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.

The present invention shortens the time spent in a search for a visual field by a user in a charged particle beam apparatus in which an observation range on a sample is set by using a captured image of the sample. When the contour of a sample table is circularly configured, for example, the central position of a sample table image on an optical image is quickly, easily, and accurately obtained by calculating, from the coordinates of the respective vertices of a triangle circumscribed about the contour created on the optical image by the user, the incenter of the triangle without direct recognition by automatic image analysis, which is complex and time-consuming, of the contour of the sample table image on the optical image.

The present invention provides a charged particle beam device capable of predicting the three-dimensional structure of a sample, without affecting the charge of the sample. The present invention provides a charged particle beam device characterized in that a first distance between the peak and the bottom of a first signal waveform obtained on the basis of irradiation with a charged particle beam having a first landing energy, and a second distance between the peak and the bottom of a second signal waveform obtained on the basis of irradiation with a charged particle beam having a second landing energy different from the first landing energy are obtained, and the distance between the peak and the bottom at a landing energy (zero, for instance) different from the first and second landing energies is obtained on the basis of the extrapolation of the first distance and the second distance.

The present invention provides a charged particle beam device capable of predicting the three-dimensional structure of a sample, without affecting the charge of the sample. The present invention provides a charged particle beam device characterized in that a first distance between the peak and the bottom of a first signal waveform obtained on the basis of irradiation with a charged particle beam having a first landing energy, and a second distance between the peak and the bottom of a second signal waveform obtained on the basis of irradiation with a charged particle beam having a second landing energy different from the first landing energy are obtained, and the distance between the peak and the bottom at a landing energy (zero, for instance) different from the first and second landing energies is obtained on the basis of the extrapolation of the first distance and the second distance.

The present invention shortens the time spent in a search for a visual field by a user in a charged particle beam apparatus in which an observation range on a sample is set by using a captured image of the sample. When the contour of a sample table is circularly configured, for example, the central position of a sample table image on an optical image is quickly, easily, and accurately obtained by calculating, from the coordinates of the respective vertices of a triangle circumscribed about the contour created on the optical image by the user, the incenter of the triangle without direct recognition by automatic image analysis, which is complex and time-consuming, of the contour of the sample table image on the optical image.

A pattern analysis method of a semiconductor device includes extracting a contour image of material layer patterns formed on a wafer, calculating an individual density value (DV) representing an area difference between the contour image and a target layout image, scoring the material layer patterns on the wafer using the individual DV, identifying a failure pattern among the scored material layer patterns, calculating coordinates of the identified failure pattern and displaying the coordinates on a critical dimension-scanning electron microscopy (CD-SEM) image, inputting a reference DV in the computer and automatically sorting the material layer patterns into material layer patterns having a hotspot and material layer patterns not having a hotspot, and reviewing the sorted material layer patterns having the hotspot.