A multi-beam pattern definition device for use in a particle-beam processing or inspection apparatus, which is irradiated with a beam of electrically charged particles and allows passage of the beam through a plurality of apertures to form corresponding beamlets, comprises an aperture array device in which said apertures are realized according to several sets of apertures arranged in respective aperture arrangements, and an absorber array device having a plurality of openings configured for the passage of at least a subset of beamlets that are formed by the apertures. The absorber array device comprises a plurality of openings corresponding to one of the aperture arrangements of the aperture array device, whereas it includes a charged-particle absorbing structure comprising absorbing regions surrounded by elevated regions and configured to absorb charged particles impinging thereupon at locations corresponding to apertures of the other aperture arrangements of the aperture array device, effectively confining the effects of irradiated particles and electric charge therein.

The disclosure relates to apparatus and methods for manipulating charged particle beams. In one arrangement, an aperture assembly is provided that comprises a first aperture body and a second aperture body. Apertures in the first aperture body are aligned with apertures in the second aperture body. The alignment allows charged particle beams to pass through the aperture assembly. The first aperture body comprises a first electrode system for applying an electrical potential to an aperture perimeter surface of each aperture in the first aperture body. The first electrode system comprises a plurality of electrodes. Each electrode is electrically isolated from each other electrode and electrically connected simultaneously to the aperture perimeter surfaces of a different one of a plurality of groups of the apertures in the first aperture body.

A multi-beam charged particle inspection system and a method of operating a multi-beam charged particle inspection system for wafer inspection can provide high throughput with high resolution and high reliability. The method and the multi-beam charged particle beam inspection system can be configured to extract from a plurality of sensor data a set of control signals to control the multi-beam charged particle beam inspection system and thereby maintain the imaging specifications including a movement of a wafer stage during the wafer inspection task.

A multi-beam charged particle inspection system and a method of operating a multi-beam charged particle inspection system for wafer inspection can provide high throughput with high resolution and high reliability. The method and the multi-beam charged particle beam inspection system can be configured to extract from a plurality of sensor data a set of control signals to control the multi-beam charged particle beam inspection system and thereby maintain the imaging specifications including a movement of a wafer stage during the wafer inspection task.

Using a segmented detector having detection regions enables an observation of atoms in a specimen with a high contrast. A scanning transmission electron microscope system 100 scans an electron beam EB over a specimen S, uses a segmented detector 105 having detection regions disposed in a bright-field area to detect electrons transmitted through and scattered from the specimen S for each detection region, generates segmented images based on results of detecting the electrons in the detection regions, and applies filters determined based on a signal-to-noise ratio to the segmented images to generate a reconstructed image. The signal-to-noise ratio is proportional to an absolute value of a total phase contrast transfer function normalized by a noise level, the total phase contrast transfer function being defined by product-sum operation of complex phase contrast transfer functions and weight coefficients for the detection regions. The filters are determined based on the weight coefficients that yield a maximum of the signal-to-noise ratio.

Using a segmented detector having detection regions enables an observation of atoms in a specimen with a high contrast. A scanning transmission electron microscope system 100 scans an electron beam EB over a specimen S, uses a segmented detector 105 having detection regions disposed in a bright-field area to detect electrons transmitted through and scattered from the specimen S for each detection region, generates segmented images based on results of detecting the electrons in the detection regions, and applies filters determined based on a signal-to-noise ratio to the segmented images to generate a reconstructed image. The signal-to-noise ratio is proportional to an absolute value of a total phase contrast transfer function normalized by a noise level, the total phase contrast transfer function being defined by product-sum operation of complex phase contrast transfer functions and weight coefficients for the detection regions. The filters are determined based on the weight coefficients that yield a maximum of the signal-to-noise ratio.

Systems and methods for fused multi-modal electron microscopy are provided to generate quantitatively accurate 2D maps or 3D volumes with pixel/voxel values that directly reflect a sample's chemistry. Techniques are provided for combining annular dark field detector (ADF), annular bright field (ABF) and/or pixelated detector image data and energy dispersive X-rays (EDX) data and/or electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) data for a sample and generating chemical 2D and 3D maps by applying minimization optimization process.

Systems and methods for fused multi-modal electron microscopy are provided to generate quantitatively accurate 2D maps or 3D volumes with pixel/voxel values that directly reflect a sample's chemistry. Techniques are provided for combining annular dark field detector (ADF), annular bright field (ABF) and/or pixelated detector image data and energy dispersive X-rays (EDX) data and/or electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) data for a sample and generating chemical 2D and 3D maps by applying minimization optimization process.

A system and method is provided for rapidly collecting high quality images of a specimen through controlling a re-focusable beam of an electron microscope. An intelligent acquisition system instructs the electron microscope to perform an initial low-resolution scan of a sample. A low-resolution image of the sample is received by the intelligent acquisition system as scanned image information from the electron microscope. The intelligent acquisition system then determines regions of interest within the low-resolution image and instructs the electron microscope to perform a high-resolution scan of the sample, only in areas of the sample corresponding to the determined regions of interest or portions of the determined regions of interest, so that other regions within the sample are not scanned at high-resolution, where the high-resolution scanning in the regions of interest is guided by a probability map using a deep neural network for segmentation.

A system and method is provided for rapidly collecting high quality images of a specimen through controlling a re-focusable beam of an electron microscope. An intelligent acquisition system instructs the electron microscope to perform an initial low-resolution scan of a sample. A low-resolution image of the sample is received by the intelligent acquisition system as scanned image information from the electron microscope. The intelligent acquisition system then determines regions of interest within the low-resolution image and instructs the electron microscope to perform a high-resolution scan of the sample, only in areas of the sample corresponding to the determined regions of interest or portions of the determined regions of interest, so that other regions within the sample are not scanned at high-resolution, where the high-resolution scanning in the regions of interest is guided by a probability map using a deep neural network for segmentation.