A multi-beam apparatus for multi-beam inspection with an improved source conversion unit providing more beamlets with high electric safety, mechanical availability and mechanical stabilization has been disclosed. The source-conversion unit comprises an image-forming element array having a plurality of image-forming elements, an aberration compensator array having a plurality of micro-compensators, and a pre-bending element array with a plurality of pre-bending micro-deflectors. In each of the arrays, adjacent elements are placed in different layers, and one element may comprise two or more sub-elements placed in different layers. The sub-elements of a micro-compensator may have different functions such as micro-lens and micro-stigmators.

The invention relates to a charged particle beam exposure apparatus configured to expose cut patterns or via patterns on a substrate having a plurality of line patterns 81a arranged on an upper surface of the substrate at a constant pitch by irradiating the substrate with a plurality of charged particle beams B1 to Bn while moving a one-dimensional array beam A1 in an X direction parallel to the line patterns 81a, the one-dimensional array beam A1 being a beam in which the charged particle beams B1 to Bn are arranged in an Y direction orthogonal to the line patterns 81a.

The present invention provides an electrode assembly comprising two or more electrodes arranged around a primary axis forming a non-cylindrical channel space. General electronic apparatus/device, particularly apparatus of charged-particle beam such as electron microscope, may use the electrode assembly to create an optimized pattern of electrical field within non-cylindrical channel space. When the electrode assembly is used as a beam deflector in a magnetic objective lens, the electrical field within the central channel space can be co-optimized with the magnetic field for reducing aberration(s) such as distortion, field curvature, astigmatism, and chromatic aberration, after the beam passes through the central channel space.

A method of using a Charged Particle Microscope, comprising: A specimen holder, for holding a specimen; A source, for producing an irradiating beam of charged particles; An illuminator, for directing said beam so as to irradiate the specimen; A detector, for detecting a flux of emergent radiation emanating from the specimen in response to said irradiation,
additionally comprising the following steps: In said illuminator, providing an aperture plate comprising an array of apertures; Using a deflecting device to scan said beam across said array, thereby alternatingly interrupting and transmitting the beam so as to produce a train of beam pulses; Irradiating said specimen with said train of pulses, and using said detector to perform positionally resolved (temporally discriminated) detection of the attendant emergent radiation.

An inspection apparatus according to an embodiment includes an irradiation part configured to irradiate an inspection target substrate with multiple beams including energy beams, a detector, on which a plurality of charged particle beams of charged particles released from the inspection target substrate are imaged, configured to detect each of the charged particle beams as an electrical signal, and a comparing unit configured to compare reference image data and image data that is reproduced based on the detected electrical signals and that represents patterns formed on the inspection target substrate to inspect the patterns. The detector includes a plurality of detecting elements corresponding one-to-one to the charged particle beams. The detecting elements each have a size greater than a size that covers a beam blur of each charged particle beam imaged on the detector.

The invention provides an exposure apparatus (100) including a formation module (122) which forms charged particle beams with different irradiation positions on a specimen. The formation module (122) includes: a particle source (20) which emits the charged particle beams from an emission region (21) in which a width in a longitudinal direction is different from and a width in a lateral direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction; an aperture array device (60) provided with openings (62) arranged in an illuminated region (61) in which a width in a longitudinal direction is different from a width in a lateral direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction; illumination lenses (30, 50) provided between the particle source (20) and the aperture array device (60); and a beam cross-section deformation device (40) which is provided between the particle source (20) and the aperture array device (60), and deforms a cross-sectional shape of the charged particle beams into an anisotropic shape by an action of a magnetic field or an electric field.

In one embodiment, a multi charged particle beam writing apparatus includes processing circuitry that is programmed to perform the function of a data region determination part determining a data region based on boundaries of pixels obtained by dividing a writing area of a substrate into mesh-shaped regions, an irradiation range of multiple charged particle beams, and boundaries of stripe segments obtained by dividing the writing area into segments having a predetermined width such that the segments are arranged in a predetermined direction, a deflection coordinate adjustment part adjusting deflection coordinates of the multiple charged particle beams such that the boundaries of the pixels are mapped to a boundary of the irradiation range, and a correction part calculating a corrected dose of each beam of the multiple charged particle beams by distributing, based on a positional relationship between the beam and pixels in the data region, a dose of the beam corresponding to a pixel in the data region calculated based on write data to one or more beams, and adding doses distributed to the beam, and a writing mechanism, including a charged particle beam source, a deflector, and a stage on which a target object is placed, and the writing mechanism deflecting the multiple charged particle beams based on the adjusted deflection coordinates and applying the beams each having the corrected dose to write a pattern.

Lithographic apparatuses suitable for, and methodologies involving, complementary e-beam lithography (CEBL) are described. In an example, a blanker aperture array (BAA) for an e-beam tool includes a first column of openings along a first direction, each of the openings of the first column of openings having dog-eared corners. The BAA also includes a second column of openings along the first direction and staggered from the first column of openings, each of the openings of the second column of openings having dog-eared corners. The first and second columns of openings together form an array having a pitch in the first direction. A scan direction of the BAA is along a second direction, orthogonal to the first direction. The pitch of the array corresponds to half of a minimal pitch layout of a target pattern of lines for orientation parallel with the second direction.

Lithographic apparatuses suitable for, and methodologies involving, complementary e-beam lithography (CEBL) are described. In an example, a column for an e-beam direct write lithography tool includes a first blanker aperture array (BAA) including a staggered array of openings having a pitch along an array direction. The array direction is orthogonal to a scan direction. Each opening has a first dimension in the array direction. The column also includes a second BAA including a staggered array of openings having the pitch along the array direction. Each opening has a second dimension in the array direction, the second dimension greater than the first dimension.

A multi charged particle beam blanking apparatus includes a substrate, where a plurality of passage holes are formed, to let multi-beams of charged particle beams individually pass through a passage hole concerned; a plurality of reference electrodes, each arranged close to a corresponding passage hole, to be applied with a reference potential, not a ground potential, not via a transistor circuit, in an irradiation region of the whole multi-beams; and a plurality of switching electrodes, arranged at the substrate such that each of the plurality of switching electrodes and a corresponding paired one of the plurality of reference electrodes are opposite each other across a corresponding passage hole, to be applied with the reference potential and a control potential different from the reference potential in a switchable manner.