Aberration corrector and electron microscope
11069505 · 2021-07-20
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
H01J37/153
ELECTRICITY
International classification
Abstract
In order to provide an aberration corrector with a wide aberration correction range, easy control, highly accurate aberration correction, and a low cost, an aberration corrector, passing an electron beam through a central axis 201, includes a first current line group (101 to 112) which is arranged parallel to an optical axis at a position separated by R1 from the central axis, and excites a first multipole field, and a second current line group (21 to 32) which is arranged parallel to the optical axis at a position separated by R2 from the central axis, and independently excites a second multipole field having an order and intensity different from those of the first multipole field.
Claims
1. An electron microscope comprising: an electron source; an aberration corrector which corrects an aberration of an electron beam emitted from the electron source; and an electron optical system which irradiates a sample with the electron beam, wherein the aberration corrector includes an opening through which the electron beam passes through a central axis, a first current line group comprising a plurality of first elements each of which comprises a main line portion which is arranged to extend in a same direction as an optical axis so as to be parallel to said optical axis and spaced apart from said optical axis at a position separated by a first constant distance radius from the central axis, and excites a first multipole field, and a second current line group comprising a plurality of second elements each of which comprises a main line portion which is also arranged to extend in the same direction as the optical axis so as to be parallel to the optical axis and spaced apart from said optical axis at a position separated by a second constant distance radius longer than the first constant distance radius, and independently excites a second multipole field having an order and intensity different from those of the first multipole field, wherein each line of said first and second current line groups is disposed in a plane which also includes said optical axis, wherein each of said plurality of elements of the first current line group and each of said plurality of elements of the second current line group further comprises a return line portion arranged to extend in the same direction as said main line portion and spaced apart from said optical axis, and in which a current flows in a direction away from said optical axis at a position separated by a third constant distance radius which is greater than both of said first constant distance radius and said second constant distance radius, and wherein distances between said third constant distance radius and each of the first and second constant distance radii are sufficiently large to cause said current which flows through said return line portion in a direction away from said optical axis to have no effect on multipole field intensities of said first multipole field provided by said main line portion of said first current line group, and said second multipole field provided by said main line portion of said second current line group.
2. The electron microscope according to claim 1, wherein the number of lines of the first current line group is 12 or more.
3. The electron microscope according to claim 1, wherein the first multipole field has an order higher than that of the second multipole field.
4. The electron microscope according to claim 1, wherein a diameter of a current line constituting the second current line group is larger than a diameter of a current line constituting the first current line group.
5. The electron microscope according to claim 1, wherein the first multipole field is a multipole field of a hexapole or more, and when the second multipole field and the first multipole field are excited under a condition of the same distance from the axis, a current amount of the first multipole field is larger.
6. The electron microscope according to claim 1, further comprising: a power source; a switcher which changes a current path from the power source; and a control unit, wherein the control unit controls the switcher to switch a current line group driven by the power source between the first current line group and the second current line group according to an accelerating voltage, or an optical magnification, or a working distance.
7. The electron microscope according to claim 1, further comprising: a third current line group which is arranged parallel to the optical axis at a position separated by a fourth constant distance radius different from the first and second constant distance radii in length, wherein the second constant distance radius is smaller than the fourth constant distance radius, the fourth constant distance radius is smaller than the third constant distance radius, and a third multipole field is excited in the third current line group.
8. The electron microscope according to claim 1, wherein the number of lines of the first current line group and the number of lines of the second current line group are respectively a multiple of 4 or a multiple of 6, or a 4N-pole field or a 6M-pole field (N and M are natural numbers) is excited.
9. An aberration corrector comprising: an opening through which an electron beam passes through a central axis; a first current line group comprising a plurality of first elements each of which comprises a main line portion which is arranged to extend in a same direction as an optical axis so as to be parallel to said optical axis and spaced apart from said optical axis at a position separated by a first constant distance radius from the central axis, and excites a first multipole field, and a second current line group comprising a plurality of second elements each of which comprises a main line portion which is also arranged to extend in the same direction as the optical axis so as to be parallel to the optical axis and spaced apart from said optical axis at a position separated by a second constant distance radius longer than the first constant distance radius, and independently excites a second multipole field having an order and intensity different from those of the first multipole field, wherein each line of said first and second current line groups is disposed in a plane which also includes said optical axis, wherein each of said plurality of elements of the first current line group and each of said plurality of elements of the second current line group further comprises a return line portion arranged to extend in the same direction as said main line portion and spaced apart from said optical axis in which a current flows in a direction away front said optical axis at a position separated by a third constant distance radius which is greater than said first constant distance radius and said second constant distance radius, and wherein distances between said third constant distance radius and each of the first and second constant distance radii are sufficiently large to cause said current which flows throws said return line portion in a direction away from said optical axis to have no effect on multipole field intensities of said first multipole field provided by said main line portion of said first current line group, and said second multipole field provided by said main line portion of said second current line group.
