An ion beam current measurement device includes a first Faraday cup having a first ion beam entrance slit of a first width W.sub.1. The first Faraday cup is configured to generate a first current signal. The device further includes a second Faraday cup having a second ion beam entrance slit of a second width W.sub.2. The second Faraday cup is configured to generate a second current signal. The slit widths are designed such that W.sub.2 is greater than W.sub.1.

In one embodiment, a beam detector includes a first aperture plate including a first passage hole, a second aperture plate including a second passage hole that allows a single detection target beam passing through the first passage hole to pass therethrough, and a sensor detecting a beam current of the detection target beam passing through the second passage hole. The second aperture plate includes an electrically conductive material, a plurality of third passage holes are formed around the second passage hole, and the plurality of third passage holes allow light to pass therethrough.

Particle beam systems, for example electron beam microscopes, exhibit improved resolution in a first direction by manipulating a beam of charged particles so that the beam has a non-circular beam profile in a focal plane of an objective lens. Multiple images of a sample can be recorded at different orientations of the beam profile relative to the sample, and the recorded images can be synthesized using non-uniform spatial-frequency weights to obtain an image of the sample having improved resolution in any direction. The orientation of the beam profile can be adjusted to a target orientation depending on a structure on a sample prior to recording an image of the sample, thereby making it possible to achieve highest resolution in a selected direction of interest.

Transmission microscopy imaging systems include a mask and/or other modulator situated to encode image beams, e.g., by deflecting the image beam with respect to the mask and/or sensor. The beam is modulated/masked either before or after transmission through a sample to induce a spatially and/or temporally encoded signal by modifying any of the beam/image components including the phase/coherence, intensity, or position of the beam at the sensor. For example, a mask can be placed/translated through the beam so that several masked beams are received by a sensor during a single sensor integration time. Images associated with multiple mask displacements are then used to reconstruct a video sequence using a compressive sensing method. Another example of masked modulation involves a mechanism for phase-retrieval, whereby the beam is modulated by a set of different masks in the image plane and each masked image is recorded in the diffraction plane.

Transmission microscopy imaging systems include a mask and/or other modulator situated to encode image beams, e.g., by deflecting the image beam with respect to the mask and/or sensor. The beam is modulated/masked either before or after transmission through a sample to induce a spatially and/or temporally encoded signal by modifying any of the beam/image components including the phase/coherence, intensity, or position of the beam at the sensor. For example, a mask can be placed/translated through the beam so that several masked beams are received by a sensor during a single sensor integration time. Images associated with multiple mask displacements are then used to reconstruct a video sequence using a compressive sensing method. Another example of masked modulation involves a mechanism for phase-retrieval, whereby the beam is modulated by a set of different masks in the image plane and each masked image is recorded in the diffraction plane.

An antenna assembly. The antenna assembly may include an antenna, having a loop structure, and a dielectric window, adjacent to the antenna. The antenna assembly may also include a Faraday shield assembly disposed between the antenna and the dielectric window, where the Faraday shield assembly is disposed at least partially around the antenna. The Faraday shield assembly may include a plurality of metallic sections, electrically isolated from one another, where the plurality of metallic sections are arranged into a plurality of shield pairs. As such, a first metallic section and a second metallic section of a given shield pair may be disposed opposite one another and may be electrically connected to one another.

An electron beam apparatus addresses blanking issues resulting from sinking high-power heat onto an aperture diaphragm by evenly spreading heat on the aperture diaphragm. The apparatus can include an aperture diaphragm and a deflector that deflects the electron beam on the aperture diaphragm. The electron beam is directed at the aperture diaphragm in a pattern around the aperture. The pattern may be a circle, square, or polygon. The pattern also may include a variable locus relative to the aperture.

A charged particle device projects charged-particle beams along beampaths towards a sample location. The device comprises: a charged-particle lens assembly for manipulating the beams and a controller. The lens assembly comprises plates each having an aperture array for passage of beampaths. The plates are at different plate locations along the beampaths. The controller controls the charged-particle device such that charged particles of the beams have different energy values at the different plate locations along the beampaths. The lens assembly comprises a corrector comprising an individual correctors configured to perform aberration correction at respective apertures independently of each other. The corrector is associated with the plate at the plate location at which the energy value is smallest, the strength of an electric field adjacent to the plate is greatest and/or a ratio of the energy value to strength of an electric field adjacent to the plate is smallest.

A multi-electron beam system that forms hundreds of beamlets can focus the beamlets, reduce Coulomb interaction effects, and improve resolutions of the beamlets. A Wien filter with electrostatic and magnetic deflection fields can separate the secondary electron beams from the primary electron beams and can correct the astigmatism and source energy dispersion blurs for all the beamlets simultaneously.

An optical system of a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) is configured to use a square-shaped electron beam. Preferably, the square-shaped electron beam is produced by using an aperture with a square hole positioned in an aperture plane of TEM's beam shaping aperture (typically, the C2 lens). The square beam enables exhaustive tiling and data collection, enabling the complete imaging of large biological objects. In single particle analysis, a square beam also speeds up data collection rates. These improvements come with no significant loss in imaging quality compared to the standard round beam method of imaging.