The present invention refers to an apparatus (100) and a method for detecting characteristics of a probe. In an embodiment, the apparatus (100) comprises a vacuum chamber (104) and a beam generator (102) adapted to generate a beam of charged particles within the vacuum chamber (104). When the beam of charged particles falls onto the probe, interaction particles and/or interaction radiation are generated. The apparatus (100) further comprises an electromechanical unit (114) within the vacuum chamber (104) and a detector (110) comprising a plurality of detection units and being arranged on the electromechanical unit (114) allowing for the detector (110) to move from a first position (302) with respect to the beam generator (102) to a second position (304) with respect to the beam generator (102) and vice versa, upon a corresponding actuation of the electromechanical unit (114) performable from outside of the vacuum chamber (104).

The invention relates to a method of determining the thickness of a sample. According to this method, a diffraction pattern image of a sample of a first material is obtained. Said diffraction pattern image comprises at least image values representative for the diffraction pattern obtained for said sample. A slope of said image values is then determined. The slope is compared to a relation between the thickness of said first material and the slope of image value of a corresponding diffraction pattern image of said first material. The determined slope and said relation are used to determine the thickness of said sample.

A charged particle beam device includes: a detection chamber flange; a detector; a detector holding stand which holds the detector; a first shaft which is slidably inserted into a guide hole and connected to the detector holding stand, the guide hole being provided in the detection chamber flange; a first flange which is attached to the detection chamber flange and has a spherical bearing; a second flange which is supported by the spherical bearing of the first flange; and a second shaft which is slidably inserted into a guide hole provided in the second flange and passes through a through-hole in the detection chamber flange to be connected to the detector holding stand, each of the first shaft and the second shaft being provided with a flow channel of a heat transfer medium for cooling or heating the detector.

Mask-modulated spectra are incident to a sensor and are summed during a frame time. After the frame time, a compressed spectrum is read out based on the sum and decompressed to obtain spectra for some or all specimen locations. The mask-modulated spectrum that are summed are associated with different modulations produced by a common mask.

Methods and systems for temporal compressive sensing are disclosed, where within each of one or more sensor array data acquisition periods, one or more sensor array measurement datasets comprising distinct linear combinations of time slice data are acquired, and where mathematical reconstruction allows for calculation of accurate representations of the individual time slice datasets.

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for inspecting a sample. The apparatus includes: a sample holder, a multi beam charged particle generator for generating an array of primary charged particle beams, an electro-magnetic lens system for directing the array of primary charged particle beams into an array of separate focused primary charged particle beams on the sample, a multi-pixel photon detector arranged for detecting photons created by the focused primary charged particle beams when the primary charged particle beams impinge on the sample or after transmission of the primary charged particle beams through the sample, and an optical assembly for conveying photons created by at least two adjacent focused primary charged particle beams of the array of separate focused primary charged particle beams to distinct and/or separate pixels or groups of pixels of the multi-pixel photon detector.

An electron sensor and a system with a plurality of electron sensors for electron microscopy using an electron microscope. More specifically, the electron microscope generates an electron beam that includes at least one electron that impacts on a lateral reception surface of said electron sensor and this generates an electrical charge of electron-hole (e-h) pairs that are detected and/or measured by at least electrodes linked to an electric circuit unit to form a high dynamic range image and measure the energy of the electrons impacting each pixel of the image.

Methods and systems for acquiring transmission electron microscope video data on a rolling-shutter detector at an enhanced frame rate and without temporal distortions are described. Also described are methods to enhance the dynamic range of image and diffraction data acquired using a transmission electron microscope. The disclosed methods and systems may also be applicable to photon detection and imaging systems.

A laser beam illumination equipment has a laser beam generation section and a mirror unit. An image generation section has a camera and a camera controller. A laser beam illumination control section sets a pulse period of a laser beam to the same period as an exposure period of the camera. With this configuration, a state change of a specimen can be set uniform over exposure durations. A pulse train of the laser beam may be generated based on a synchronization signal which is output from the camera controller.

Method for fabricating a microchip are provided which may comprise forming a dopant mask layer on a front side surface of a silicon substrate having the front side surface and an opposing back side surface; removing a portion of the dopant mask layer according to a pattern to form a first exposed silicon region in the silicon substrate and a first unexposed silicon region in the silicon substrate; doping the first exposed silicon region in the silicon substrate with a p-type dopant to form a first p-type doped silicon region in the silicon substrate; forming a silicon nitride layer on the front side surface of the silicon substrate comprising the first p-type doped silicon region and the first unexposed silicon region; and forming an opening in the silicon substrate from the opposing back side surface of the silicon substrate to provide a microchip comprising the silicon substrate having the opening, a first silicon nitride window positioned within the opening, and a support structure mounted to the first silicon nitride window, the support structure comprising the first p-type doped silicon region. The fabricated microchips and methods of using the microchips are also provided.