Disclosed herein is an aperture body for passing a portion of a charged particle beam propagating along a beam path comprising an axis, the aperture body comprising: an up-beam facing surface; a chamber portion comprising an up-beam end, a down-beam end and an up-beam plate, wherein the up-beam plate extends radially inwards from the up-beam end and the up-beam plate is configured to define an entrance opening around the beam path; wherein: the up-beam facing surface extends radially inwards from the down-beam end; the up-beam facing surface comprises an aperture portion that is configured to define an opening around the beam path; and the opening defined by the aperture portion is smaller than the entrance opening.

An electron microscope includes a stage on which a sample is capable of being placed, a beam generator, a detector, a display, and a controller. The beam generator emits a charged particle beam with which the sample is irradiated. The detector detects a secondary electron or an electron generated from the sample by irradiation with the charged particle beam. The display displays an image of the sample based on a signal from the detector. The controller executes a first irradiation process of specifying a position of a hole bottom by scanning the sample with the charged particle beam when capturing an image of the hole bottom of a hole provided in the sample, and executes a second irradiation process of imaging a shape of the hole bottom by irradiating the hole bottom with the charged particle beam via the hole.

A flood column for charged particle flooding of a sample, the flood column comprising a charged particle source configured to emit a charged particle beam along a beam path; a source lens arranged down-beam of the charged particle source; a condenser lens arranged down-beam of the source lens; and an aperture body arranged down-beam of the condenser lens, wherein the aperture body is for passing a portion of the charged particle beam; and wherein the source lens is controllable so as to variably set the beam angle of the charged particle beam down-beam of the source lens.

Systems and methods of providing a probe spot in multiple modes of operation of a charged-particle beam apparatus are disclosed. The method may comprise activating a charged-particle source to generate a primary charged-particle beam and selecting between a first mode and a second mode of operation of the charged-particle beam apparatus. In the flooding mode, the condenser lens may focus at least a first portion of the primary charged-particle beam passing through an aperture of the aperture plate to form a second portion of the primary charged-particle beam, and substantially all of the second portion is used to flood a surface of a sample. In the inspection mode, the condenser lens may focus a first portion of the primary charged-particle beam such that the aperture of the aperture plate blocks off peripheral charged-particles to form the second portion of the primary charged-particle beam used to inspect the sample surface.

A difference between a calculated amount of drift and an actual amount of drift is reduced. According to one aspect of the present invention, a charged particle beam writing apparatus includes a deflector adjusting an irradiation position of the charged particle beam with respect to a substrate placed on a stage, a shot data generator generating shot data from writing data, the shot data including a shot position and beam ON and OFF times for each shot, a drift corrector referring to a plurality of pieces of the generated shot data, calculating an amount of drift of the irradiation position of the charged particle beam with which the substrate is irradiated, and generating correction information for correcting an irradiation position deviation based on the amount of drift, a deflection controller controlling a deflection amount achieved by the deflector based on the shot data and the correction information, and a dummy irradiation instructor instructing execution of dummy irradiation in a writing process to irradiate with the charged particle beam in a predetermined irradiation amount at a position different from the substrate on the stage.

A system and method for advanced charge control of a light beam is provided. The system comprising a laser source comprising a laser diode for emitting a beam and a beam homogenizer to homogenize the emitted beam. The system and methods further comprise a beam shaper configured to shape the emitted beam using an anamorphic prism group and a driver configured to direct the shaped beam to a specified position on a wafer, wherein the laser source, the beam shaper, and the driver are coaxially aligned.

Embodiments provided herein generally include apparatus, plasma processing systems and methods for generation of a waveform for plasma processing of a substrate in a processing chamber. Embodiments of the disclosure include an apparatus and method for generating a pseudo-staircase waveform that includes coupling, during a first phase of generating a waveform, a first voltage supply to an output node; coupling, during a second phase of generating the waveform, a first capacitor between the output node and an electrical ground node; and coupling during a third phase of generating the waveform, the first capacitor and a second capacitor in a series path between the output node and the electrical ground node.

Disclosed are semiconductor inspection apparatuses and methods. The semiconductor inspection apparatus comprises a stage that supports a semiconductor device, a first column that irradiates a first electron beam toward the semiconductor device on the stage, a second column that irradiates a second electron beam toward the semiconductor device, and a detector that detects a secondary electron generated by the second electron beam. The first column is disposed to make a first angle with a top surface of the semiconductor device. The second column is disposed to make a second angle with the top surface of the semiconductor device. The first angle and the second angle are different from each other.

Disclosed herein is an apparatus comprising: a source of charged particles configured to emit a beam of charged particles along a primary beam axis of the apparatus; a condenser lens configured to cause the beam to concentrate around the primary beam axis; an aperture; a first multi-pole lens; a second multi-pole lens; wherein the first multi-pole lens is downstream with respect to the condenser lens and upstream with respect to the second multi-pole lens; wherein the second multi-pole lens is downstream with respect to the first multi-pole lens and upstream with respect to the aperture.

A method for altering surface charge on an insulating surface of a first sample includes generating first plasma inside a plasma source, causing the first plasma to diffuse into a first vacuum chamber to generate second downstream plasma, immersing the first sample in the second downstream plasma, and applying a first bias voltage to a conductive layer of the first sample, or applying a first bias voltage to a metal holder that holds the first sample.