An aperture array for a multi-beam array system and a method of selecting a subset of a beam from a multi-beam array system are provided. The aperture array comprises an array body arranged proximate to a beam source. The array body comprises a plurality of apertures, at least two of the apertures having different geometries. The array body is movable, via an actuator, relative to an optical axis of the beam source, such that a subset of a beam from the beam source is selected based on the geometry of the aperture that is intersected by the optical axis.

A method of producing a corrected beam of charged particles for use in a charged-particle microscope, comprising the following steps: Providing a non-monoenergetic input beam of charged particles; Passing said input beam through an optical module comprising a series arrangement of: A stigmator, thereby producing an astigmatism-compensated, energy-dispersed intermediate beam with a particular monoenergetic line focus direction; A beam selector, comprising a slit that is rotationally oriented so as to match a direction of the slit to said line focus direction, thereby producing an output beam comprising an energy-discriminated portion of said intermediate beam.

An ion implantation system has an ion source configured to form an ion beam. A mass analyzer mass analyzes the ion beam, a scanning element scans the ion beam in a horizontal direction and a parallelizing lens translates the fanned-out scanned beam into parallel shifting scanning ion beam. For applications needing not only a mean incident angle, but highly-aligned ion incident angles and a tight angular distribution, a slit apparatus is positioned at horizontal and/or vertical front focal points of the parallelizing lens. Minimum horizontal and/or vertical angular distributions of the ion beam on the workpiece are attained by controlling a beam focusing lens upstream of the scanning element for the best beam transmission through the slit system.

Apertures having references edges are situated to define a sample irradiation zone and a shielded zone. The sample irradiation zone includes a portion proximate the shielded zone that is conjugate to a detector. A sample is scanned into the sample irradiation zone from the shielded zone so that the sample can remain unexposed until situated properly with respect to the detector for imaging. Irradiation exposure of the sample is reduced, permitting superior imaging.

A device (1) for coating a substrate (4) with nanometric sized particles, wherein the device comprises: a plurality of aerodynamic lenses able to product a jet (3) of nanometric sized particles, each of the aerodynamic lenses having a longitudinal axis, the aerodynamic lenses being arranged so that the various longitudinal axes are parallel and oriented in a first direction (X) defining the direction of propagation of the jet and in the form of at least two columns (9, 10) offset from each other in a second direction (Y) orthogonal to the first direction, where the first and the second column each comprise at least one of the aerodynamic lenses, the at least one of the aerodynamic lenses of the first column also being offset relative to the at least one of the aerodynamic lenses of the second column in a third direction (Z) that is both orthogonal to the first direction and to the second direction.

A transmission electron microscope includes a control unit for: acquiring an image of an objective aperture; obtaining a position of the objective aperture; obtaining an amount of deviation between an object position and the position of the objective aperture, based on the position of the objective aperture; and operating an aperture moving mechanism, based on the amount of deviation of the position of the objective aperture. The position of the objective aperture is obtained by: binarizing the image of the objective aperture by using a set threshold; obtaining an area of an aperture hole of the objective aperture from the binarized image; determining whether the area is within a predetermined range; changing the threshold when a determination is made that the area is outside the predetermined range; and obtaining a position of the objective aperture when a determination is made that the area is within the predetermined range.

A method of patterning a substrate. The method may include providing a cavity in a layer, disposed on the substrate, the cavity having a first length along a first direction and a first width along a second direction, perpendicular to the first direction, and wherein the layer has a first height along a third direction, perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction. The method may include depositing a sacrificial layer over the cavity in a first deposition procedure; and directing angled ions to the cavity in a first exposure, wherein the cavity is etched, and wherein after the first exposure, the cavity has a second length along the first direction, greater than the first length, and wherein the cavity has a second width along the second direction, no greater than the first width.

Inspection systems and methods are disclosed. An inspection system may include a first energy source configured to provide a first landing energy beam and a second energy source configured to provide a second landing energy beam. The inspection system may also include a beam controller configured to selectively deliver one of the first and second landing energy beams towards a same field of view, and to switch between delivery of the first and second landing energy beams according to a mode of operation of the inspection system.

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 transmission electron microscope includes an electron beam source emitting an electron beam and an illumination optical system for directing the emitted electron beam at a sample. The illumination optical system has a first condenser lens, a second condenser lens, a third condenser lens, a fourth condenser lens, an objective lens, and a condenser aperture disposed at the position of the second condenser lens. The third condenser lens and the fourth condenser lens cooperate to make the position of the condenser aperture and a sample plane conjugate to each other. The first condenser lens and the second condenser lens cooperate to make the electron beam source and a front focal plane of the objective lens conjugate to each other while the conjugate relationship between the position of the condenser aperture and the sample plane is maintained by the third and fourth condenser lenses.