Provided is an electron microscope for generating an observation image of a sample by using an electron beam in order to obtain a scanning electron microscope image by low angle backscattered electrons, which are backscattered electrons emitted at a low angle with respect to a sample surface, even for an electron microscope including an objective lens that leaks a magnetic field to a sample. The electron microscope includes: an electron source configured to irradiate the sample with the electron beam; an objective lens configured to focus the electron beam by a leakage magnetic field which is a magnetic field leaked toward the sample; a detector configured to detect a third electron which is an electron emitted when a low angle backscattered electron is caused to collide with the sample by the leakage magnetic field, the low angle backscattered electron being a backscattered electron emitted at a low angle with respect to a surface of the sample; and a compensation electrode or a compensation magnetic pole provided between the sample and the detector and configured to control a trajectory of the third electron.

Systems and methods for automated sample alignment for microscopy are described herein. In one aspect a method can include: rotating the sample along a first axis by each of a plurality of rotation angles; imaging, with a charged particle beam, the sample for each rotation angle; and determining a first rotation angle based on the image for each rotation angle, wherein the first rotation angle aligns the sample to the charged particle beam in relation to the first axis; and determining a second rotation angle based on the first rotation angle, where the second rotation angle aligns the sample to the charged particle beam in relation to a second axis, and where the second axis is orthogonal to the first axis

Provided is a charged particle beam apparatus that acquires an image by scanning a specimen with a charged particle beam, and includes a contrast adjustment circuit that adjusts contrast of the image; a brightness adjustment circuit that adjusts brightness of the image; and a control unit that controls the contrast adjustment circuit and the brightness adjustment circuit. The control unit acquires information on luminance of a reference image in a non-signal state, and information on an average value of luminance of each pixel of the reference image, controls the brightness adjustment circuit, based on the acquired information on luminance of the reference image in a non-signal state, acquires the image in a state where the brightness adjustment circuit is controlled, and adjusts the contrast of the acquired image by controlling the contrast adjustment circuit, based on the average value of luminance of each pixel of the reference image.

A magnetic material observation method in accordance with the present invention includes: an irradiating step including irradiating a region of a sample with an excitation beam and thereby allowing a magnetic element contained in the sample to radiate a characteristic X-ray; a detecting step including detecting intensities of a right-handed circularly polarized component and a left-handed circularly polarized component contained in the characteristic X-ray; and a calculating step including calculating the difference between the intensity of the right-handed circularly polarized component and the intensity of the left-handed circularly polarized component. Reference to such a difference enables precise measurement of the direction or magnitude of magnetization without strict limitations as to the sample.

A method of detecting a defect in a device using a charged particle beam includes inputting a charged particle beam condition, a light condition, and electronic device circuit information, controlling a charged particle beam applied to a sample based on the electron beam condition, controlling light applied to the sample based on the light condition, detecting second electrons emitted from the sample by the application of the charged particle beam and the light, and generating a calculation netlist based on the electronic device circuit information, generating a light irradiation netlist based on the calculation netlist and the light condition, estimating a first irradiation result when the charged particle beam and the light are applied to the sample based on the light irradiation netlist and the charged particle beam condition, and comparing the first irradiation result with a second irradiation result when the charged particle beam and the light are actually applied to the sample based on the electron beam condition.

A charged particle beam device including: a charged particle beam source which emits a charged particle beam; a blanking device which has an electrostatic deflector that deflects and blocks the charged particle beam; an irradiation optical system which irradiates a specimen with the charged particle beam; and a control unit which controls the electrostatic deflector, the control unit performing processing of: acquiring a target value of a dose of the charged particle beam for the specimen; setting a ratio A/B of a time A during which the charged particle beam is not blocked to a unit time B (where A≠B, A≠0), based on the target value; and operating the electrostatic deflector based on the ratio.

Transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) are being utilized more often in failure analysis labs as processing nodes decrease and alternative device structures, such as three dimensional, multi-gate transistors, e.g., FinFETs (Fin Field Effect Transistors), are utilized in IC designs. However, these types of structures may confuse typical TEM sample (or “lamella”) preparation as the resulting lamella may contain multiple potentially faulty structures, making it difficult to identify the actual faulty structure. Passive voltage contrast may be used in a dual beam focused ion beam (FIB) microscope system including a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column by systematically identifying non-faulty structures and milling them from the lamella until the faulty structure is identified.

A method of controlling a transmission electron microscope includes: causing a first magnetic field lens to generate a first magnetic field and causing a second magnetic field lens to generate a second magnetic field; causing the magnetic field applying unit to generate a magnetic field of a direction along an optical axis on a specimen mounting surface; and changing excitations of the first excitation coil and the second excitation coil to correct a deviation of a focal length of an objective lens due to the magnetic field generated by the magnetic field applying unit.

To implement a charged particle beam device including an iron thin film spin detector. The charged particle beam device includes: a charged particle column 201 configured to perform scanning on a sample 203 with a charged particle beam 202; a spin detector including an iron thin film 207, a plurality of coils 208 configured to magnetize the iron thin film, a conveying lens 206 configured to focus, on the iron thin film, secondary electrons 204 emitted from the sample due to irradiation of the charged particle beam, and an electron detector 210 configured to detect backscattered electrons 209 emitted due to the iron thin film being irradiated with the secondary electrons; and a control unit 217 configured to control switching of a magnetization direction of the iron thin film in synchronization with scanning of one line with the charged particle beam from the charged particle column.

A scanning electron microscope includes a spin detector configured to measure spin polarization of a secondary electron emitted from a sample, and an analysis device configured to analyze measurement data of the spin detector. The analysis device determines a width of a region where the secondary electron spin polarization locally changes in the measurement data. The analysis device further evaluates a strain in the sample based on the width of the region. With a configuration of the scanning electron microscope, it is possible to perform analysis of a strain in a magnetic material with high accuracy.