A device may include an electron source, a detector, and a deflector. The electron source may be directed toward a sample area. The detector may receive an electron signal or an electron-induced signal. A deflector may be positioned between the electron source and the sample. The deflector may modulate an intensity of the electron source directed to the sample area according to an electron dose waveform having a continuously variable temporal profile.

A method of evaluating a region of interest of a sample including: positioning the sample within in a vacuum chamber of an evaluation tool that includes a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column and a focused ion beam (FIB) column; acquiring a plurality of two-dimensional images of the region of interest by alternating a sequence of delayering the region of interest with a charged particle beam from the FIB column and imaging a surface of the region of interest with the SEM column; generating an initial three-dimensional data cube representing the region of interest by stacking the plurality of two-dimensional images on top of each other in an order in which they were acquired; identifying distortions within the initial three-dimensional data cube; and creating an updated three-dimensional data cube that includes corrections for the identified distortions.

An object of the invention is to accurately correct a deviation in position or angle between observation regions in an imaging device that acquires images of a plurality of sample sections. The imaging device according to the invention identifies a correspondence relationship between the observation regions between the sample sections using a feature point on a first image, corrects a deviation between the sample sections using a second image in a narrower range than the first image, and after reflecting a correction result, acquires a third image having a higher resolution than the second image (see FIG. 6B).

A computer-implemented method of processing image data according to the present disclosure comprises: receiving the image data, wherein the image data is scanning transmission charged-particle microscope (STCPM) image data representing a STCPM scan obtained at a first focus depth; and processing a system of equations expressing the image data as a sum of contributions from a plurality of slices of the sample at a plurality of focus depths, wherein each equation of the system of equations relates at least a portion of the image data to: at least one of a plurality of contrast transfer functions of the STCPM, each contrast transfer function of the STCPM being determined at a different respective focus depth; and at least one set of unknown objects of the STCPM, each unknown object in a set being at a different respective focus depth. The step of processing comprises solving the system of equations to obtain at least one of the plurality of unknown objects of the STCPM.

A method of operating a secondary imaging system of a charged particle beam apparatus may include using an anti-scanning mode. Excitation of a component of the secondary imaging system may be adjusted synchronously with a primary scanning deflection unit. Together with an anti-scanning deflection unit performing anti-scanning, a component of the secondary imaging system, such as a lens, may be adjusted in step. As scanning and anti-scanning is performed, excitation parameters of the component may also be constantly updated.

A device may include an electron source, a detector, and a deflector. The electron source may be directed toward a sample area. The detector may receive an electron signal or an electron-induced signal. A deflector may be positioned between the electron source and the sample. The deflector may modulate an intensity of the electron source directed to the sample area according to an electron dose waveform having a continuously variable temporal profile.

A device may include an electron source, a detector, and a deflector. The electron source may be directed toward a sample area. The detector may receive an electron signal or an electron-induced signal. A deflector may be positioned between the electron source and the sample. The deflector may modulate an intensity of the electron source directed to the sample area according to an electron dose waveform having a continuously variable temporal profile.

An improved apparatus and method for enhancing an image, and more particularly an apparatus and method for enhancing an image through cross-talk cancellation in a multiple charged-particle beam inspection are disclosed. An improved method for enhancing an image includes acquiring a first image signal of a plurality of image signals from a detector of a multi-beam inspection system. The first image signal corresponds to a detected signal from a first region of the detector on which electrons of a first secondary electron beam and of a second secondary electron beam are incident. The method includes reducing, from the first image signal, cross-talk contamination originating from the second secondary electron beam using a relationship between the first image signal and beam intensities associated with the first secondary electron beam and the second secondary electron beam. The method further includes generating a first image corresponding to first secondary electron beam after reduction.

An object of the invention is to accurately correct a deviation in position or angle between observation regions in an imaging device that acquires images of a plurality of sample sections. The imaging device according to the invention identifies a correspondence relationship between the observation regions between the sample sections using a feature point on a first image, corrects a deviation between the sample sections using a second image in a narrower range than the first image, and after reflecting a correction result, acquires a third image having a higher resolution than the second image (see FIG. 6B).

In an analyzer, an image processing unit performs processing of: dividing a measurement image into a plurality of partial measurement images, and dividing a reference image into a plurality of partial reference images; calculating a positional deviation amount of each of the partial measurement images relative to a corresponding partial reference image among the partial reference images; determining whether the positional deviation amount is a threshold or less; and correcting positional deviation of the measurement image based on the positional deviation amounts of the plurality of partial measurement images when the image processing unit has determined that the positional deviation amount is not the threshold or less.