A charged particle beam device includes: a charged particle beam source; an analyzer that analyzes and detects particles including secondary electrons and backscattered charged particles that are emitted from a specimen by irradiating the specimen with a primary charged particle beam emitted from the charged particle beam source; a bias voltage applying unit that applies a bias voltage to the specimen; and an analysis unit that extracts a signal component of the secondary electrons based on a first spectrum obtained by detecting the particles with the analyzer in a state where a first bias voltage is applied to the specimen, and a second spectrum obtained by detecting the particles with the analyzer in a state where a second bias voltage different from the first bias voltage is applied to the specimen.

Disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention is an electron microscope, comprising: an electron source, which is configured to generate an electron beam; a first beam conduit, which is configured to accelerate the electron beam; a second beam conduit, which is configured to accelerate the electron beam; a first detector, which is disposed between the first beam conduit and the second beam conduit and configured to receive secondary electrons generated by the electron beam acting on a sample to be tested; and a control electrode, which is disposed between the first detector and an optical axis of the electron beam and configured to change the direction of movement of backscattered electrons and the secondary electrons generated by the electron beam acting on said sample. By means of the electron microscope provided by the embodiments of the present invention, secondary electrons generated by a pure electron beam acting on a sample to be tested can be detected.

An energy spectrometer with dynamic focus for a transmission electron microscope (TEM) is disclosed herein. An example energy spectrometer and TEM at least includes a charged particle column including a projection system arranged after a sample plane, the projection system is operated in a first configuration; an energy spectrometer coupled to the charged particle column to acquire one or more energy loss spectra. The energy spectrometer including a dispersive element, a bias tube, optics for magnifying the energy loss spectrum and for correcting aberrations, and a detector arranged conjugate to a spectrum plane of the energy spectrometer, wherein the energy spectrometer further includes an optical element electrically biased to refocus at least a portion of a spectrum onto the detector, and wherein the value of the electrical bias is at least partially based on the first configuration of the charged particle column.

A charged particle beam device 1 includes: a plurality of detectors 7 for detecting a signal particle 9 emitted from a sample 8 irradiated with a charged particle beam 3 and converting the detected signal particle 9 into an output electrical signal 17; an energy discriminator 14 provided for each detector 7 and configured to discriminate the output electrical signal 17 according to energy of the signal particle 9; a discrimination control block 21 for setting an energy discrimination condition of each of the energy discriminators 14; and an image calculation block 22 for generating an image based on the discriminated electrical signal. The discrimination control block 21 sets energy discrimination conditions different from each other among the plurality of energy discriminators 14.

A particle beam system includes a particle source to produce a first beam of charged particles. The particle beam system also includes a multiple beam producer to produce a plurality of partial beams from a first incident beam of charged particles. The partial beams are spaced apart spatially in a direction perpendicular to a propagation direction of the partial beams. The plurality of partial beams includes at least a first partial beam and a second partial beam. The particle beam system further includes an objective to focus incident partial beams in a first plane so that a first region, on which the first partial beam is incident in the first plane, is separated from a second region, on which a second partial beam is incident. The particle beam system also a detector system including a plurality of detection regions and a projective system.

Some embodiments are related to a method of or apparatus for forming an image of a buried structure that includes: emitting primary charged particles from a source; receiving a plurality of secondary charged particles from a sample; and forming an image based on received secondary charged particles that have an energy within a first range.

A method and system for analyzing a specimen in a microscope are disclosed. The method comprises: acquiring a series of compound image frames using a first detector and a second detector, different from the first detector, wherein acquiring a compound image frame comprises: causing a charged particle beam to impinge upon a plurality of locations within a region of a specimen, the region corresponding to a configured field of view of the microscope, the microscope being configured with a set of microscope conditions, monitoring, in accordance with the configured microscope conditions, a first set of resulting particles generated within the specimen at the plurality of locations using the first detector so as to obtain a first image frame, monitoring, in accordance with the configured microscope conditions, a second set of resulting particles generated within the specimen at the plurality of locations using the second detector, so as to obtain a second image frame, wherein each image frame comprises a plurality of pixels corresponding to, and derived from the monitored particles generated at, the plurality of locations within the region, for each pixel of the second image frame, if the configured microscope conditions are the same as those for a stored second image frame of an immediately preceding acquired compound frame in the series, and if the respective pixel corresponds to a location within the region to which a stored pixel comprised by said stored second image frame corresponds, combining said stored pixel with the pixel so as to increase the signal-to-noise ratio for the pixel, and combining the first image frame and second image frame so as to produce the compound image frame, such that the compound image frame provides data derived from, for each of the plurality of pixels, the particles generated at the corresponding location within the region and monitored by each of the first detector and second detector; and displaying the series of compound image frames in real-time on a visual display.

The purpose of the present invention is to reduce the amount of charged particles that are lost by colliding with the interior of a column of a charged particle beam device, and detect charged particles with high efficiency. To achieve this purpose, proposed is a charged particle beam device provided with: an objective lens that focuses a charged particle beam; a detector that is disposed between the objective lens and a charged particle source; a deflector that deflects charged particles emitted from a sample such that the charged particles separate from the axis of the charged particle beam; and a plurality of electrodes that are disposed between the deflector and the objective lens and that form a plurality of electrostatic lenses for focusing the charged particles emitted from the sample on a deflection point of the deflector.

Techniques for acquiring an electron energy loss spectrum in two dimensions are disclosed herein. The technique at least includes exposing an electron sensor to an electron spectrum projected in two dimensions, wherein one of the two dimensions corresponds to a dispersive axis, and the other of the two dimensions corresponds to a non-dispersive axis, receiving an electron sensor readout frame from the electron sensor, where the electron sensor readout frame comprises a plurality of values representative of the electron spectrum in each of the two dimensions, and reducing a resolution of the electron sensor readout frame in at least one of the two dimensions, where reducing the resolution includes reducing the number of values in the at least one of the two dimensions, where the electron sensor readout frame comprises a plurality of values in each of the two dimensions after the reduction in resolution.

A charged particle beam device includes: a charged particle beam source configured to generate a charged particle beam with which a sample is irradiated; a charged particle detection unit configured to detect a charged particle generated when the sample is irradiated with the charged particle beam; an intensity data generation unit configured to generate intensity data of the charged particle detected by the charged particle detection unit; a pulse-height value data generation unit configured to generate pulse-height value data of the charged particle detected by the charged particle detection unit; and an output unit configured to output a first image of the sample based on the intensity data and a second image of the sample based on the pulse-height value data.