A charged particle beam device, comprising a charged particle source configured to emit a charged particle beam; a movable stage comprising an assembly of aperture arrays having at least a first aperture array and a second aperture array, the movable stage is configured to align the assembly of aperture arrays with the charged particle beam, and at least one aperture array comprises a shielding tube coupled to the movable stage.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be used for patterning a layer in a 5 nm node or beyond fabrication to achieve an end-to-end distance below 35 nm. Compared to the state of the art technology, embodiments of the present disclosure reduce cycle time and cost of production from three lithographic processes and four etching processes to one lithographic process and three etch processes.

Provided is a cross-section processing observation method capable of easily and accurately forming a cross-section used to observe a sample's inside, and a cross-section processing observation apparatus for cross-section processing. The method includes a design data acquisition step acquiring design data of a three-dimensional structure of a sample having three-dimensional structure, a moving step moving the sample based on coordinate information of the design data, a surface observation step acquiring an observation image of a surface of the sample, a cross-section forming step irradiating the sample's surface with an ion beam to form a cross-section of the three-dimensional structure, a cross-section observation step acquiring an observation image of the sample's cross-section, and a display step displaying image data, among pieces of the design data, of surface and cross section corresponding to respective locations of the surface and the cross section.

A system may include a substrate stage, configured to support a substrate, where a main surface of the substrate defines a substrate plane. The system may include an ion source, including an extraction assembly that is oriented to direct an ion beam to the substrate along a trajectory defining a non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to the substrate plane. The system may include a radical source oriented to direct a radical beam to the substrate along a trajectory defining the non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to the substrate plane. The substrate stage may be further configured to scan the substrate along a first direction, lying with the substrate plane, while the main surface of the substrate is oriented within the substrate plane.

To provide a lightweight and highly rigid stage device that can move in X and Y directions and a Z direction, and a charged particle beam device including the stage device. A stage device includes a chuck that is loaded with a sample, an XY stage that moves in X and Y directions, and a Z stage that moves in a Z direction. The Z stage includes: an inclined part that is fixed to the XY stage and includes an inclined surface inclined with respect to an XY plane; a movement part that moves on the inclined surface; and a table that is fixed to the movement part and is provided with the a plane parallel to the XY plane.

A displacement measuring apparatus includes an illumination system to obliquely irradiate the target object surface with beams, a sensor to receive a reflected light from the target object surface, an optical system to diverge the reflected light in a Fourier plane with respect to the target object surface, a camera to image a diverged beam in the Fourier plane, a gravity center shift amount calculation circuitry to calculate a gravity center shift amount of the reflected light in the light receiving surface of the sensor, based on a light quantity distribution of the beam imaged by the camera, and a measurement circuitry to measure a heightwise displacement of the target object surface by an optical lever method, using information on a corrected gravity center position obtained by correcting the gravity center position of the reflected light received by the sensor by using the gravity center shift amount.

An apparatus having: a system configured to measure an object; a base structure; an object support constructed to hold the object, the object support movably supported on the base structure; a balance mass configured to absorb a reaction force arising from movement of the object support; an actuator connected to the balance mass and the base structure, the actuator configured to apply a force to the balance mass and the base structure; a sensor configured to produce a signal for a measured characteristic of the base structure corresponding to a disturbance, or its effect, acting on the base structure; and a control system configured to determine, based on at least the signal for the measured characteristic of the base structure, a signal for the actuator to apply a force to the base structure and/or the balance mass.

By switching between a plurality of image transfer units based on a state of a stage and using the switched image transfer unit, traceability of stage movement and tolerance to communication failure can be improved. A first image transfer protocol is a protocol of which reliability is higher than reliability of a second image transfer protocol, and a switch unit may select a first image transfer unit in a case where it is determined that a state of a stage is a state in which the stage is stopping. A second image transfer unit is a protocol of which a transfer speed is higher than a transfer speed of the first image transfer protocol, and the switch unit may select the second image transfer unit in a case where it is determined that the state of the stage is a state in which the stage is moving.

According to one aspect of the present invention, an optical system adjustment method of an image acquisition apparatus includes: extracting one primary electron beam after another from primary electron beams at a plurality of preset positions among multiple primary electron beams; and adjusting, a first detector being capable of individually detecting multiple secondary electrons emitted due to irradiation of a target with the multiple primary electron beams, a trajectory of the one primary electron beam using a primary electron optics while detecting secondary electrons corresponding to the one primary electron beam for each of the primary electron beams extracted one by one using a movable second detector having an inspection surface of a size capable of detecting the multiple secondary electrons as a whole and arranged on an optical path for guiding the multiple secondary electrons to the first detector.

A multiple charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a rotatable shaping aperture array substrate, including plural openings, to form/shape multiple beams by letting portions of a charged particle beam individually pass through the plural openings, a data rotation correction circuitry to read writing data from a storage device, and generate pattern data, in which the entire figure pattern has been reversely rotated against a rotational deviation direction of an aperture array image by a rotational deviation amount of the aperture array image, using information on the rotational deviation amount of the aperture array image of the multiple beams on the target object caused by a residual error of rotation adjustment of the shaping aperture array substrate, and a blanking aperture array mechanism, rotatable with the shaping aperture array substrate, to provide individual blanking control of the multiple beams, based on the pattern data of the figure pattern reversely rotated.