10. The aberration corrector according to claim 9, wherein the first multipole field excited by the first current line group arranged on the first constant distance radius smaller than the second constant distance radius has an order higher than that of the second multipole field.
11. The aberration corrector according to claim 9, wherein a diameter of a current line constituting the second current line group arranged on the second constant distance radius larger than the first constant distance radius is larger than a diameter of a current line constituting the first current line group.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
(13) As a result of studying on performance improvement of a low cost wire type aberration corrector, the inventors believe that in a multipole lens for one stage of an aberration corrector in which an electron beam passes through a central axis, a plurality of current lines arranged circumferentially by a constant radius parallel to an optical axis are regarded as one set, and a plurality of such sets with different radii are arranged (multilayer arrangement), and it is sufficient to excite and control multipole fields of different types and intensities independently for each set.
(14) Accordingly, by arranging the current line group surrounding the central axis in a multilayer arrangement configuration, the excitation intensity can be set according to the required intensity of the multipole, so that the application range is widened in the wire type aberration corrector. In addition, a maximum value and a change step of a power source output used can be optimized.
(15) Hereinafter, the invention will be described using embodiments with reference to the drawings. Although a scanning electron microscope is described as an example in the embodiment, it can be applied generally to an electron microscope. The same reference numerals denote the same components.
First Embodiment
(16)
I.sub.i=A.sub.N.Math.Cos(N(i−1)π/6) [Equation 1]
(17) In a multipole lens of the aberration corrector, a plurality of multipole fields are superimposed at the same stage since a plurality of aberrations such as a spherical aberration and a coma aberration are corrected. In a related-art single-layer wire lens which includes the current lines 101 to 112 shown in
(18)
(19) In
(20) The current line groups are shown in a simplified form in
(21) The multipole field is formed mainly by the magnetic field of the main line, and the wiring other than the main line is not necessary to form a multipole field in principle. Since the current flows through the return line in a direction opposite to the main line, a multipole field with a polarity opposite to that of the main line is generated, and this has an effect of reducing the multipole field intensity. To prevent this, the radius B1 may be larger than the radius R1. Hereinafter, the distance from the return line to the optical axis is larger than the distance from the main line to the optical axis, and only the main line is described as shown in
(22)
(23)
(24) According to the above embodiment, it is possible to provide an aberration corrector or an electron microscope with a wide aberration correction range, easy control, highly accurate aberration correction, and a low cost.
Second Embodiment
(25) An aberration corrector according to a second embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to
(26) The present embodiment shows a configuration of a multilayer wire multipole in which efficient multipole field intensity is obtained.
R.sub.max=R1.Math.sin(λ/12) [Equation 3]
(27) Although the current line is actually coated and insulated, it is omitted in this description for the sake of brevity.
(28) The upper limit of the current value which can be applied to the current line depends on an area and material of the current line excluding external factors such as temperature. An allowable current density J.sub.max in an area unit is determined with respect to the material. On the other hand, if the current of the current line is constant, the intensity Bw.sub.max of the 2N-pole field is proportional to the (N−1)th power of (1/R1) as shown in Equation (4).
(29)
(30) When the current flows to an allowable current as the upper limit, the reference current A.sub.N is shown by Equation (5).
A.sub.N=J.sub.max.Math.R.sub.max.sup.2=J.sub.max.Math.R1.sup.2.Math.sin.sup.2(π/12) [Equation 5]
(31) When the Equation (5) is combined with the Equation (4), the intensity B.sub.wmax of the 2N-pole field is expressed by Equation (6).
(32)
(33) The B.sub.wmax of the Equation (6) is normalized and graphed at an intensity of R1=5 mm, as shown in
(34) In principle, based on the property of
(35) On the other hand, since the multipole field requiring the maximum magnetic field intensity differs depending on the type of the aberration corrector, the layer to be allocated is finally set according to the require and intensity. For example, since in the aberration corrector of the type shown in
(36) In
(37) The aberration corrector including the multilayer wire multipole shown in
(38) According to the above embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. Further, it is possible to perform more accurate aberration correction by providing the auxiliary multipole field.
