A gas reservoir that receives a precursor has a gas-receiving unit which is arranged in a first receiving unit of a basic body and a sliding unit which is arranged movably in a second receiving unit of the basic body. The gas-receiving unit has a movable closure unit for opening or closing a gas outlet opening of the gas-receiving unit. In a first position of the sliding unit, a first opening of a sliding-unit line device is fluidically connected to a first basic body opening and a second opening of the sliding-unit line device is fluidically connected to a second basic body opening. In the second position of the sliding unit, the first opening is arranged at an inner wall of the second receiving unit and the second opening is arranged at the movable closure unit.

An electron-beam device includes a laser and a photocathode film. The photocathode film has a front side and a back side and emits a plurality of electron beamlets when illuminated from the back side using the laser. The electron-beam device also includes electrodes to extract the plurality of electron beamlets from the front side of the photocathode film and to control shapes of the plurality of electron beamlets.

An FIB system includes an ion source for producing the ion beam, a lens system which includes an objective lens and which is operative to focus the ion beam onto a sample such that secondary electrons are produced from the sample, a detector for detecting the secondary electrons, and a controller for controlling the lens system. The controller operates i) to provide control so that a focus of the ion beam is varied by directing the ion beam onto the sample, ii) to measure a signal intensity from the secondary electrons produced from the sample during the variation of the strength of the objective lens, iii) to adjust the focus of the ion beam, iv) to acquire a secondary electron image containing an image of a trace of a spot, and v) to correct the deviation of the field of view of the ion beam.

A reflectance confocal scanning electron microscope according to of the present inventive concept may include, a first column device configured to allow an electron beam to be incident on a sample, and a second column device configured to de-scan the electron beam after it is reflected from the sample to confocally detect electrons emitted from the sample.

A multi-beam apparatus for observing a sample with high resolution and high throughput and in flexibly varying observing conditions is proposed. The apparatus uses a movable collimating lens to flexibly vary the currents of the plural probe spots without influencing the intervals thereof, a new source-conversion unit to form the plural images of the single electron source and compensate off-axis aberrations of the plural probe spots with respect to observing conditions, and a pre-beamlet-forming means to reduce the strong Coulomb effect due to the primary-electron beam.

A multi-beam apparatus for observing a sample with high resolution and high throughput and in flexibly varying observing conditions is proposed. The apparatus uses a movable collimating lens to flexibly vary the currents of the plural probe spots without influencing the intervals thereof, a new source-conversion unit to form the plural images of the single electron source and compensate off-axis aberrations of the plural probe spots with respect to observing conditions, and a pre-beamlet-forming means to reduce the strong Coulomb effect due to the primary-electron beam.

A method of performing an electron multi-beam inspection of a semiconductor substrate includes generating a primary electron beam; focusing the primary electron beam to generate a focused electron beam including an optimized beam illumination area; generating sub-beams from the focused electron beam by causing the focused electron beam to impinge on a beam splitter such that the optimized beam illumination area is smaller than a total area of the beam splitter; and blocking a first plurality of the sub-beams by causing the sub-beams to impinge on a mask including a blocking area and an open area, such that a second plurality of the sub-beams passes through the mask, wherein the open area is located within the optimized beam illumination area. According to various embodiments, the method further includes dynamically controlling a size and shape of the blocking area and the open area by controlling the plurality of MEMS shutters.

A charged particle assessment tool includes: an objective lens configured to project a plurality of charged particle beams onto a sample, the objective lens having a sample-facing surface defining a plurality of beam apertures through which respective ones of the charged particle beams are emitted toward the sample; and a plurality of capture electrodes adjacent respective ones of the beam apertures and configured to capture charged particles emitted from the sample.

In an example, a method includes adjusting one or more optical elements such that a deflector plane of a beam deflector is conjugate to a diffraction plane and recording a diffracted beam pattern at the diffraction plane. In another example, a method includes directing a charged particle beam to a specimen. transitioning a beam blanker between blanked and unblanked states, and recording a beam pattern with a detector. The beam pattern includes one or more beam pattern features that are substantially stationary in a detector plane as the beam blanker transitions between the unblanked and blanked state. In another example, a CPM system includes a charged particle source, a beam deflector at a deflector plane, and a detector. The CPM system is configured such that a charged particle beam exhibits a beam crossover at the deflector plane and such that the deflector plane is imaged onto the detector.