The present application relates to a method for permanently repairing defects of absent material of a photolithographic mask, comprising the following steps: (a) providing at least one carbon-containing precursor gas and at least one oxidizing agent at a location to be repaired of the photolithographic mask; (b) initiating a reaction of the at least one carbon-containing precursor gas with the aid of at least one energy source at the location of absent material in order to deposit material at the location of absent material, wherein the deposited material comprises at least one reaction product of the reacted at least one carbon-containing precursor gas; and (c) controlling a gas volumetric flow rate of the at least one oxidizing agent in order to minimize a carbon proportion of the deposited material.

A charged particle assessment tool including: an objective lens configured to project a plurality of charged particle beams onto a sample, the objective lens having a sample-facing surface defining a plurality of beam apertures through which respective ones of the charged particle beams are emitted toward the sample; and a plurality of capture electrodes, each capture electrode adjacent a respective one of the beam apertures, configured to capture charged particles emitted from the sample.

The present application relates to a method for permanently repairing defects of absent material of a photolithographic mask, comprising the following steps: (a) providing at least one carbon-containing precursor gas and at least one oxidizing agent at a location to be repaired of the photolithographic mask; (b) initiating a reaction of the at least one carbon-containing precursor gas with the aid of at least one energy source at the location of absent material in order to deposit material at the location of absent material, wherein the deposited material comprises at least one reaction product of the reacted at least one carbon-containing precursor gas; and (c) controlling a gas volumetric flow rate of the at least one oxidizing agent in order to minimize a carbon proportion of the deposited material.

A method and apparatus for material deposition onto a sample to form a protective layer composed of at least two materials that have been formulated and arranged according to the material properties of the sample.

An apparatus for correlating at least two images of a photolithographic mask that at least partially overlap, in which the apparatus includes a correlation unit that is provided to use at least one random variation, which is present in the at least two images, of at least one structural element of the photolithographic mask for the correlation of the at least two images.

A method and apparatus for material deposition onto a sample to form a protective layer composed of at least two materials that have been formulated and arranged according to the material properties of the sample.

A device for examining and/or processing an element for photolithography with a beam of charged particles, the device including (a) means for acquiring measurement data while the element for photolithography is exposed to the beam of charged particles; and (b) means for predetermining a drift of the beam of charged particles relative to the element for photolithography with a trained machine learning model and/or a predictive filter. The trained machine learning model and/or the predictive filter use(s) at least the measurement data as input data.

A method and apparatus for local beam processing using a beam activated gas to etch material are described. Compounds are disclosed that are suitable for beam-induced etching. The invention is particularly suitable for electron beam induced etching of chromium materials on lithography masks. In one embodiment, a polar compound, such as ClNO.sub.2 gas, is activated by the electron beam to selectively etch a chromium material on a quartz substrate. By using an electron beam in place of an ion beam, many problems associated with ion beam mask repair, such as staining and riverbedding, are eliminated. Endpoint detection is not critical because the electron beam and gas will not etch significantly the substrate.

The present invention relates to methods, to an apparatus and to a computer program for processing of an object for lithography.

A method of processing an object for lithography comprises: providing a first gas comprising first molecules; providing a particle beam in a working region of the object for removal of a first material in the working region, based at least partly on the first gas. The first material may comprise chromium and nitrogen. In addition, the first material may comprise at least 5 atomic percent of nitrogen, preferably at least 10 atomic percent of nitrogen, especially preferably at least 20 atomic percent of nitrogen.

An ion beam system capable of providing increased secondary electron yield is provided. The increase of a secondary electron yield can be achieved by utilizing, during ion beam scanning, a combination of at least two individual gases adapted to material compositions present in a semiconductor wafer or lithography mask. The system and method can be used, for example, for inspection, circuit edit or repair of semiconductor wafers or lithography masks.