A structure for grounding an extreme ultraviolet mask (EUV mask) is provided to discharge the EUV mask during the inspection by an electron beam inspection tool. The structure for grounding an EUV mask includes at least one grounding pin to contact conductive areas on the EUV mask, wherein the EUV mask may have further conductive layer on sidewalls or/and back side. The inspection quality of the EU mask is enhanced by using the electron beam inspection system because the accumulated charging on the EUV mask is grounded. The reflective surface of the EUV mask on a continuously moving stage is scanned by using the electron beam simultaneously. The moving direction of the stage is perpendicular to the scanning direction of the electron beam.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for obtaining a microscope image that depicts a sample and a plurality of fiducial markers, identifying the plurality of fiducial markers in the image, and using the plurality of fiducial markers to register the image. Identifying the plurality of fiducial markers in the image includes comparing a spatial intensity distribution of a plurality of regions of the image to a reference distribution function.

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 disclosure relates to a method for characterizing a two-dimensional nanomaterial sample. The two-dimensional nanomaterial sample is placed in a vacuum chamber. An electron beam passes through the two-dimensional nanomaterial sample to form a diffraction electron beam and a transmission electron beam to form an image on an imaging device. An angle θ between the diffraction electron beam and the transmission electron is obtained. A lattice period d of the two-dimensional nanomaterial sample is calculated according to a formula d sin θ≅dθ=λ, where λ represents a wavelength of the electron beam.

Disclosed herein is a micro stage using a piezoelectric element that can be reliably operated even in a vacuum environment. In a particle column requiring a high precision, for example, a microelectronic column, the micro stage can be used as a stage with micro or nano degree precision for alignment of parts of the column, or for moving a sample, and so on.

Provided herein in an apparatus, including a substrate; a functional layer, wherein the functional layer has a composition characteristic of a workpiece of an analytical apparatus; and pre-determined features configured to calibrate the analytical apparatus. Also provided herein is an apparatus, including a functional layer overlying a substrate; and pre-determined features for calibration of an analytical apparatus configured to measure the surface of a workpiece, wherein the functional layer has a composition similar to the workpiece. Also provided herein is a method, including providing a lithographic calibration standard having a functional layer to an analytical apparatus, wherein the functional layer has a composition characteristic of a workpiece of the analytical apparatus; providing calibration standard specifications to a computer interfaced with the analytical apparatus; and calibrating the analytical apparatus in accordance with calibration standard readings and the calibration standard specifications.

The present invention is related to an apparatus for transporting a charged particle beam. The apparatus may include means for scanning the charged particle beam on a target, a dipole magnet arranged upstream of the means for scanning, at least three quadrupole lenses arranged between the dipole magnet and the means for scanning and means for adjusting the field strength of said at least three quadrupole lenses in function of the scanning angle of the charged particle beam. The apparatus can be made at least single achromatic.

To improve the workability of the task of adjusting the position of a limit field diaphragm. An electron microscope provided with an image-capturing means for capturing an image of an observation visual field prior to insertion of a limit field diaphragm as a map image, a recording means for recording the map image, an extraction means for capturing an image of the observation visual field after insertion of the limit field diaphragm and extracting the outline of the diaphragm, a drawing means for drawing the outline on the map image, and a display means for displaying the image drawn by the drawing means.

An observation carrier includes a bottom base, a lower cover, an upper cover, and a rotation cover. The bottom has at least one first positioning portion. The lower cover has at least one second positioning portion, and at least one third positioning portion. The lower cover is detachably disposed on the bottom base and positioned with the first positioning portion through the second positioning portion. The upper cover has at least one fourth positioning portion and is detachably disposed on the bottom base. The upper cover is positioned with the third positioning portion through the fourth positioning portion. An observation region is formed between the upper cover and the lower cover. The rotation cover is detachably disposed on the bottom base to limit the upper and lower covers on the bottom base. The rotation cover is adapted to rotate to be locked or released by the bottom base.

A system includes a multi-beam particle microscope for imaging a 3D sample layer by layer, and a computer system with a multi-tier architecture is disclosed. The multi-tier architecture can allow for an optimized image processing by gradually reducing the amount of parallel processing speed when data exchange between different processing systems and/or of data originating from different detection channels takes place. A method images a 3D sample layer by layer. A computer program product includes a program code for carrying out the method.