Abstract: The present invention provides an electron beam apparatus for evaluating a sample surface, which has a primary electro-optical system for irradiating a sample with a primary electron beam, a detecting system, and a secondary electro-optical system for directing secondary electron beams emitted from the sample surface by the irradiation of the primary electron beam to the detecting system.

Abstract: The present invention provides an electron beam apparatus for irradiating a sample with primary electron beams to detect secondary electron beams generated from a surface of the sample by the irradiation for evaluating the sample surface. In the electron beam apparatus, an electron gun has a cathode for emitting primary electron beams. The cathode includes a plurality of emitters for emitting primary electron beams, arranged apart from one another on a circle centered at an optical axis of a primary electro-optical system. The plurality of emitters are arranged such that when the plurality of emitters are projected onto a straight line parallel with a direction in which the primary electron beams are scanned, resulting points on the straight line are spaced at equal intervals.

Abstract: An inspection apparatus by an electron beam comprises: an electron-optical device 70 having an electron-optical system for irradiating the object with a primary electron beam from an electron beam source, and a detector for detecting the secondary electron image projected by the electron-optical system; a stage system 50 for holding and moving the object relative to the electron-optical system; a mini-environment chamber 20 for supplying a clean gas to the object to prevent dust from contacting to the object; a working chamber 31 for accommodating the stage device, the working chamber being controllable so as to have a vacuum atmosphere; at least two loading chambers 41, 42 disposed between the mini-environment chamber and the working chamber, adapted to be independently controllable so as to have a vacuum atmosphere; and a loader 60 for transferring the object to the stage system through the loading chambers.

Abstract: An electron beam apparatus is provided for reliably measuring a potential contrast and the like at a high throughput in a simple structure. The electron beam apparatus for irradiating a sample, such as a wafer, formed with a pattern with an electron beam to evaluate the sample comprises an electron-optical column for accommodating an electron beam source, an objective lens, an E×B separator, and a secondary electron beam detector; a stage for holding the sample, and relatively moving the sample with respect to the electron-optical column; a working chamber for accommodating the stage and capable of controlling the interior thereof in a vacuum atmosphere; a loader for supplying a sample to the stage; a voltage applying mechanism for applying a voltage to the sample, and capable of applying at least two voltages to a lower electrode of the objective lens; and an alignment mechanism for measuring a direction in which dies are arranged on the sample.

Abstract: Secondary electrons emitted from a sample (W) by an electron beam irradiation is deflected by a beam separator (77), and is deflected again in a perpendicular direction by an aberration correction electrostatic deflector (711) to form a magnified image on the principal plane of an auxiliary lens (712). The secondary electron beam diverged from the auxiliary lens (712) passes through axial chromatic aberration correction lenses (714-717) and images on a principal plane of an auxiliary lens (718) for a magnifying lens (719). The magnified image is formed in a position spaced apart from the optical axis. Therefore, when the secondary electron beam diverged from the auxiliary lens (712) is incident on the axial chromatic aberration correction lenses without any change, large abaxial aberration occurs. To avoid it, the auxiliary lens (712) is used to form the image of an NA aperture (724) in substantially a middle (723) in the light axis direction of the axial chromatic aberration correction lenses (714-717).

Abstract: An electron beam system or a method for manufacturing a device using the electron beam system in which an electron beam can be irradiated at a high current density and a ratio of transmittance of a secondary electron beam of an image projecting optical system can be improved and which can be compact in size. The surface of the sample S is divided into plural stripe regions which in turn are divided into rectangle-shaped main fields. The main field is further divided into plural square-shaped subfields. The irradiation with the electron beams and the formation of a two-dimensional image are repeated in a unit of the subfields. A magnetic gap formed by the inner and outer magnetic poles of the objective lens is formed on the side of the sample, and an outer side surface and an inner side surface of each of the inner magnetic pole and the outer magnetic pole, respectively, forming the magnetic gap have each part of a conical shape with a convex having an angle of 45° or greater with respect to the optical axis.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an electron beam apparatus, in which a plurality of electron beams, e.g., four electron beams, is produced for one optical axis with a relatively high current achieved for each electron beam. Provided is an electron beam apparatus comprising: an electron beam emitter (32) having an electron gun (30), said electron gun (30) disposed along an optical axis (23) and operable to emit a plurality of off-axis electron beams along a direction defined by a certain angle with respect to the optical axis (23); a plurality of apertures (34) disposed at a location offset from the optical axis (23); and an electromagnetic lens (7) for forming a magnetic field between the electron gun (30) and the apertures (34) to control the plurality of off-axis electron beams emitted from the electron gun (30) so that the plurality of off-axis electron beams passes through the apertures (34).