Third Embodiment
(39) An aberration corrector according to a third embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to
(40) In the present embodiment, a multilayer wire multipole has a configuration applicable to a wide range with respect to changes in a condition such as an accelerating voltage, an optical magnification, and a working distance.
(41) When the accelerating voltage is high or WD is small, it is necessary to increase the multipole field intensity so as to increase the correction amount. In this case, the power source 81 is connected to the main line group 50 and the power source 82 is connected to the main line group 51 so as to reduce R1 with respect to the hexapole field and the octupole field. On the contrary, when the accelerating voltage is lower or the WD is large, the power source 81 is connected to the main line group 51 and the power source 82 is connected to the main line group 52 so as to increase R1 with respect to the hexapole field and the octupole field. Accordingly, when switching is performed according to the condition, the output of the power source 81 can be kept within a certain range. It is considered that it is sufficiently to simply reduce the output of the current in low acceleration or the like; however, in practice, the current changing step, the stability (ripple noise amount), and the like are required to be smaller proportionally, so that the method of reducing the output is not preferable because the power source cost increases.
(42) In the above embodiment, one type of multipole field is occupied for one layer, but it is not necessary to limit it to one type of multipole field in all layers of the multilayer. The multipole fields that are relatively weak and do not reach the upper limit of the current may superpose with each other without a problem. In particular, when the accelerating voltage changes, the combination to be superimposed or the number of power sources to be used may be changed according to the type and amount of the aberration to be corrected due to changes in influence degree of a chromatic aberration. The configuration shown in
(43) The aberration corrector including the multilayer wire multipole and the power source switching unit shown in
(44) According to the above embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. Further, by including the power source switching unit, it is possible to apply a wider range with respect to the changes in the condition such as an accelerating voltage, an optical magnification, and a working distance.
Fourth Embodiment
(45) An aberration corrector according to a fourth embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to
(46)
(47) When the number of lines is not 12, the current I.sub.i to be applied to the wire can be expressed by Equation (7), wherein M is the number of current lines forming the line group.
I.sub.i=A.sub.N.Math.Cos(2N(i−1)π/M) [Equation 7]
(48) Here, when M is 2N, Equation (8) is formed, the input and output positions of the current line can be connected in series while being exchanged.
I.sub.i=A.sub.N.Math.Cos((i−1)π)=A.sub.N.Math.(−1).sup.i−1 [Equation 8]
(49) As described above, the structure can be simplified when the multipole field set in advance is limited. The configuration of the present embodiment is advantageous when use conditions are limited.
(50) The aberration corrector including the multilayer wire multipole shown in
(51) According to the above embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. In addition, the structure can be simplified when the multipole field set in advance is limited.
Fifth Embodiment
(52) An aberration corrector according to a fifth embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to
(53) In the above embodiment, a 2N-pole field is also excited by using the multilayer wire, but a general deflector can be arranged on the outermost circumference with respect to the dipole field. With respect to the main line groups 66 and 67 shown in the configuration of
(54)
(55) The aberration corrector including the multilayer wire multipole shown in
(56) According to the above embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. Further, by using the deflector instead of the wire dipole, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of the extra aberration other than the dipole field.
(57) The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and includes various modifications. For example, the embodiments described above have been described in detail for easy understanding of the invention, and are not necessarily limited to those including all the configurations described above. Further, a part of a configuration of a certain embodiment may also be replaced with a configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment may also be added to the configuration of the certain embodiment. In a part of a configuration of each embodiment, another configuration can be added, removed, or replaced.
REFERENCE SIGN LIST
(58) 101 to 112 current line 13 current line main line part 14 current line upper sub-line part 15 current line lower sub-line part 16 current line return part 17 current line input/output part 21 to 32 current line 40 vacuum vessel 41 electron gun 42 condenser lens 43 multipole lens 44 condenser lens 45 condenser lens 46 multipole lens 47 condenser lens 48 objective lens 49 sample 50 main line group 51 main line group 52 main line group 53 main line group 54 main line group 60 main line group 61 main line group 62 main line group 63 main line group 64 main line group 65 main line group 66 main line group 67 main line group 68 deflector 69 deflector 80 control unit 81 power source 82 power source 83 switcher 84 switcher 85 power source 86 switcher 201 optical axis (central axis)