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.

A Procedural EBL system implements a user-provided oracle function (e.g., associated with a specific pattern) to generate control instructions for electron beam drive electronics in an on-demand basis. A control system may invoke the oracle function to query the pattern at individual point locations (e.g., individual x,y locations), and/or it may query the pattern over an area corresponding to a current field being addressed by the beam and stage positioner, for example. This Procedural EBL configuration manages control and pattern generation so that the low-level drive electronics and beam column may remain unchanged, allowing it to leverage existing EBL technologies.

An apparatus comprising a beam emitter to emit a beam comprising electrons, ions or laser-light photons toward a target substrate. A motion sensor to detect mechanical vibrations of the target substrate. The motion sensor is mechanically coupled to the target substrate, a processor coupled to an output of the motion sensor. The processor is to generate a vibration correction signal proportional to the mechanical vibrations detected by the motion sensor, and beam steering optics coupled to the processor. The beam steering optics are to deflect the beam according to the vibration correction signal to compensate for the mechanical vibrations of the target substrate.

The present invention provides an apparatus of charged-particle beam e.g. an electron microscope comprising a plasma generator for selectively cleaning BSE detector. In various embodiments, the plasma generator is located between a sample stage and a sample table having one or more openings or holes. The plasma generator generates plasma and distributes or dissipates the plasma through the openings of the sample table toward and onto surface of the BSE detector. Cleaning contaminants on the surface of the BSE detector frequently and selectively with in-situ generated plasma can prevent the detectors from performance deterioration such as losing resolution and contrast in imaging at high levels of magnification.

The present invention provides an apparatus of electron beam comprising an electron gun with a pinnacle limiting plate having at least one current-limiting aperture. The pinnacle limiting plate is located between a bottom (or lowest) anode and a top (or highest) condenser within the electron gun. A current (ampere) of the electron beam that has passed through the current-limiting aperture remains the same (unchanged) after the electron beam travels through the top condenser and an electron optical column and arrives at a sample space. Electron-electron interaction of the electron beam is thus reduced.

The invention relates to a lithography system, for example for projecting an image or an image pattern on to a target (1) such as a wafer, said target being included in said system by means of a target table (2), clamping means being present for clamping said target on said table. Said clamping means comprises a layer of stationary liquid (3), included at such thickness between target and target table that, provided the material of the liquid (C) and of the respective contacting faces (A, B) of the target (1) and target table (2), a pressure drop (P.sub.Cap) arises.

A method for exposing a pattern in an area on a surface using a charged particle beam lithography is disclosed and includes inputting an original set of exposure information for the area. The area comprises a plurality of pixels, and the original set of exposure information comprises dosages for the plurality of pixels in the area. A backscatter is calculated for a sub area of the area based on the original set of exposure information. A dosage for at least one pixel in a plurality of pixels in the sub area is increased, in a location where the backscatter of the sub area is below a pre-determined threshold, thereby increasing the backscatter of the sub area. A modified set of exposure information is output, including the increased dosage of the at least one pixel in the sub area.

A method of operating a semiconductor apparatus includes forming a first electron beam passing through a first shaping aperture; modifying an energy distribution of the first electron beam by a second shaping aperture, such that the first electron beam has a main region and an edge region having a greater energy than the main region; and exposing a workpiece to the main region and the edge region of the first electron beam to create a pattern.

In one embodiment, a charged particle beam writing method includes transferring a substrate to a writing chamber of a charged particle beam writing apparatus by use of a transfer mechanism while maintaining each of the writing chamber and the transfer mechanism at a predetermined temperature, calculating correction amounts for charged particle beams based on correction data for charged particle beam irradiation positions each associated with a previously obtained elapsed time from a predetermined starting point in time of transfer of the substrate and the elapsed time at a point in time of irradiation with each of the charged particle beams, and applying the charged particle beams to positions corrected based on the calculated correction amounts for the charged particle beams to write a pattern on the substrate.

The invention relates to a method for determining a beamlet position in a charged particle multi-beamlet exposure apparatus. The apparatus is provided with a sensor comprising a conversion clement for converting charged particle energy into light and a light sensitive detector. The conversion element is provided with a sensor surface area provided with a 2D-pattern of beamlet blocking and non-blocking regions. The method comprises taking a plurality of measurements and determining the position of the beamlet with respect to the 2D-pattern on the basis of a 2D-image created by means of the measurements. Each measurement comprises exposing a feature onto a portion of the 2D-pattern with a beamlet, wherein the feature position differs for each measurement, receiving light transmitted through the non-blocking regions, converting the received light into a light intensity value, and assigning the light intensity value to the position at which the measurement was taken.