According to one aspect of the present invention, a 8 stage mechanism includes a fixed shaft; a plurality of bearings in which outer rings roll on an outer peripheral surface of the fixed shaft; a plurality of cylindrical members supported in a state of being inserted inside inner rings of the plurality of bearings; and a table that is arranged on the plurality of cylindrical members and moves in a rotational direction about a center of the fixed shaft by the plurality of bearings rolling on an outer peripheral surface of the fixed shaft.

This invention provides a charged particle source, which comprises an emitter and means fo generating a magnetic field distribution. The magnetic field distribution is minimum, about zero, or preferred zero at the tip of the emitter, and along the optical axis is maximum away from the tip immediately. In a preferred embodiment, the magnetic field distribution is provided by dual magnetic lens which provides an anti-symmetric magnetic field at the tip, such that magnetic field at the tip is zero.

A particle beam system includes a particle source to produce a first beam of charged particles. The particle beam system also includes a multiple beam producer to produce a plurality of partial beams from a first incident beam of charged particles. The partial beams are spaced apart spatially in a direction perpendicular to a propagation direction of the partial beams. The plurality of partial beams includes at least a first partial beam and a second partial beam. The particle beam system further includes an objective to focus incident partial beams in a first plane so that a first region, on which the first partial beam is incident in the first plane, is separated from a second region, on which a second partial beam is incident. The particle beam system also a detector system including a plurality of detection regions and a projective system.

A scanning electron microscopy system with improved image beam stability is disclosed. The system includes an electron beam source configured to generate an electron beam and a set of electron-optical elements to direct at least a portion of the electron beam onto a portion of the sample. The system includes an emittance analyzer assembly. The system includes a splitter element configured to direct at least a portion secondary electrons and/or backscattered electrons emitted by a surface of the sample to the emittance analyzer assembly. The emittance analyzer assembly is configured to image at least one of the secondary electrons and/or the backscattered electrons.

This invention provides a charged particle source, which comprises an emitter and means for generating a magnetic field distribution. The magnetic field distribution is minimum, about zero, or preferred zero at the tip of the emitter, and along the optical axis is maximum away from the tip immediately. In a preferred embodiment, the magnetic field distribution is provided by dual magnetic lens which provides an anti-symmetric magnetic field at the tip, such that magnetic field at the tip is zero.

A scanning electron microscope objective lens system is disclosed, which includes: a magnetic lens, a deflection device, a deflection control electrode, specimen to be observed, and a detection device; in which, The opening of the pole piece of the magnetic lens faces to the specimen; the deflection device is located in the magnetic lens, which includes at least one sub-deflector; the deflection control electrode is located between the detection device and the specimen, and the deflection control electrode is used to change the direction of the primary electron beam and the signal electrons generating from the specimen; the detection device comprises the first sub-detector for detecting the back-scattered electrons and the second sub-detector for detecting the second electrons. A specimen detection method is also disclosed.

A method of generating a result image of an object using a particle beam system includes recording multiple primary images of a region of the object using the particle beam system. Recording of each of the primary images includes scanning the primary particle beam along a scan direction across the region and detecting secondary particles generated thereby. The scan directions used for recording at least one pair of two of the primary images differ at least by a first threshold value of at least 10°. The method also includes generating, based on the multiple primary images, the result image representing the region of the object.

A method, including: recording plural images of an object by scanning plural particle beams across the object and detecting signals generated by the particle beams, wherein the plural particle beams are generated by a multi-beam particle microscope; determining plural regions of interest; determining plural image regions in each of the recorded images; determining plural displacement vectors; and determining image distortions based on image data of the recorded images and the determined displacement vectors.

A charged particle beam device acquires an image by scanning a specimen with a probe formed from a charged particle beam and detects a signal emitted from the specimen. The charged particle beam device includes an optical system that forms the probe; a control unit that repeatedly performs correction processing and image acquisition processing for acquiring a frame image; and an image processing unit that generates an image of the specimen based on a plurality of the frame images. In the correction processing, the control unit acquires a reference image, and corrects the shifting of the irradiation position of the probe. The image processing unit acquires position shift information, corrects a position shift between the frame images based on the position shift information, and generates an image of the specimen based on the plurality of corrected frame images.

A secondary projection imaging system in a multi-beam apparatus is proposed, which makes the secondary electron detection with high collection efficiency and low cross-talk. The system employs one zoom lens, one projection lens and one anti-scanning deflection unit. The zoom lens and the projection lens respectively perform the zoom function and the anti-rotating function to remain the total imaging magnification and the total image rotation with respect to the landing energies and/or the currents of the plural primary beamlets. The anti-scanning deflection unit performs the anti-scanning function to eliminate the dynamic image displacement due to the deflection scanning of the plural primary beamlets.