The invention relates to a method for processing a substrate with a focussed particle beam which incidents on the substrate, the method comprising the steps of: (a) generating at least one reference mark on the substrate using the focused particle beam and at least one processing gas, (b) determining a reference position of the at least one reference mark, (c) processing the substrate using the reference position of the reference mark, and (d) removing the at least one reference mark from the substrate.

There is provided a control device for controlling a charged particle beam apparatus, wherein the beam apparatus comprises a workpiece stage having at least two turning axes which are not parallel to each other and an irradiation unit, and the control device comprises an angle calculation unit that based on a direction of a first processing in which a processed surface having a normal line not parallel to any of the turning axes is generated in the workpiece by the irradiation unit and a direction of a second processing to be processed by the irradiation unit from a direction different from the direction of the first processing with respect to the processed surface to be generated by the first processing, calculates turning angles about the turning axes that changes the direction of the stage from the direction of the first processing to the direction of the second processing.

An electron beam melting furnace includes a hearth, a mold, an electron gun for keeping metal as a molten state, an electron beam controller for controlling direction of the electron beam, an image sensor for molten metal, and an operating device. A method for operating the furnace includes a step of inputting electron beam emitting coordinates in the electron beam controller, a step of emitting the electron beam, a step of detecting a high electron beam intensity spot by the image sensor, a step of calculating coordinates of high electron beam intensity based on the detected signal by the operating device, a step of calculating differences between the coordinates of emission and the coordinates of high electron beam intensity spot, a step of inputting the difference in the electron beam controller, and a step of controlling the location of electron beam spot.

The present invention is related to an apparatus for transporting a charged particle beam. The apparatus may include means for scanning the charged particle beam on a target, a dipole magnet arranged upstream of the means for scanning, at least three quadrupole lenses arranged between the dipole magnet and the means for scanning and means for adjusting the field strength of said at least three quadrupole lenses in function of the scanning angle of the charged particle beam. The apparatus can be made at least single achromatic.

Drift correction is performed with high accuracy while reducing the calculation amount. According to one aspect of the present invention, a charged particle beam writing apparatus includes an emitter emitting a charged particle beam, a deflector adjusting an irradiation position of the charged particle beam with respect to a substrate placed on a stage, a shot data generator generating shot data from writing data, the shot data including a shot size, a shot position, and a beam ON⋅OFF time per shot, a drift corrector referring to a plurality of pieces of the shot data for every predetermined area irradiated with the charged particle beam, or for every predetermined number of shots of the charged particle beam irradiated, calculating a drift amount of the irradiation position of the charged particle beam with which the substrate is irradiated, based on the shot size, the shot position and the beam ON⋅OFF time, and generating correction information for correcting an irradiation position displacement based on the drift amount, and a deflection controller controlling a deflection amount achieved by the deflector based on the shot data and the correction information.

A includes arranging a substrate in a working region of a first particle beam column and a second particle beam column; producing a desired target structure on the substrate by directing a first particle beam generated by the first particle beam column at a multiplicity of sites of the substrate to deposit material thereon or to remove material therefrom;

repeatedly interrupting the production of the desired target structure and producing a marking on the substrate by directing the first particle beam onto the substrate and continuing the production of the desired target structure; and capturing positions of the markings on the substrate by directing a second particle beam produced by the second particle beam column onto the markings on the substrate, and detecting particles or radiation which are produced in the process by the second particle beam on the substrate.

A method for operating a target processing system for processing a target (23) on a chuck (13), the method comprising providing at least a first chuck position mark (27) and a second chuck position mark (28) on the chuck (13); providing an alignment sensing system (17) arranged for detecting the first and second chuck position marks (27, 28), the alignment sensing system (17) comprising at least a first alignment sensor (61) and a second alignment sensor (62); moving the chuck (13) to a first position based on at least one measurement of the alignment sensing system (17); and measuring at least one value related to the first position of the chuck.

The system described herein relates to a method for operating a beam apparatus, such as a particle beam apparatus or laser beam apparatus, a computer program product and a beam apparatus for carrying out the method, and to an object holder for an object that, for example, is able to be arranged in a particle beam apparatus. The method includes generating a marking on an object holder using a laser beam of a laser beam device and/or using a particle beam of the particle beam apparatus, where the particle beam includes charged particles, arranging an object on the object holder, moving the object holder, positioning the particle beam and/or the laser beam in relative fashion in relation to the object using the marking, and processing, imaging and/or analyzing the object using the particle beam and/or the laser beam.

In one embodiment, a multi charged particle beam evaluation method includes writing a plurality of evaluation patterns on a substrate by using multi charged particle beams, with a design value of a line width changed by a predetermined change amount at a predetermined pitch, measuring the line widths of the plurality of evaluation patterns thus written, and extracting a variation in a specific period of a distribution of differences between results of a measurement value and the design value of each of the line widths of the plurality of evaluation patterns. The predetermined change amount is equal to or larger than data resolution and smaller than a size of each of pixels, each of which is a unit region to be irradiated with one of the multi charged particle beams.

Methods and systems for milling and imaging a sample based on multiple fiducials at different sample depths include forming a first fiducial on a first sample surface at a first sample depth; milling at least a portion of the sample surface to expose a second sample surface at a second sample depth; forming a second fiducial on the second sample surface; and milling at least a portion of the second sample surface to expose a third sample surface including a region of interest (ROI) at a third sample depth. The location of the ROI at the third sample depth relative to the first fiducial may be calculated based on an image of the ROI and the second fiducial as well as relative position between the first fiducial and the second fiducial.