A high voltage inspection system that includes a vacuum chamber; electron optics that is configured to direct an electron beam towards an upper surface of a substrate; a substrate support module that comprises a chuck and a housing; wherein the chuck is configured to support a substrate; wherein the housing is configured to surround the substrate without masking the electron beam, when the substrate is positioned on the chuck during a first operational mode of the high voltage inspection system; and wherein the substrate, the chuck and the housing are configured to (a) receive a high voltage bias signal of a high voltage level that exceeds ten thousand volts, and (b) to maintain at substantially the high voltage level during the first operational mode of the high voltage inspection system.

Systems and methods for gas flow in a thermal processing system are provided. In some example implementations a gas flow pattern inside the process chamber of a millisecond anneal system can be improved by implementing one or more of the following: (1) altering the direction, size, position, shape and arrangement of the gas injection inlet nozzles, or a combination hereof; (2) use of gas channels in a wafer plane plate connecting the upper chamber with the lower chamber of a millisecond anneal system; and/or (3) decreasing the effective volume of the processing chamber using a liner plate disposed above the semiconductor substrate.

A multi-degree-of-freedom sample holder, comprising a housing and a rotating shaft, is disclosed. A frame is provided between the housing and the rotating shaft, and the frame is coaxial with the housing and rotating shaft. The present invention has multiple degrees of freedom such as high-precision translational freedom of the sample along the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis, and 360° rotation of the sample around the axis, etc. The sample is always aligned with the sample holder shaft during the rotation, and the static electricity accumulated on the sample can be led out.

The present invention provides a bright, focused visible light source that is part of a visible light alignment assembly that is coupled to an X-ray generator. The visible light source projects a bright, focused visible light beam from the X-ray generator through a collimator and object or part to be radiographed and to a detector or film, just as a subsequent X-ray beam eventually is. This allows the operator to quickly and easily visually assess the eventual position and coverage or spread of the X-ray beam and align the X-ray generator, collimator, object or part to be radiographed, and/or detector or film, with a minimum of test radiographs.

An electron beam detection apparatus includes a first aperture element including a first set of apertures. The apparatus includes a second aperture element including a second set of apertures. The second set of apertures is arranged in a pattern corresponding with the pattern of the first plurality of apertures. The detection apparatus includes an electron-photon conversion element configured to receive electrons of the electron beam transmitted through the first and second aperture elements. The electron-photon conversion element is configured to generate photons in response to the received electrons. The detection apparatus includes an optical assembly including one or more optical elements. The detection apparatus includes a detector assembly. The optical elements of the optical assembly are configured to direct the generated photons from the electron-photon conversion system to the detector assembly.

Provided is a charged particle beam device using a detector that detects electromagnetic waves, in which a circumstance in a sample chamber can be checked, and a sample is observed with the detector at the same time. The charged particle beam device that observes a sample by using a charged particle beam, including: a component used for observing the sample; a detector that detects electromagnetic waves; a chamber scope that photographs a picture while irradiating the sample with the electromagnetic waves; and a control unit that controls the detector, the component, and an operation of the chamber scope, in which the control unit can be selectively operated in any one of a pre-photographing mode and an observation mode, the control unit causes the chamber scope to photograph the picture, in a state in which an operation of observing the sample by the detector is not performed in the pre-photographing mode, and the control unit, in the observation mode, does not cause the chamber scope to apply the electromagnetic waves, generates a guide image showing a positional relationship between the sample and the component based on the picture, and outputs the guide image.

Deposition of debris produced in laser ablation of a workpiece situated in a vacuum chamber is reduced by introduction a background gas into the vacuum chamber prior to or during laser ablation. The background gas can be introduced diffusely into the vacuum chamber and can reduce contamination of surfaces such as a surface of an optical window that faces the workpiece during processing. Directed introduction of a background gas can be used as well and in some cases the same or a different background gas is directed to a workpiece surface at the same or different pressure than that associated with diffuse introduction of the background gas to reduce contamination of the workpiece surface with laser ablation debris.

An aperture array for a multi-beam array system and a method of selecting a subset of a beam from a multi-beam array system are provided. The aperture array comprises an array body arranged proximate to a beam source. The array body comprises a plurality of apertures, at least two of the apertures having different geometries. The array body is movable, via an actuator, relative to an optical axis of the beam source, such that a subset of a beam from the beam source is selected based on the geometry of the aperture that is intersected by the optical axis.

Improved stimulated Raman spectroscopy is provided by replacing the Stokes (or anti-Stokes) optical source with a localized electromagnetic emitter that is excited with a non-electromagnetic excitation. Such a localized emitter can be an efficient Stokes (or anti-Stokes) source for stimulated Raman spectroscopy, and can also provide deep sub-wavelength spatial resolution. In a preferred embodiment, an electron beam from an electron microscope is used to excite the localized emitter. This provides combined Raman imaging and electron microscopy that has the two imaging modalities inherently registered with each other.

An object of the invention is to provide a device for observing the same field of view with a charged particle beam device and a camera without increasing a size of a housing. A charged particle beam device according to an aspect of the invention includes: a lens barrel that irradiates a sample with a charged particle beam; an imaging unit that images an optical image of the sample; a sample table on which the sample is placed; and a stage that is movable and on which the sample table is placed, wherein when a distance between a physical central axis of the sample table and a physical optical axis of the imaging unit is defined as a first distance, and a distance between a virtual central axis of the sample table and a physical central axis of the imaging unit, or between the physical central axis of the sample table and a virtual central axis of the imaging unit, or between the virtual central axis of the sample table and the virtual central axis of the imaging unit is defined as a second distance, the second distance is shorter than the first distance.