The purpose of the present invention is to provide a charged particle beam device with which it is possible to identify, to a high degree of accuracy, repeat patterns generated by a multiple exposure method such as SADP or SAQP. In order to achieve this purpose, there is proposed a charged particle beam device for: irradiating a first position on a sample with a charged particle beam to form an irradiation mark on the sample; after the formation of the irradiation mark, scanning the charged particle beam on a first visual field which includes the first position and which is larger than the irradiation mark, and thereby acquiring a first image; scanning the charged particle beam on a second visual field which includes the first position, which is larger than the irradiation mark, and which is in a different position from the first visual field, thereby acquiring a second image; and synthesizing the first image and the second image so as to overlap the irradiation marks included in the first image and the second image.

A pattern according to an embodiment includes first and second line patterns, each of the first and second line patterns extends in a direction intersecting a <111> direction and has a side surface, the side surface has at least one {111} crystal plane, the side surface of the first line pattern has a first roughness, and the side surface of the second line pattern has a second roughness larger than the first roughness.

A method includes: forming overlay structures at scribe lines of a wafer, each side of a die region of the wafer is disposed with at least one of the overlay structures, each of the overlay structures comprises at least one feature and at least one recess disposed above the feature, the feature and the recess are respectively disposed at a first and second layers of the wafer, the recess exposes a portion of the feature vertically aligned with the recess; acquiring an image of the overlay structures; measuring a first dimension and a second dimension of a first portion and a second portion of the recess, respectively; determining an overlay between the first and second layers of an edge region of the wafer based on an average of differences between the first and second dimensions; and modifying a subsequent lithography step to compensate for the overlay.

A multiple beam image acquisition apparatus includes a stage to mount thereon a target object, a beam forming mechanism to form multiple primary electron beams and a measurement primary electron beam, a primary electron optical system to collectively irradiate the target object surface with the multiple primary electron beams and the measurement primary electron beam, a secondary electron optical system to collectively guide multiple secondary electron beams generated because the target object is irradiated with the multiple primary electron beams, and a measurement secondary electron beam generated because the target object is irradiated with the measurement primary electron beam, a multi-detector to detect the multiple secondary electron beams collectively guided, a measurement mechanism to measure a position of the measurement secondary electron beam collectively guided, and a correction mechanism to correct a trajectory of the multiple secondary electron beams by using a measured position of the measurement secondary electron beam.

To provide an image analysis apparatus capable of easily extracting an edge of an upper layer pattern formed intersecting with a lower layer pattern so as not to be affected by the lower layer pattern, the image analysis apparatus includes a calculation unit that calculates an analysis range including a region where the lower layer pattern intersects with the upper layer pattern and a region where the lower pattern is not formed, a calculation unit that averages a plurality of signal profiles, a calculation unit that calculates a maximum value and a minimum value of a signal intensity, a calculation unit that calculates a threshold level difference using the maximum value and the minimum value, and a calculation unit that calculates the edge of the upper layer pattern on the signal profile.

A method includes: forming overlay structures at scribe lines of a wafer, each side of a die region of the wafer is disposed with at least one of the overlay structures, each of the overlay structures comprises at least one feature and at least one recess disposed above the feature, the feature and the recess are respectively disposed at a first and second layers of the wafer, the recess exposes a portion of the feature vertically aligned with the recess; acquiring an image of the overlay structures; measuring a first dimension and a second dimension of a first portion and a second portion of the recess, respectively; determining an overlay between the first and second layers of an edge region of the wafer based on an average of differences between the first and second dimensions; and modifying a subsequent lithography step to compensate for the overlay.

A method for implementing a scanning electron microscopy characterisation technique for the determination of at least one critical dimension of the structure of a sample in the field of dimensional metrology, known as CD-SEM technique, includes producing an experimental image; from a first theoretical model based on parametric mathematical functions, calculating a second theoretical model U(P.sub.i,t.sub.i) describing the signal measured at the position P.sub.i at the instant t.sub.i, the second model U(P.sub.i,t.sub.i) being obtained by algebraic summation of a corrective term S(P.sub.i,t.sub.i); determining the set of parameters present in the second theoretical model; wherein the corrective term S(P.sub.i,t.sub.i) is calculated by summing the signal coming from the electric charges deposited by the primary electron beam at a plurality of instants t less than or equal to t.sub.i.

Disclosed is a solution for quickly specifying an optical condition of a wafer to be inspected, and in particular, accelerating optical condition setting after obtaining a customer wafer. An inspection apparatus automatic adjustment system according to the present invention includes an analysis-condition-setting interface that inputs analysis conditions; an analysis-execution unit that performs analysis; an inspection-device model and model DB used for analysis; an analysis-result DB that stores analysis results; an observation-condition setting interface that inputs a wafer pattern, a focus point, an optimization index, and a priority; a wafer-pattern search unit that searches for a wafer pattern similar to the input wafer pattern; an optical-condition-extraction unit that extracts, from the analysis result DB, the optimum optical condition for the similar wafer pattern and the focus point; and an optical-condition-setting unit that generates a control signal corresponding to the optical condition and transmits the control signal to the inspection apparatus.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a charged particle beam device with which it is possible to identify, to a high degree of accuracy, repeat patterns generated by a multiple exposure method such as SADP or SAQP. In order to achieve this purpose, there is proposed a charged particle beam device for: irradiating a first position on a sample with a charged particle beam to form an irradiation mark on the sample; after the formation of the irradiation mark, scanning the charged particle beam on a first visual field which includes the first position and which is larger than the irradiation mark, and thereby acquiring a first image; scanning the charged particle beam on a second visual field which includes the first position, which is larger than the irradiation mark, and which is in a different position from the first visual field, thereby acquiring a second image; and synthesizing the first image and the second image so as to overlap the irradiation marks included in the first image and the second image.

To provide an image analysis apparatus capable of easily extracting an edge of an upper layer pattern formed intersecting with a lower layer pattern so as not to be affected by the lower layer pattern, the image analysis apparatus includes a calculation unit that calculates an analysis range including a region where the lower layer pattern intersects with the upper layer pattern and a region where the lower pattern is not formed, a calculation unit that averages a plurality of signal profiles, a calculation unit that calculates a maximum value and a minimum value of a signal intensity, a calculation unit that calculates a threshold level difference using the maximum value and the minimum value, and a calculation unit that calculates the edge of the upper layer pattern on the signal profile.