For a first period of time, a higher radiofrequency power is applied to generate a plasma in exposure to a substrate, while applying low bias voltage at the substrate level. For a second period of time, a lower radiofrequency power is applied to generate the plasma, while applying high bias voltage at the substrate level. The first and second periods of time are repeated in an alternating and successive manner for an overall period of time necessary to produce a desired effect on the substrate. In some embodiments, the first period of time is shorter than the second period of time such that on a time-averaged basis the plasma has a greater ion density than radical density. In some embodiments, the first period of time is greater than the second period of time such that on a time-averaged basis the plasma has a lower ion density than radical density.

A system is provided and includes a substrate processing chamber, one or more injectors, and a controller. The one or more injectors inject an electronegative gas, a baseline electropositive gas, and an additional electropositive gas into the substrate processing chamber. The electronegative gas includes an etch precursor. The additional electropositive gas mixes with and increases electron density of a plasma in the substrate processing chamber. The controller is configured to set an amount, flow rate or pressure of the additional electropositive gas based on at least one of a pressure of the electronegative gas or an electron affinity level of the additional electropositive gas.

To provide an electron microscope capable of performing the switching-over between normal illumination and annular illumination, wide-area irradiation, an interference pattern as desired or normal illumination in an expeditious and readily manner or achieving a better S/N ratio, the electron microscope comprises a photocathode 101 with negative electron affinity in use; an excitation optical system to excite the photocathode; and an electron optics system to irradiate an electron beam 13 generated from the photocathode by excitation light 12 irradiated through the excitation optical system onto a sample, the excitation optical system including a light source device 107 for the excitation light; and an optical modulation means 108 which is disposed in an optical path of the excitation light to perform spatial phase modulation to the excitation light.

A substrate processing system includes a substrate support, N RF sources and a controller. The substrate support is arranged in a processing chamber, supports a substrate on an upper surface thereof, and includes: a baseplate made of electrically conductive material and M electrodes disposed in the baseplate. Each of the N RF sources supplies a respective RF signal to one or more of the M electrodes, where: M and N are integers greater than or equal to two; each of the respective RF signals is supplied to a different set of the M electrodes; and each of the sets includes a different one or more of the M electrodes. The controller causes one or more coils to strike and maintain plasma in the processing chamber independently of the N RF sources and separately controls voltage outputs of the N RF sources to adjust the plasma in the processing chamber.

A system for determining Schottky thermal field emission (TFE) usable current and brightness of a Schottky TFE source is provided, the system including: one or more processors, configured to: acquire and store in a memory a Schottky TFE emission image in a digital format; and determine Schottky TFE usable beam current and brightness for the based on experimentally developed algorithms that utilize usable current criteria and usable emission current density, the usable current criteria being generated based on properties of a central beam component and an outer beam component of Schottky TFE beam current.

The present disclosure combines inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ion-source technology together with laser-cooling and photoionization techniques to create a new ion source that has improved performance.

To provide an electron microscope capable of performing the switching-over between normal illumination and annular illumination, wide-area irradiation, an interference pattern as desired or normal illumination in an expeditious and readily manner or achieving a better S/N ratio, the electron microscope comprises a photocathode 101 with negative electron affinity in use; an excitation optical system to excite the photocathode; and an electron optics system to irradiate an electron beam 13 generated from the photocathode by excitation light 12 irradiated through the excitation optical system onto a sample, the excitation optical system including a light source device 107 for the excitation light; and an optical modulation means 108 which is disposed in an optical path of the excitation light to perform spatial phase modulation to the excitation light.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a charged particle beam device that can specify irradiation conditions for primary charged particles that can obtain a desired charged state without adjusting the acceleration voltage. The charged particle beam device according to the present invention specifies the irradiation conditions for a charged particle beam in which the charged state of a sample is switched between a positive charge and a negative charge, and adjusts the irradiation conditions according to the relationship between the specified irradiation conditions and the irradiation conditions when an observation image of the sample has been acquired (see FIG. 8).

A charged particle microscope and a method of operating a charged particle microscope are disclosed. The microscope employs a source for producing charged particles, and a source lens below the source to form a charged particle beam which is directed onto a specimen by a condenser system. A detector collects radiation emanating from the specimen in response to irradiation of the specimen by the beam. The source lens is a compound lens, focusing the beam within a vacuum enclosure using both a magnetic lens having permanent magnets outside the enclosure to produce a magnetic field at the beam, and a variable electrostatic lens within the enclosure.

Provided is a high-brightness, high-current electron source including a wire-like member. The wire-like member has an electron emission plane at the tip of the wire-like member. The electron emission plane has a projectingly curved surface. At least the surface of the electron emission plane is formed of an amorphous material.