A focused ion beam apparatus (100) includes: a focused ion beam lens column (20); a sample table (51); a sample stage (50); a memory (6M) configured to store in advance three-dimensional data on the sample table and an irradiation axis of the focused ion beam, the three-dimensional data being associated with stage coordinates of the sample stage; a display (7); and a display controller (6A) configured to cause the display to display a virtual positional relationship between the sample table (51v) and the irradiation axis (20Av) of the focused ion beam, which is exhibited when the sample stage is operated to move the sample table to a predetermined position, based on the three-dimensional data on the sample table and the irradiation axis of the focused ion beam.

A scanning electron microscope is provided that is capable of displaying an image highly visible for a user when an image is displayed by visualization by combining morphological image information with component image information. A scanning electron microscope 1 for observing a sample S by irradiating the sample S with an electron ray, the scanning electron microscope 1 includes: a morphological calculation unit 24 configured to calculate intensity data of at least one of secondary electrons and reflected electrons obtained from the sample S to obtain morphological image information of the sample S; a component calculation unit 34 configured to calculate spectrum data of X-ray energy obtained from the sample S to obtain component image information of the sample S; and a display unit 50 configured to display an image visualized by combining the morphological image information with the component image information, wherein the morphological calculation unit 24 is configured to change the morphological image information in accordance with one or more morphological image parameters input by a user, and the component calculation unit 34 is configured to change the component image information in accordance with one or more component image parameters input by a user.

The invention relates to a method of examining a sample using a charged particle microscope, comprising the steps of providing a charged particle beam, as well as a sample; scanning said charged particle beam over said sample; and detecting, using a first detector, emissions of a first type from the sample in response to the beam scanned over the sample. Spectral information of detected emissions of the first type is used for assigning a plurality of mutually different phases to said sample. In a further step, a corresponding plurality of different color hueswith reference to an HSV color spaceare associated to said plurality of mutually different phases. Using a second detector, emissions of a second type from the sample in response to the beam scanned over the sample are detected. Finally an image representation of said sample is provided.

The invention relates to a method of examining a sample using a charged particle microscope, comprising the steps of providing a charged particle beam, as well as a sample; scanning said charged particle beam over said sample at a plurality of sample positions; and acquiring an EELS spectrum for each of said plurality of sample positions. According to the method, it comprises the further steps of scanning, once more, said charged particle beam over said sample at said plurality of sample positions; acquiring a further EELS spectrum for each of said plurality of sample positions; and combining, for each of said plurality of sample positions, said EELS spectrum with said further EELS spectrum. With this, it is possible to acquire rapid information on the sample being investigated, allowing for faster processing of samples.

The invention relates to a method of examining a sample using a charged particle microscope, comprising the steps of providing a charged particle beam, as well as a sample, and scanning said charged particle beam over at least part of said sample. A first detector is used for obtaining measured detector signals corresponding to emissions of a first type from the sample at a plurality of sample positions. According to the method, a set of data class elements is provided, wherein each data class element relates an expected detector signal to a corresponding sample information value. The measured detector signals are processed, and processing comprises comparing said measured detector signals to said set of data class elements; determining at least one probability that said measured detector signals belong to a certain one of said set of data class elements; and assigning at least one sample information value and said at least one probability to each of the plurality of sample positions. Finally, sample information values and corresponding probability can be represented in data.

A charged particle beam apparatus acquires a scanned image by scanning a sample with a charged particle beam and detecting charged particles emitted from the sample. The charged particle beam apparatus includes: a plurality of detection units that detect charged particles emitted from the sample; and an image processing unit that generates the scanned image based on a plurality of detection signals outputted from the plurality of the detection units. The image processing unit performs a process of calculating a tilt direction of a sample surface and a tilt angle of the sample surface based on the plurality of the detection signals for an irradiation position of the charged particle beam; and a process of determining a color of a pixel of the scanned image according to the calculated tilt direction and the calculated tilt angle.

An electron microscope includes: a display control unit which sequentially acquires electron microscope images of a sample and causes a display unit to display the electron microscope images as a live image; an analysis area setting unit which sets an analysis area on the sample based on a designated position on the live image designated by pointing means; and an analysis control unit which performs control for executing elemental analysis of the set analysis area. The analysis area setting unit sets, as the analysis area, an area on the sample which corresponds to a continuous area including the designated position and having brightness comparable to brightness of the designated position.

Methods and systems for generating labeled images from a microscope detector by leveraging detector data from a different microscope detector of a different modality include applying a focused charged beam to a sample, using a first microscope detector to detect emissions resultant from the focused charged beam being incident on the sample, and then using detector data from the first microscope detector to automatically generate a first labeled image. Automatically generating the first labeled image includes determining composition information about portions of the sample based on the detector data, and then automatically labeling regions of the first image associated with the portions of the sample with corresponding composition information. A second image of the sample is generated using detector data from a second microscope detector system of a different modality, and then the first labeled image is used to automatically label regions of the second image with corresponding composition information.

An electron microscope includes: an electron detector which detects electrons emitted from a specimen upon irradiation of the specimen with an electron beam; an X-ray detector which detects X-rays emitted from the specimen upon irradiation of the specimen with the electron beam; and a processor which generates a three-dimensional element map based on output signals from the electron detector and the X-ray detector. The processor performs processing for generating a electron microscopic image based on the output signal from the electron detector, processing for generating a three-dimensional image of the specimen based on the electron microscopic image, processing for generating a two-dimensional element map based on the output signal from the X-ray detector, and processing for generating the three-dimensional element map by projecting the two-dimensional element map on the three-dimensional image.

The disclosure relates to a method of examining a sample using a charged particle microscope. The method comprises the steps of detecting using a first detector emissions of a first type from the sample in response to the beam scanned over the area of the sample. Then, using spectral information of detected emissions of the first type, at least a part of the scanned area of the sample is divided into multiple segments. According to the disclosure, emissions of the first type at different positions along the scan in at least one of said multiple segments may be combined to produce a combined spectrum of the sample in said one of said multiple segments. In an embodiment, a second detector is used to detect emissions of a second type, and this is used to divide the area of the sample into multiple regions. The first detector may be an EDS, and the second detector may be based on EM. This way, EDS data and EM data can be effectively combined for producing colored images.