An object is to provide a multipole unit capable of achieving both high positional accuracy and ease of assembling and preventing a decrease in the transmission rate of the magnetic flux. A multipole unit 109a includes a pole 1 that is made of a soft magnetic metal material, a shaft 2 that is made of a soft magnetic metal material and is magnetically connected to the pole, and a coil 3 that is wound around the shaft 2. The pole 1 is provided with a first fitting portion JP1 that forms a first recessed portion or a first protruding portion. The shaft 2 is provided with a second fitting portion JP2 that forms a second protruding portion or a second recessed portion. The first fitting portion JP1 and the second fitting portion JP2 are fitted with each other such that the pole 1 and the shaft 2 are physically separated from each other.

The purpose of the present disclosure is to propose a charged particle beam device capable of allowing specifying of a distance between irradiation points for a pulsed beam and a time between irradiation points. Proposed is a charged particle beam device equipped with a beam column which has a scanning deflector for sweeping a beam and directs the beam swept by the scanning deflector onto a sample in pulses, wherein: the distance between irradiation points of the pulsed beam is set such that feature quantities of one or more specific regions of an image obtained on the basis of an output of a detector satisfy a predetermined state; the duration of time between irradiation points for the pulsed beam is changed when in a state in which the set distance between irradiation points is set or in a state in which multiple distances between irradiation points determined on the basis of the specified distance between irradiation points are set; and the beam emission is carried out according to the duration of time between irradiation points whereby the feature quantities of the multiple specific regions of the image obtained on the basis of the output of the detector satisfy the predetermined state.

An image acquisition method is provided for use in an electron microscope for scanning a sample by an electron probe and acquiring a scanned image. The method includes the steps of: raster scanning a region of the sample under observation with the electron probe and obtaining a first scanned image; raster scanning the region under observation with the electron probe and obtaining a second scanned image; and superimposing the first and second scanned images over each other. In the step of obtaining the first scanned image, each one of scan lines is drawn with the electron probe in a first direction and then moved in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. In the step of obtaining the second scanned image, each one of the scan lines is drawn with the electron probe in the first direction and then moved in a third direction opposite to the second direction.

A charged particle beam device for imaging and/or inspecting a sample is described. The charged particle beam device includes a beam emitter for emitting a primary charged particle beam, the charged particle beam device adapted for guiding the primary charged particle beam along an optical axis to the sample for releasing signal particles; a retarding field device for retarding the primary charged particle beam before impinging on the sample, the retarding field device including an objective lens and a proxy electrode, wherein the proxy electrode includes an opening allowing a passage of the primary charged particle beam and of the signal particles; a first detector for off-axial backscattered particles between the proxy electrode and the objective lens; and a pre-amplifier for amplifying a signal of the first detector, wherein the pre-amplifier is at least one of (i) integrated with the first detector, (ii) arranged adjacent to the first detector inside a vacuum housing of the charged particle beam device, and (iii) fixedly mounted in a vacuum chamber of the charged particle beam device. Further, a method for imaging and/or inspecting a sample with a charged particle beam device is described.

The present disclosure provides a method to adjust asymmetric velocity of a scan in a scanning ion beam etch process to correct asymmetry of etching between the inboard side and the outboard side of device structures on a wafer, while maintaining the overall uniformity of etch across the full wafer.

An improved charged particle beam inspection apparatus, and more particularly, a particle beam inspection apparatus for detecting a thin device structure defect is disclosed. An improved charged particle beam inspection apparatus may include a charged particle beam source to direct charged particles to a location of a wafer under inspection over a time sequence. The improved charged particle beam apparatus may further include a controller configured to sample multiple images of the area of the wafer at difference times over the time sequence. The multiple images may be compared to detect a voltage contrast difference or changes to identify a thin device structure defect.

Systems, methods, and programming are described for inspecting a substrate having a pattern imaged thereon, including obtaining a plurality of selected target locations on the substrate, the selected target locations dependent on characteristics of the pattern, scanning the substrate with a plurality of electron beamlets, wherein the scanning includes individually addressing the beamlets to impinge on the selected target locations independently, detecting a reflected or a transmitted portion of the beamlets, and generating images of the selected target locations.

A charged particle beam apparatus for directing a charged particle beam to preselected locations of a sample surface is provided. The charged particle beam has a field of view of the sample surface. A charged-particle-optical arrangement is configured to direct a charged particle beam along a beam path towards the sample surface and to detect charged particles generated in the sample in response to the charged particle beam. A stage is configured to support and move the sample relative to the beam path. A controller is configured to control the charged particle beam apparatus so that the charged particle beam scans over a preselected location of the sample simultaneously with the stage moving the sample relative to the charged-particle-optical column along a route, the scan over the preselected location of the sample covering a part of an area of the field of view.

Charged particle systems and methods for processing a sample using a multi-beam of charged particles are disclosed. In one arrangement, a column directs a multi-beam of sub-beams of charged particles onto a sample surface of a sample. A sample is moved in a direction parallel to a first direction while the column is used to repeatedly scan the multi-beam over the sample surface in a direction parallel to a second direction. An elongate region on the sample surface is thus processed with each sub-beam. The sample is displaced in a direction oblique or perpendicular to the first direction. The process is repeated to process further elongate regions with each sub-beam. The resulting plurality of processed elongate regions define a sub-beam processed area for each sub-beam.

A scanning electron beam apparatus which two-dimensionally scans a sample by an electron beam to achieve high resolution even with a photoexcited electron source. The electron beam apparatus includes a photocathode including a substrate having a refractive index of more than 1.7 and a photoemissive film, a focusing lens configured to focus an excitation light toward the photocathode, an extractor electrode disposed facing the photocathode and configured to accelerate an electron beam generated from the photoemissive film by focusing the excitation light by the focusing lens and emitting the excitation light through the substrate, and an electron optics including a deflector configured to two-dimensionally scan a sample by the electron beam accelerated by the extractor electrode. For a spherical aberration of the focusing lens, a root mean square of the spherical aberration on the photoemissive film is equal to or less than 1/14 of a wavelength of the excitation light.