A method for operating an ion beam device comprises determining an incidence angle at which an ion beam of the ion beam device hits an upper top surface of a semiconductor sample and a rotation angle for the semiconductor sample around a rotation axis extending perpendicular to the upper top surface. The method also includes rotating the semiconductor sample around the rotation axis by the rotation angle. The method further includes determining a scan angle between an adapted scan line along which the ion beam is moved when hitting the upper top surface and a default scan line of the ion beam extending parallel to the upper top surface of the semiconductor sample. Determining the scan angle is based on the rotation angle and the incidence angle. The scan line is adapted to the adapted scan line based on the determined scan angle.

Provided among other things are a scanning electron microscope, scanning transmission electron microscope, focused ion beam microscope, ion beam micromachining device, or scanning probe nanofabrication device, wherein the microscope or device is configured to move a substrate and a scanning modality relative to one another with an enclosed sinusoidal trajectory, and methods of operation.

A system and method for creating a beam current profile that eliminates variations that are not position dependent is disclosed. The system includes two Faraday sensors; one which is moved across the ion beam and a second that remains at or near a certain location. The reference Faraday sensor is used to measure temporal variations in the beam current, while the movable Faraday sensor measures both the position dependent variations and the temporal variations. By combining these measurements, the actual position dependent variations of the scanned ion beam can be determined. This resultant beam current profile can then be used to control the scan speed of the electrostatic or magnetic scanner.

A writing apparatus includes a writing unit to include a deflector for deflecting a charged particle beam and write a pattern on a target object by the charged particle beam, a decision unit to decide a representative position of a deflection result range in which the charged particle beam was deflected with respect to a writing direction by the deflector, and a correction unit to correct drift of the charged particle beam by using a drift amount at the representative position of the deflection result range.

A method of stress management in a substrate. The method may include comprising providing a stress compensation layer on a main surface of the substrate; and performing a dynamic implant procedure in an ion implanter to implant a set of ions into the stress compensation layer. The dynamic implant procedure may include exposing the substrate to an ion beam under a first set of conditions, the first set of conditions comprising an ion energy, a beam scan rate and a substrate scan rate; and varying at least the ion energy while the substrate is exposed to the ion beam. As such, a stress state of the substrate may change as a function of location on the substrate as a result of the dynamic implant.

A profiling apparatus has a hollow cylinder having a circumferential slit having a circumferential slit width disposed about cylinder axis. Two or more beam current detectors are disposed within the cylinder to determine a respective beam current of an ion beam received at respective detector surfaces. An aperture plate is upstream of the cylinder and has an aperture slit running parallel to the cylinder having a slit width. A rotary input apparatus controls a rotational position of the cylinder. A linear translation apparatus controls a linear position of the cylinder and aperture plate. A controller determines a uniformity and angular profile of the ion beam in a plurality of dimensions based, at least in part, on the rotational position of the cylinder, the linear position of the cylinder and aperture plate, and the respective beam current of the ion beam received.

An ion implantation system includes an ion source that generates ions and produces an ion beam along a beamline, a mass analyzer positioned downstream of the ion source that generates a magnetic field according to a selected charge-to-mass ratio. A beamline formed by ion beam is directed to a workpiece target. A gating apparatus includes one or more of: a mechanical gating device configured to block or deflect the ion beam from contacting a workpiece target; or a power control gating device configured to cut off power to the ion source. The beam-to-workpiece target translation mechanism changes the beam-to-workpiece target position while the ion beam is gated by the gating apparatus. Methods for implanting ions in predetermined profiles on a workpiece are disclosed with multiple scans. These systems and methods allow for implantation profiles with smooth curvature and/or sharp differences in dosage characteristics at adjacent positions.

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.

An ion implantation system includes an ion source, a beamline that extracts and shapes an ion beam from the ion source, a deceleration stage that reduces the energy of the ion beam while focusing the ion beam in the direction of a workpiece. A workpiece support has a structure that determines an implant plane position, which is the position of a workpiece surface that receives the ion beam. The workpiece support is configured to translate the implant plane along a path of the ion beam so as to shorten or lengthen the path without changing the tilt angle of the workpiece. The beam optics may be fixed and the focal point of the ion beam may be allowed to vary with a decel ratio. The workpiece support may translate the implant plane to a focal point of the ion beam or to some fixed offset from that focal point.

A system and method for the precise and uniform material removal or delayering of a large area of a sample is provided. The size of the milled area is controllable, ranging from sub-millimeter to multi-millimeter scale and the depth resolution is controllable on the nanometer scale. A controlled singularly charged ion beam is scanned across the sample surface in such a manner to normalize the ion density distribution from the sample center toward the periphery to realize uniform delayering.