A method of patterning a substrate. The method may include providing a cavity in a layer, disposed on the substrate, the cavity having a first length along a first direction and a first width along a second direction, perpendicular to the first direction, and wherein the layer has a first height along a third direction, perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction. The method may include depositing a sacrificial layer over the cavity in a first deposition procedure; and directing angled ions to the cavity in a first exposure, wherein the cavity is etched, and wherein after the first exposure, the cavity has a second length along the first direction, greater than the first length, and wherein the cavity has a second width along the second direction, no greater than the first width.

The present disclosure relates to an ion beam etching (IBE) system including a plasma chamber configured to provide plasma, a screen grid, an extraction grid, an accelerator grid, and a decelerator grid. The screen grid receives a screen grid voltage to extract ions from the plasma within the plasma chamber to form an ion beam through a hole. The extraction grid receives an extraction grid voltage, where a voltage difference between the screen grid voltage and the extraction grid voltage determines an ion current density of the ion beam. The accelerator grid receives an accelerator grid voltage. A voltage difference between the extraction grid voltage and the accelerator grid voltage determines an ion beam energy for the ion beam. The IBE system can further includes a deflector system having a first deflector plate and a second deflector plate around a hole to control the direction of the ion beam.

The invention relates to method of milling and imaging a sample. The method comprises the step of providing an imaging system, as well as a milling beam source. The method comprises the steps of milling, using a milling beam from said milling beam source, a sample to remove a layer of the sample; and imaging, using said imaging system, an exposed surface of the sample. As defined herein, the method further comprises the step of determining a relative position of said sample, and using said determined relative position of said sample in said milling step for positioning said sample relative to said milling beam. The relative position of said sample can be a working distance with respect to the imaging system, which can be determined by means of an autofocus procedure.

An automatic method is provided to align a semiconductor crystalline substrate for electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) in regions where an electron channeling pattern cannot be reliably obtained but crystalline defects need to be imaged. The automatic semiconductor crystalline substrate alignment method is more reproducible and faster than the current operator intensive process for ECCI alignment routines. Also, the automatic semiconductor crystalline substrate alignment method increases the throughput of ECCI.

There is provided a beam alignment method capable of easily aligning an electron beam with a coma-free axis in an electron microscope. The method starts with tilting the electron beam (EB) in a first direction (+X) relative to a reference axis (A) and obtaining a first TEM (transmission electron microscope) image. Then, the beam is tilted in a second direction (−X) relative to the reference axis, the second direction (−X) being on the opposite side of the reference axis (A) from the first direction (+X), and a second TEM image is obtained. The reference axis is incrementally varied so as to reduce the brightness of the differential image between a power spectrum of the first TEM image and a power spectrum of the second TEM image.

The present application relates to an apparatus for processing a photolithographic mask, said apparatus comprising: (a) at least one time-varying particle beam, which is embodied for a local deposition reaction and/or a local etching reaction on the photolithographic mask; (b) at least one first means for providing at least one precursor gas, wherein the precursor gas is embodied to interact with the particle beam during the local deposition reaction and/or the local etching reaction; and (c) at least one second means, which reduces a mean angle of incidence (φ) between the time-varying particle beam and a surface of the photolithographic mask.

There are disclosed an aberration correction method and a charged particle beam system capable of correcting off-axis first order aberrations. The aberration correction method is for use in the charged particle beam system (100) equipped with an aberration corrector (30) which has plural stages of multipole elements (32a, 32b) and a transfer lens system (34) disposed between the multipole elements (32a, 32b). The method includes varying the excitation of the transfer lens system (34) and correcting off-axis first order aberrations.

Reciprocal space map of specific sample locations is generated based on the sample images acquired by irradiating the sample with a charged particle beam at multiple incident angles. The incident angles are obtained by tilting the charged particle beam and/or the sample around two perpendicular axes within the sample plane. The reciprocal space map of a selected sample location is generated based on intensity of pixels corresponding to the location in the sample images.

Reciprocal space map of specific sample locations is generated based on the sample images acquired by irradiating the sample with a charged particle beam at multiple incident angles. The incident angles are obtained by tilting the charged particle beam and/or the sample around two perpendicular axes within the sample plane. The reciprocal space map of a selected sample location is generated based on intensity of pixels corresponding to the location in the sample images.

A charged particle beam microscope system is operated in a transmission imaging mode. During the operation, the charged particle beam microsystem directs a charged particle beam to the sample to produce images. A time series of beam tilts is applied in a pattern to the charged particle beam directed to the sample to produce a sequence of images. At least some of the images in the sequence of images are captured while the charged particle beam is transitioning between one beam tilt in the time series of beam tilts and a sequentially adjacent beam tilt in the time series of beam tilts. The pattern is configured to induce image changes between the images in the sequence of images that are indicative of optical aberrations in the charged particle beam microscope system.