Apparatuses for collection of upstream and downstream transmission electron microscopy (TEM) cathodoluminescence (CL) emitted from a sample exposed to an electron beam are described. A first fiber optic cable carries first CL light emitted from a first TEM sample surface, into a spectrograph. A second fiber optic cable carries second CL light emitted from a second TEM sample surface into the spectrograph. The first and second fiber optic cables are positioned such that the spectrograph produces a first light spectrum for the first fiber optic cable and a separate light spectrum for the second fiber optic cable. The described embodiments allow collection of TEM CL data in a manner that allows analyzing upstream and downstream TEM CL signals separately and simultaneously with an imaging spectrograph.

Systems and methods are provided for dynamically compensating position errors of a sample. The system can comprise one or more sensing units configured to generate a signal based on a position of a sample and a controller. The controller can be configured to determine the position of the sample based on the signal and in response to the determined position, provide information associated with the determined position for control of one of a first handling unit in a first chamber, a second handling unit in a second chamber, and a beam location unit in the second chamber.

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.

An observation apparatus and method that avoids drawbacks of a Lorentz method and observes a weak scatterer or a phase object with in-focus, high resolution, and no azimuth dependency, by a Foucault method observation using a hollow-cone illumination that orbits and illuminates an incident electron beam having a predetermined inclination angle, an electron wave is converged at a position (height) of an aperture plate downstream of a sample and a bright field condition in which a direct transmitted electron wave of the sample passes through the aperture plate, a dark field condition in which the transmitted electron wave is shielded and a Schlieren condition in which approximately half of the transmitted wave is shielded as a boundary condition of both of the above conditions are controlled, and a spatial resolution of the observation image is controlled by selecting multiple diameters and shapes of the opening of the aperture plate.

A wafer inspection system includes a controller in communication with an electron-beam inspection tool. The controller includes circuitry to: acquire, via an optical imaging tool, coordinates of defects on a sample; set a Field of View (FoV) of the electron-beam inspection tool to a first size to locate a subset of the defects; determine a position of each defect of the subset of the defects based on inspection data generated by the electron-beam inspection tool during a scanning of the sample; adjust the coordinates of the defects based on the determined positions of the subset of the defects; and set the FoV of the electron-beam inspection tool to a second size to locate additional defects based on the adjusted coordinates.

Methods and systems for implementing laser-based phase plate image contrast enhancement are disclosed herein. An example method at least includes forming at least one optical peak in a diffraction plane of an electron microscope, and directing an electron beam through the at least one optical peak at a first location, where the first location determines an amount of phase manipulation the optical peak imparts to an electron of the electron beam.

The present invention concerns an energy dispersion calibration method for calibrating an electron spectrometer of an electron spectrometer system including at least one electron emission source, electron optics and the electron spectrometer. The method comprising: obtaining, providing or receiving at least one electron energy loss spectrum produced by electrons of the electron spectrometer system exchanging energy with at least one resonant optical mode of an optical resonator into which light at a resonant wavelength is coupled; calculating or providing a Fourier transform of the at least one electron energy loss spectrum or a part of the at least one electron energy loss spectrum; determining or providing an energy dispersion (ΔE) of the electron spectrometer according to the equation

[00001]$\Delta E=f_E\frac{\mathrm{hc}}{\lambda N}\mathrm{or}\Delta E=f_E\frac{E_p}{N}.$

In order to improve a yield of light generated by a collision between secondary electrons and gas molecules, the invention provides a charged particle beam device including: a charged particle beam source configured to irradiate a sample with a charged particle beam; a sample chamber configured to hold the sample and a gas molecule; a positive electrode configured to form an electric field that accelerates a secondary electron emitted from the sample; a photodetector configured to detect light generated by a collision between the accelerated secondary electron and the gas molecule; and a light condensing unit disposed between the sample and the photodetector, having a light emitting space in which the light is generated, and configured to condense the light generated in the light emitting space on a photodetector side.

A method for analyzing an integrated circuit includes: applying an electric test pattern to the IC; delivering a stream of primary electrons to a back side of the IC on an active region to a transistor of interest, the active region including active structures such as transistors of the IC; detecting light resulting from cathodoluminescence initiated by secondary electrons in the IC; and analyzing the detected light regarding a correlation with the electric test pattern applied to the IC. A system for analyzing an IC is provided.

A transfer system configured to transfer a focus ring includes a processing system and a position detection system. The processing system includes a processing apparatus including a chamber main body and a placing table having a substrate placing region and a focus ring placing region; and a transfer device configured to transfer the focus ring. The position detection system includes a light source; multiple optical elements configured to output light and receive reflected light; a driving unit configured to move each optical element to allow each optical element to scan a scanning range; and a controller configured to calculate, based on the reflected light in the scanning range, a positional relationship between the placing table and the focus ring for each optical element. The transfer device is configured to adjust a transfer position of the focus ring onto the focus ring placing region based on the calculated positional relationship.