Abstract: A substrate inspection apparatus 1-1 (FIG.

Abstract: An electron beam apparatus such as a sheet beam based testing apparatus has an electron-optical system for irradiating an object under testing with a primary electron beam from an electron beam source, and projecting an image of a secondary electron beam emitted by the irradiation of the primary electron beam, and a detector for detecting the secondary electron beam image projected by the electron-optical system; specifically, the electron beam apparatus comprises beam generating means 2004 for irradiating an electron beam having a particular width, a primary electron-optical system 2001 for leading the beam to reach the surface of a substrate 2006 under testing, a secondary electron-optical system 2002 for trapping secondary electrons generated from the substrate 2006 and introducing them into an image processing system 2015, a stage 2003 for transportably holding the substrate 2006 with a continuous degree of freedom equal to at least one, a testing chamber for the substrate 2006, a substrate transport mech

Abstract: A detecting apparatus for detecting a fine geometry on a surface of a sample, wherein an irradiation beam is irradiated against the sample placed in a different environment different from an atmosphere and a secondary radiation emanated from the sample is detected by a sensor, and wherein the sensor is disposed at an inside of the different environment, a processing device to process detection signals from the sensor is disposed at an outside of the different environment, and a transmission means transmits detection signals from the sensor to the processing device.

Abstract: The present invention provides a surface inspection method and apparatus for inspecting a surface of a sample, in which a resistive film is coated on the surface, and a beam is irradiated to the surface having the resistive film coated thereon, to thereby conduct inspection of the surface of the sample. In the surface inspection method of the present invention, a resistive film having an arbitrarily determined thickness t1 is first coated on a surface of a sample. Thereafter, a part of the resistive film having the arbitrarily determined thickness t1 is dissolved in a solvent, to thereby reduce the thickness of the resistive film to a desired level. This enables precise control of a value of resistance of the resistive film and suppresses distortion of an image to be detected.

Abstract: The purpose of the invention is to provide an improved electron beam apparatus with improvements in throughput, accuracy, etc. One of the characterizing features of the electron beam apparatus of the present invention is that it has a plurality of optical systems, each of which comprises a primary electron optical system for scanning and irradiating a sample with a plurality of primary electron beams; a detector device for detecting a plurality of secondary beams emitted by irradiating the sample with the primary electron beams; and a secondary electron optical system for guiding the secondary electron beams from the sample to the detector device; all configured so that the plurality of optical systems scan different regions of the sample with their primary electron beams, and detect the respective secondary electron beams emitted from each of the respective regions. This is what makes higher throughput possible.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an electron beam apparatus, in which a plurality of electron beams, e.g., four electron beams, is produced for one optical axis with a relatively high current achieved for each electron beam. Provided is an electron beam apparatus comprising: an electron beam emitter (32) having an electron gun (30), said electron gun (30) disposed along an optical axis (23) and operable to emit a plurality of off-axis electron beams along a direction defined by a certain angle with respect to the optical axis (23); a plurality of apertures (34) disposed at a location offset from the optical axis (23); and an electromagnetic lens (7) for forming a magnetic field between the electron gun (30) and the apertures (34) to control the plurality of off-axis electron beams emitted from the electron gun (30) so that the plurality of off-axis electron beams passes through the apertures (34).

