In one embodiment, a multi charged particle beam writing apparatus includes an emitter that emits a charged particle beam, an aperture plate in which a plurality of openings are formed and that forms multiple beams by allowing the charged particle beam to pass through the plurality of openings, a blanking plate provided with a plurality of blankers that each perform blanking deflection on a corresponding beam included in the multiple beams, a stage on which a substrate irradiated with the multiple beams, a detector that detects a reflection charged particle from the substrate, feature amount calculation circuitry that calculates a feature amount of an aperture image based on a detection value of the detector, and aberration correction circuitry that corrects aberration of the charged particle beam based on the feature amount.

A system, a method, and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium for controlling an ion implanter are disclosed herein. The system includes a sample module and a control module. The sample module is configured to generate a summarized value from process data of the ion implanter, and the process data correspond to a control parameter. The control module is configured to tune a control parameter, and the control module performs an ion implantation by releasing tools of the ion implanter in accordance with the control parameter when the summarized value meets a predetermined stability requirement.

A charged-particle beam exposure method includes providing a sample that has patterns having shot densities different from each other, using the sample to obtain pattern drift values correlated with the shot densities, and irradiating the sample with a charged-particle beam to perform an exposure process on the sample. The irradiating of the sample with the charged-particle beam is carried out while a deflection voltage, which is applied to the charged-particle beam to deflect the charged-particle beam, is corrected based on the pattern drift value corresponding to a shot density of a pattern to be formed on the sample.

In one embodiment, a multi charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a blanking plate including a plurality of blankers, bitmap generation processing circuitry generating bitmap data for each writing pass of multi-pass writing, the bitmap data specifying irradiation time periods for a plurality of irradiation positions, a plurality of dose correction units configured to receive bitmap subdata items obtained by dividing the bitmap data from the bitmap generation processing circuitry, and correct the irradiation time periods to generate a plurality of dose data items corresponding to respective processing ranges, and data transfer processing circuitry transferring the plurality of dose data items to the blanking plate through a plurality of signal line groups. Each of the signal line groups corresponds to the blankers located in a predetermined region of the blanking plate. The data transfer processing circuitry changes the signal line groups, used to transfer the plurality of dose data items generated by the respective dose correction units, for each writing pass.

An electron beam writing method includes calculating, in a case of writing a pattern with an electron beam on a target object which irreversibly deforms depending on a dose distribution of the electron beam, a first positional deviation amount of the pattern deviated from its design position because of an irreversible deformation of the target object after completion of writing processing, calculating, based on the first positional deviation amount, a correction amount for correcting a position of the pattern or an irradiation position of an electron beam in forming the pattern by irradiation of the electron beam on the target object, and performing, based on the correction amount, writing processing to write the pattern on the target object with an electron beam.

A difference between a calculated amount of drift and an actual amount of drift is reduced. According to one aspect of the present invention, a charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a deflector adjusting an irradiation position of the charged particle beam with respect to a substrate placed on a stage, a shot data generator generating shot data from writing data, the shot data including a shot position and beam ON and OFF times for each shot, a drift corrector referring to a plurality of pieces of the generated shot data, calculating an amount of drift of the irradiation position of the charged particle beam with which the substrate is irradiated, and generating correction information for correcting an irradiation position deviation based on the amount of drift, a deflection controller controlling a deflection amount achieved by the deflector based on the shot data and the correction information, and a dummy irradiation instructor instructing execution of dummy irradiation in a writing process to irradiate with the charged particle beam in a predetermined irradiation amount at a position different from the substrate on the stage.

A method of operating a particle beam system comprises providing a model which outputs an output image based on a simulation of the particle beam system, generating vibration data from vibrations measured at the installation site, setting values of parameters of an intended operation of the system, providing an input image to the model, inputting the vibration data and the set values of the parameters into the model, and act based on an analysis of the output image. Straight lines in the input image correspond to straight lines in the output image if the vibrations are of a low intensity. Straight lines in the input image correspond to non-straight lines in the output image if the vibrations are of a high intensity. The parameters represent at least one of a working distance, a kinetic energy of particles incident on the sample, and a scan speed.

Complex and fine patterns may be formed by an exposure apparatus that decreases movement error of a stage including a beam generating section that generates a charged particle beam, a stage section that has a sample mounted thereon and moves the sample relative to the beam generating section, a detecting section that detects a position of the stage section, a predicting section that generates a predicted drive amount obtained by predicting a drive amount of the stage section based on a detected position of the stage section, and an irradiation control section that performs irradiation control for irradiating the sample with the charged particle beam, based on the predicted drive amount.

A charged particle beam writing method includes acquiring a pair of a reference dose and a backscatter coefficient for proximity effect correction using a first settling time, acquiring a first relation between a temperature rise amount and a critical dimension variation amount using a second settling time shorter than the first settling time, the backscatter coefficient and the reference dose acquired, calculating a temperature correction parameter depending on a temperature rise amount, for correcting a dose, by using the first relation, and a second relation on a dose and a pattern critical dimension in a case of using the first settling time, calculating a beam irradiation dose by the reference dose and a dose coefficient obtained from the backscatter coefficient of the pair acquired, and the temperature correction parameter, and writing a pattern with a beam based on the dose calculated using the second settling time.

A method is disclosed of removing a first material disposed over a second material adjacent to a field effect transistor gate having a gate sidewall layer that comprises an etch-resistant material on a gate sidewall. The method includes subjecting the first material to a gas cluster ion beam etch process to remove first material adjacent to the gate, and detecting exposure of the second material during the gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) etch process.