A charged particle buncher includes a series of spaced apart electrodes arranged to generate a shaped electric field. The series includes a first electrode, a last electrode and one or more intermediate electrodes. The charged particle buncher includes a waveform device attached to the electrodes and configured to apply a periodic potential waveform to each electrode independently in a manner so as to form a quasi-electrostatic time varying potential gradient between adjacent electrodes and to cause spatial distribution of charged particles that form a plurality of nodes and antinodes. The nodes have a charged particle density and the antinodes have substantially no charged particle density, and the nodes and the antinodes are formed from a charged particle beam with an energy less than or equal to 500 keV.

In one embodiment, a charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a positioning deflector adjusting an irradiation position of a charged particle beam radiated to a substrate which is a writing target, a fixed deflector which is disposed downstream of the positioning deflector in a traveling direction of the charged particle beam, and in which an amount of deflection is fixed, a focus correction lens performing focus correction on the charged particle beam according to a surface height of the substrate, and an object lens focusing the charged particle beam.

According to one aspect of the present invention, an electron beam irradiation apparatus includes a photoelectric surface configured to receive irradiation of excitation light on a side of a front surface, and generate electron beams from a side of a back surface; a blanking aperture array mechanism provided with passage holes corresponding to the electron beams and configured to perform deflection control on each of the plurality of electron beams passing through the passage holes; and an adjustment mechanism configured to adjust at least one of an orbit of transmitted light that passes through at least one of arrangement objects including the photoelectric surface, the blanking aperture array mechanism, and the limit aperture substrate up to the stage and reaches the stage, among an irradiated excitation light, and an orbit of the electron beams, wherein the arrangement objects shield at least a part of the transmitted light.

A stage apparatus includes a lower stage that moves in a Y-axis direction, an upper stage that floats from the lower stage and moves at least in an X-axis direction orthogonal to the Y-axis direction, a heat exchanger that cools a Y table of the lower stage with a refrigerant, and a control device that controls an inclination of the lower stage with reference to the Y table cooled by the heat exchanger.

An anti-breakdown ion source discharge apparatus includes a discharge chamber, a coil support, an upper insulation fixing block, a discharge component and an ion source chamber. The discharge component includes a radio-frequency coil, a lower conductive connector and an upper conductive connector. The radio-frequency coil is fixed on a coil support base; the coil support base is clamped on an inner wall of the bottom of the ion source base; the coil support is along the circumference of the coil support base; the radio-frequency coil passes through the coil support; the upper conductive connector passes by the radio-frequency coil and the coil support base from the outside of the radio-frequency coil and extends into the bottom of the discharge chamber; and the upper insulation fixing block is sleeved over the upper conductive connector and is fixed on the inner wall of the bottom of the ion source chamber.

A heat transfer plate according to the present embodiment includes a first heat transfer unit transferring heat generated in a member mounted on the first heat transfer unit, the heat being generated due to shaping or controlling of a beam generated by a light source in a decompressed atmosphere, a second heat transfer unit provided around the first heat transfer unit, and a plurality of third heat transfer units making the first heat transfer unit movable with respect to the second heat transfer unit, the plurality of third heat transfer units connecting the first and second heat transfer units.

A magnet having an annular coolant fluid passage is generally described. Various examples provide a magnet including a first magnet and a second magnet disposed around an ion beam coupler with an aperture there through. The first and second magnets each including a metal core having a cavity therein, one or more conductive wire wraps disposed around the metal core, and an annular core element configured to be inserted into the cavity, wherein an annular coolant fluid passage is formed between the cavity and the annular core element. Furthermore, the annular core element may have a first diameter and a middle section having a second diameter, the second diameter being less than the first diameter. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.

A multi charged particle beams exposure method includes assigning, with respect to plural times of shots of multi-beams using a charged particle beam, each shot to one of plural groups, depending on a total current value of beams becoming in an ON condition in a shot concerned in the multi-beams, changing the order of the plural times of shots so that shots assigned to the same group may be continuously emitted for each of the plural groups, correcting, for each group, a focus position of the multi-beams to a focus correction position for a group concerned corresponding to the total current value, and performing the plural times of shots of the multi-beams such that the shots assigned to the same group are continuously emitted in a state where the focus position of the multi-beams has been corrected to the focus correction position for the group concerned.

A differential pumping apparatus for creating a high vacuum inside a processing space includes a displacement drive unit configured to move a substrate to be processed or a head, to adjust parallelism and distance between a surface to be processed and a surface of the head. Gap measurement devices are placed at three or more locations along the periphery of the surface of the head to provide distance information. A gap control unit is configured to control the displacement drive unit in response to the distance information between the surface to be processed and the surface adapted to face the surface to be processed, so that the surface to be processed and the surface adapted to face the surface to be processed are parallel.

Embodiments relate to a grid short clearing system is provided for gridded ion beam sources used in industrial applications for materials processing systems that reduces grid damage during operation. In various embodiments, the ion source is coupled to a process chamber and a grid short clearing system includes methods for supplying a gas to the process chamber and setting the gas pressure to a predetermined gas pressure in the range between 50 to 750 Torr, applying an electrical potential difference between each adjacent pair of grids using a current-limited power supply, and detecting whether or not the grid shorts are cleared. The electrical potential difference between the grids is at least 10% lower than the DC electrical breakdown voltage between the grids with no contaminants.