Abstract: The present invention provides an electron beam apparatus for irradiating a sample with primary electron beams to detect secondary electron beams generated from a surface of the sample by the irradiation for evaluating the sample surface. In the electron beam apparatus, an electron gun has a cathode for emitting primary electron beams. The cathode includes a plurality of emitters for emitting primary electron beams, arranged apart from one another on a circle centered at an optical axis of a primary electro-optical system. The plurality of emitters are arranged such that when the plurality of emitters are projected onto a straight line parallel with a direction in which the primary electron beams are scanned, resulting points on the straight line are spaced at equal intervals.

Abstract: An electron beam system or a method for manufacturing a device using the electron beam system in which an electron beam can be irradiated at a high current density and a ratio of transmittance of a secondary electron beam of an image projecting optical system can be improved and which can be compact in size. The surface of the sample S is divided into plural stripe regions which in turn are divided into rectangle-shaped main fields. The main field is further divided into plural square-shaped subfields. The irradiation with the electron beams and the formation of a two-dimensional image are repeated in a unit of the subfields. A magnetic gap formed by the inner and outer magnetic poles of the objective lens is formed on the side of the sample, and an outer side surface and an inner side surface of each of the inner magnetic pole and the outer magnetic pole, respectively, forming the magnetic gap have each part of a conical shape with a convex having an angle of 45° or greater with respect to the optical axis.

Abstract: An electron beam apparatus such as a sheet beam based testing apparatus has an electron-optical system for irradiating an object under testing with a primary electron beam from an electron beam source, and projecting an image of a secondary electron beam emitted by the irradiation of the primary electron beam, and a detector for detecting the secondary electron beam image projected by the electron-optical system; specifically, the electron beam apparatus comprises beam generating means 2004 for irradiating an electron beam having a particular width, a primary electron-optical system 2001 for leading the beam to reach the surface of a substrate 2006 under testing, a secondary electron-optical system 2002 for trapping secondary electrons generated from the substrate 2006 and introducing them into an image processing system 2015, a stage 2003 for transportably holding the substrate 2006 with a continuous degree of freedom equal to at least one, a testing chamber for the substrate 2006, a substrate transport mech

Abstract: An inspection apparatus by an electron beam comprises: an electron-optical device 70 having an electron-optical system for irradiating the object with a primary electron beam from an electron beam source, and a detector for detecting the secondary electron image projected by the electron-optical system; a stage system 50 for holding and moving the object relative to the electron-optical system; a mini-environment chamber 20 for supplying a clean gas to the object to prevent dust from contacting to the object; a working chamber 31 for accommodating the stage device, the working chamber being controllable so as to have a vacuum atmosphere; at least two loading chambers 41, 42 disposed between the mini-environment chamber and the working chamber, adapted to be independently controllable so as to have a vacuum atmosphere; and a loader 60 for transferring the object to the stage system through the loading chambers.

Abstract: A substrate inspection apparatus 1-1 (FIG.

Abstract: A method for alignment of a chip in a substrate surface inspection is provided, in which a surface of a substrate including a chip formed therein is inspected by using a beam. The method is characterized in comprising: a step of placing the substrate so that the chip is positioned within a field of view subject to the inspection; a step of measuring a magnification for the detection when the chip is positioned within the field of view subject to the inspection; a step of calculating a size of position error of the chip based on the measured magnification for the detection; and a step of compensating for the position of the chip based on the calculated position error.

Abstract: An electron beam inspection system of the image projection type includes a primary electron optical system for shaping an electron beam emitted from an electron gun into a rectangular configuration and applying the shaped electron beam to a sample surface to be inspected. A secondary electron optical system converges secondary electrons emitted from the sample. A detector converts the converged secondary electrons into an optical image through a fluorescent screen and focuses the image to a line sensor. A controller controls the charge transfer time of the line sensor at which the picked-up line image is transferred between each pair of adjacent pixel rows provided in the line sensor in association with the moving speed of a stage for moving the sample.