An improved charged particle beam inspection apparatus, and more particularly, a particle beam inspection apparatus including an improved alignment mechanism is disclosed. An improved charged particle beam inspection apparatus may include a second electron detection device to generate one or more images of one or more beam spots of the plurality of secondary electron beams during the alignment mode. The beam spot image may be used to determine the alignment characteristics of one or more of the plurality of secondary electron beams and adjust a configuration of a secondary electron projection system.

An ion source is provided. The ion source may include an ion source chamber, and a cathode disposed in the ion source chamber and configured to emit electrons to generate a plasma within the ion source chamber, the cathode comprising a refractory metal, wherein the refractory metal comprises a macrocrystalline structure.

An ion source including a chamber housing defining an ion source chamber and including an extraction plate on a front side thereof, the extraction plate having an extraction aperture formed therein, and a tubular cathode disposed within the ion source chamber and having an opening formed in a front half thereof nearest the extraction aperture, wherein a rear half of the tubular cathode furthest from the extraction aperture is closed.

An ion source with a target holder for holding a solid dopant material is disclosed. The ion source comprises a thermocouple disposed proximate the target holder to monitor the temperature of the solid dopant material. In certain embodiments, a controller uses this temperature information to vary one or more parameters of the ion source, such as arc voltage, cathode bias voltage, extracted beam current, or the position of the target holder within the arc chamber. Various embodiments showing the connections between the controller and the thermocouple are shown. Further, embodiments showing various placement of the thermocouple on the target holder are also presented.

A Bernas ion source having a shield is disclosed. The shield is disposed between the distal portion of the filament and the first end of the chamber and serves to confine the plasma to the region between the shield and the second end of the chamber. The shield may be electrically connected to the negative leg of the filament so as to be the most negatively biased component in the chamber. In other embodiments, the shield may be electrically floating. In this embodiment, the shield may self-bias. The shield is typically made of a refractory metal. The use of the shield may reduce back heating of the filament by the plasma and reduce the possibility for thermal runaway. This may allow denser plasmas to be generated within the chamber.

An assembly present in an ion source for supporting an arc chamber upon a base plate includes a first arc support plate, a first screw, and a second screw. The first screw passes through a smooth through-hole in an arm of the first arc support plate and extends into a bore in the base plate. The second (or adjustable) screw passes through a threaded through-hole in an arm of the first arc support plate and engages an upper surface of the base plate itself, and can be used to change the altitude and angle of the first arc support plate relative to the base plate. This adjustment ability improves the beam quality of the ion source.

An improved charged particle beam inspection apparatus, and more particularly, a particle beam inspection apparatus for detecting a thin device structure defect is disclosed. An improved charged particle beam inspection apparatus may include a charged particle beam source to direct charged particles to a location of a wafer under inspection over a time sequence. The improved charged particle beam apparatus may further include a controller configured to sample multiple images of the area of the wafer at difference times over the time sequence. The multiple images may be compared to detect a voltage contrast difference or changes to identify a thin device structure defect.

An IHC ion source having increased plasma potential is disclosed. In certain embodiments, the extraction plate is biased at a higher voltage than the body of the arc chamber to achieve the higher plasma potential. Shielding electrodes may be utilized to remove the interaction between the biased extraction plate and the plasma. The cross-section of the arc chamber may be circular or nearly circular to facilitate the rotation of electrons in the chamber. In another embodiment, biased electrodes may be disposed in the chamber on opposite sides of the extraction aperture in the height direction. In some embodiments, only one of the electrodes is biased at a voltage greater than the body of the arc chamber.

An ion source apparatus which generates dopant species in a manner enabling low vapor pressure dopant source materials to be employed. The ion source apparatus (10), comprising: an ion source chamber (12); and a consumable structure in or associated with the ion source chamber (12), said consumable structure comprising a solid dopant source material susceptible to reaction with a reactive gas for release of dopant in gaseous form to the ion source chamber. For example, the consumable structure is a dopant gas feed line (14) comprising a pipe or conduit having an interior layer formed of a solid dopant source material.

An ion source for forming a plasma has a cathode with a cavity and a cathode surface defining a cathode step. A filament is disposed within the cavity, and a cathode shield has a cathode shield surface at least partially encircling the cathode surface. A cathode gap is defined between the cathode surface and the cathode shield surface, where the cathode gap defines a tortured path for limiting travel of the plasma through the gap. The cathode surface can have a stepped cylindrical surface defined by a first cathode diameter and a second cathode diameter, where the first cathode diameter and second cathode diameter differ from one another to define the cathode step. The stepped cylindrical surface can be an exterior surface or an interior surface. The first and second cathode diameters can be concentric or axially offset.