A method for electron microscopy comprises: adjusting at least one of an electron beam and an image beam in such a way that off-axial aberrations inflicted on at least one of the electron beam and the image beam are minimized, the adjusting performed by using a beam adjusting component to obtain at least one modified image beam, wherein the adjusting comprises applying both shifting and tilting to at least one of the electron beam and the image beam and wherein the amount of tilting of at least one of the electron beam and the image beam depends on the amount of shifting of at least one of the electron beam and the image beam respectively and wherein the amount of tilting is computed based on at least one of coma and astigmatism introduced as a consequence of the shift.

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 generally to ion implantation, and more particularly, to systems and processes for adjusting a ribbon beam angle of an ion implantation system. An exemplary ion implantation system includes an ion source configured to generate a ribbon beam, a wafer chuck configured to hold a wafer during implantation by the ribbon beam, a dipole magnet disposed between the ion source and the wafer chuck, and a controller. The dipole magnet includes at least two coils configured to adjust a ribbon beam angle of the ribbon beam at one or more locations along a path of the ribbon beam between the ion source and the wafer held in the wafer chuck. The controller is configured to control the ion source, the wafer chuck, and the dipole magnet.

A multi-beam apparatus for observing a sample with high resolution and high throughput is proposed. In the apparatus, a source-conversion unit forms plural and parallel images of one single electron source by deflecting plural beamlets of a parallel primary-electron beam therefrom, and one objective lens focuses the plural deflected beamlets onto a sample surface and forms plural probe spots thereon. A movable condenser lens is used to collimate the primary-electron beam and vary the currents of the plural probe spots, a pre-beamlet-forming means weakens the Coulomb effect of the primary-electron beam, and the source-conversion unit minimizes the sizes of the plural probe spots by minimizing and compensating the off-axis aberrations of the objective lens and condenser lens.

A detection and correction method for an electron beam system are provided. The method includes emitting an electron beam towards a specimen; modulating a beam current of the electron beam to obtain a beam signal. The method further includes detecting, using an electron detector, secondary and/or backscattered electrons emitted by the specimen to obtain electron data, wherein the electron data defines a detection signal. The method further includes determining, using a processor, a phase shift between the beam signal and the detection signal. The method further includes filtering, using the processor, the detection signal based on the phase shift.

A multi-beam apparatus for observing a sample with high resolution and high throughput is proposed. In the apparatus, a source-conversion unit forms plural and parallel images of one single electron source by deflecting plural beamlets of a parallel primary-electron beam therefrom, and one objective lens focuses the plural deflected beamlets onto a sample surface and forms plural probe spots thereon. A movable condenser lens is used to collimate the primary-electron beam and vary the currents of the plural probe spots, a pre-beamlet-forming means weakens the Coulomb effect of the primary-electron beam, and the source-conversion unit minimizes the sizes of the plural probe spots by minimizing and compensating the off-axis aberrations of the objective lens and condenser lens.

The invention relates to a method for electron microscopy. The method comprises providing an electron microscope, generating an electron beam and an image beam, adjusting one of the beam and of the beam and the image beam to reduce off-axial aberrations and correcting a diffraction pattern of the resulting modified beam. The invention also relates to a method for reducing throughput time in a sample image acquisition session in transmission electron microscopy. The method comprises providing an electron microscope, generating a beam and an image beam, adjusting one of the two to reduce off-axial aberrations and filtering the resulting modified image beam. The invention further relates to an electron microscope and to a non-transient computer-readable medium with a computer program for carrying out the methods.

From a reference waveform 112 and a BSE signal waveform 211 that is extracted from a backscattered electron image and indicates a backscattered electron signal intensity from a pattern along a first direction, a difference waveform indicating a relationship between the backscattered electron signal intensity and a difference between a coordinate of the BSE signal waveform and a coordinate of the reference waveform which have the same backscattered electron signal intensity is generated, and presence or absence of a shielded region 203 that is not irradiated with a primary electron beam on a side wall of the pattern is determined based on the difference waveform. The reference waveform indicates a backscattered electron signal intensity from a reference pattern along the first direction in which the side wall is formed perpendicularly to an upper surface and a bottom surface of the pattern when the reference pattern is scanned with the primary electron beam.

Embodiments may include methods, systems, and apparatuses for correcting a response function of an electron beam tool. The correcting may include modulating an electron beam parameter having a frequency; emitting an electron beam based on the electron beam parameter towards a specimen, thereby scattering electrons, wherein the electron beam is described by a source wave function having a source phase and a landing angle; detecting a portion of the scattered electrons at an electron detector, thereby yielding electron data including an electron wave function having an electron phase and an electron landing angle; determining, using a processor, a phase delay between the source phase and the electron phase, thereby yielding a latency; and correcting, using the processor, the response function of the electron beam tool using the latency and a difference between the source wave function and the electron wave function.

An electron microscope includes an electron source for emitting an electron beam, an illumination lens for focusing the beam, an aberration corrector for correcting aberrations, an illumination deflector assembly disposed between the illumination lens and the aberration corrector and operating to deflect the beam and to vary its tilt relative to a sample, a scanning deflector for scanning the sample with the beam, an objective lens, a detector for detecting electrons transmitted through the sample and producing an image signal, a control section for controlling the illumination deflector assembly, and an image generating section for receiving the image signal and generating a differential phase contrast (DPC) image. The tilt of the beam is varied by the illumination deflector assembly such that the image generating section generates a plurality of DPC images at different tilt angles of the beam and creates a final image based on the DPC images.