surface of the cartridge is pressed against the first tilted surface of the mounting portion, whereby the cartridge is pressed against the placement surface.

The present disclosure provides a substrate processing apparatus including at least one input/output chamber. The load lock device includes a base, a guide rail, a platform and an optical measuring module. The guide rail is connected to the base. The platform, carrying a cassette for holding a batch of spaced substrates, is movably disposed on the guide rail. The optical measuring module is configured to acquire an actual moving distance traveled by the platform along the guide rail based on at least one optical signal reflected from the platform.

An anomaly determination method of the present embodiment includes: measuring a first resistance value of a processing target via a first grounding member when the first grounding member is attached to the processing target in a first chamber; bringing the first grounding member into contact with a grounded second grounding member to measure a second resistance value of the processing target via the first and second grounding members in a second chamber; and determining an anomaly of the second grounding member with an arithmetic processing unit based on a trend of a resistance difference between the first resistance value and the second resistance value for a plurality of processing targets.

A rapid and automatic virus imaging and analysis system includes (i) electron optical sub-systems (EOSs), each of which has a large field of view (FOV) and is capable of instant magnification switching for rapidly scanning a virus sample; (ii) sample management sub-systems (SMSs), each of which automatically loads virus samples into one of the EOSs for virus sample scanning and then unloads the virus samples from the EOS after the virus sample scanning is completed; (iii) virus detection and classification sub-systems (VDCSs), each of which automatically detects and classifies a virus based on images from the EOS virus sample scanning; and (iv) a cloud-based collaboration sub-system for analyzing the virus sample scanning images, storing images from the EOS virus sample scanning, and storing and analyzing machine data associated with the EOSs, the SMSs, and the VDCSs.

A sample holder tip for use in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) or scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for performing in-situ experiments is described which facilitates in situ analysis of air-sensitive samples and allows physical manipulation of the sample. This includes, but is not limited to translation, rotation, electrical biasing, and heating/cooling for one or more individual cradles. The sample holder tip incorporates a compact design which eases sample loading and enables direct linkages between consecutive cradles, allowing a single tilt actuator to rotate each cradle around its respective eucentric position. Each of the connecting wires incorporates one or more bends or kinks which enable conductive access to the sample holder tip while also preserving the ability to also retract/extend the tip and tilt individual cradles with at least two degrees of freedom.

A semiconductor processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a main body cover that covers a main body device and a control device. The main body cover has a transfer opening for transferring a semiconductor, and the main body cover further has an intake port that generates an air flow in a horizontal direction inside the main body cover.

A method of forming a part includes 3D printing a photopolymerizable resin and forming a preformed part and subsequently post-curing the preformed part with electron beams. The preformed part may be cured via UV curing. A section of the preformed part post-cured with electron beams may have a thickness of at least 1.0 centimeter, for example, at least 2.0 centimeters or at least 3.0 centimeters. An electron beam dosage to post-cure the preformed part may be between 10 kilogray (kGy) and 100 kGy. The preformed part may be 3D printed using stereolithography (SLA), digital light processing (DLP) or material jetting (MJ) and the photopolymerizable resin may include at least one of an acrylate functional polymer and a methacrylate functional polymer. In the alternative, or in addition to, the photopolymerizable resin may include at least one of a urethane, a polyester, and a polyether.

The present invention relates to a transportable device, for the transport and transfer of a sample under ultra-high vacuum conditions and at low temperature, comprising a vacuum chamber, a cooling system, a transfer rod by means of which the sample positon can be adjusted, a valve by means of which the chamber can be opened or closed and attached to another vacuum apparatus, a pump designed to maintain in the chamber a pressure below 10.sup.−9 mbar all the time a sample is inside the chamber and/or all the time the sample is being transferred, a cooling shield defining a volume inside the chamber in which the sample is kept during transport, wherein the cooling shield (106) is thermally contacted to the cooling system, a sample holder removably attached to the transfer rod and configured to carry the sample during transport, a cooling block thermally contacted to the cooling shield, wherein the cooling block and the sample holder are configured such that they can be brought in thermal contact inside the volume defined by the cooling shield, wherein the cooling system is configured to be able cool the cooling shield to a temperature below 80K, and wherein the thermal contacts between the cooling shield and the cooling block and/or between the cooling block and the sample holder are configured such that the sample is kept at a temperature higher than the cooling shield all the time the temperature of the cooling shield is lower than the temperature of the chamber. The present invention relates also to the use of a hexapod port aligner for the transfer of a sample from a vacuum transport device to an electron microscope, especially a transmission electron microscope.

There is provided a charged particle beam system capable of determining the type of each cartridge precisely. An electron microscope that embodies the charged particle beam system includes a discriminator for determining the type of each cartridge based on the range or distance measured by a laser range finder. Plural cartridges are received in a magazine. The laser range finder measures the range to a selected one of the plural cartridges which is placed in a measurement position. A first cartridge of a first type included in the plural cartridges has a first measurement surface at a first distance to the laser range finder when placed in the measurement position. A second cartridge of a second type has a second measurement surface at a second range to the laser range finder when placed in the measurement position.