Abstract: There is provided an emitter structure, a gas ion source including the emitter structure, and a focused ion beam system including the gas ion source. The emitter structure includes a pair of conductive pins which are fixed to a base member, a filament which is connected between the pair of conductive pins, and an emitter which is connected to the filament and has a sharp tip. A supporting member is fixed to the base material, and the emitter is connected to the supporting member.

Abstract: A focused ion beam system includes a gas field ion source which generates gas ions, an ion gun unit which accelerates the gas ions and radiates the gas ions as an ion beam, a beam optical system which includes at least a focusing lens electrode and radiates the ion beam onto a sample, and an image acquiring mechanism which acquires an FIM image of a tip of an emitter based on the ion beam. The image acquiring mechanism includes an alignment electrode which is disposed between the ion gun unit and the focusing lens electrode and adjusts a radiation direction of the ion beam, an alignment control unit which applies an alignment voltage to the alignment electrode, and an image processing unit which combines a plurality of FIM images acquired when applying different alignment voltages to generate one composite FIM image.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a sharpened needle-like emitter, the method including: electrolytically polishing an end portion of an electrically conductive emitter material so as to be tapered toward a tip portion thereof; performing a first etching in which the electrolytically polished part of the emitter material is irradiated with a charged-particle beam to form a pyramid-like sharpened part having a vertex including the tip portion; performing a second etching in which the tip portion is further sharpened through field-assisted gas etching, while observing a crystal structure at the tip portion by a field ion microscope and keeping the number of atoms at a leading edge of the tip portion at a predetermined number or less; and heating the emitter material to arrange the atoms at the leading edge of the tip portion of the sharpened part in a pyramid shape.

Abstract: Provided is a focused ion beam apparatus including a control portion configured to: store in advance, in a condenser voltage table, a calculation value of a condenser voltage for obtaining a reference beam current for all each of a plurality of apertures; obtain an experimental value of the condenser voltage for obtaining the reference beam current for a reference aperture; obtain a correction value of the condenser voltage by subtracting the calculation value stored for the reference aperture from the experimental value for the reference aperture; obtain setting values of the condenser voltage by adding the correction value to the calculation values stored for each of the plurality of the apertures; and store the obtained setting value in the condenser voltage table.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a sharpened needle-like emitter, the method including: electrolytically polishing an end portion of an electrically conductive emitter material so as to be tapered toward a tip portion thereof; performing a first etching in which the electrolytically polished part of the emitter material is irradiated with a charged-particle beam to form a pyramid-like sharpened part having a vertex including the tip portion; performing a second etching in which the tip portion is further sharpened through field-assisted gas etching, while observing a crystal structure at the tip portion by a field ion microscope and keeping the number of atoms at a leading edge of the tip portion at a predetermined number or less; and heating the emitter material to arrange the atoms at the leading edge of the tip portion of the sharpened part in a pyramid shape.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a sharpened needle-like emitter, the method including: electrolytically polishing an end portion of an electrically conductive emitter material so as to be tapered toward a tip portion thereof; performing a first etching in which the electrolytically polished part of the emitter material is irradiated with a charged-particle beam to form a pyramid-like sharpened part having a vertex including the tip portion; performing a second etching in which the tip portion is further sharpened through field-assisted gas etching, while observing a crystal structure at the tip portion by a field ion microscope and keeping the number of atoms at a leading edge of the tip portion at a predetermined number or less; and heating the emitter material to arrange the atoms at the leading edge of the tip portion of the sharpened part in a pyramid shape.

Abstract: An ion beam apparatus including: an ion source configured to emit an ion beam; a condenser lens electrode configured to condense the ion beam; a condenser lens power source configured to apply a voltage to the condenser lens electrode; a storage portion configured to store, a first voltage value, a second voltage value, a third voltage value, and a fourth voltage value; and a control portion configured to retrieve the third voltage value from the storage portion and set the retrieved third voltage value to the condenser lens power source when an observation mode is switched to a wide-range observation mode, and retrieve the fourth voltage value from the storage portion and set the retrieved fourth voltage value to the condenser lens power source when a processing mode is switched to the wide-range observation mode.

Abstract: Provided is a focused ion beam apparatus including a control portion configured to: store in advance, in a condenser voltage table, a calculation value of a condenser voltage for obtaining a reference beam current for all each of a plurality of apertures; obtain an experimental value of the condenser voltage for obtaining the reference beam current for a reference aperture; obtain a correction value of the condenser voltage by subtracting the calculation value stored for the reference aperture from the experimental value for the reference aperture; obtain setting values of the condenser voltage by adding the correction value to the calculation values stored for each of the plurality of the apertures; and store the obtained setting value in the condenser voltage table.

Abstract: Provided is a focused ion beam apparatus including a gas field ion source, the gas field ion source including: an emitter (41) for emitting an ion beam (1); an ion source chamber (40) for containing the emitter (41); a gas supply unit (46) for supplying nitrogen to the ion source chamber (40); an extracting electrode (49) to which a voltage for ionizing the nitrogen and for extracting nitrogen ions is applied; and a temperature control unit (34) for cooling the emitter (41).

Abstract: A composite focused ion beam device has a first ion beam irradiation system that irradiates a first ion beam for processing a sample and a second ion beam irradiation system that irradiates a second ion beam for processing or observing the sample. The first ion beam irradiation system has a plasma type gas ion source that generates first ions for forming the first ion beam, each of the first ions having a first mass. The second ion beam irradiation system has a gas field ion source that generates second ions for forming the second ion beam. Each of the second ions has a second mass smaller than that of the first mass.

Abstract: A composite focused ion beam device has a sample stage for supporting a sample, a first ion beam irradiation system that irradiates a first ion beam for processing the sample, and a second ion beam irradiation system that irradiates a second ion beam for processing or observing the sample. The first ion beam irradiation system has a liquid metal ion source that generates first ions for forming the first ion beam. The second ion beam irradiation system has a gas field ion source that generates second ions for forming the second ion beam. The first ion beam irradiated by the first ion beam irradiation system has a first beam diameter and the second ion beam irradiated by the second ion beam irradiation system has a second beam diameter smaller than the first beam diameter. The first and second ion beam irradiation systems are disposed relative to the sample stage so that axes of the first and second ion beams are orthogonal to a tilt axis of the sample stage.

Abstract: A focused ion beam apparatus includes an ion gun unit having an emitter tip, a gas supply unit including an ion source gas nozzle configured to supply gas to the tip and an ion source gas supply source. An extracting electrode ionizes the gas adsorbed onto the surface of the tip and extracts ions by applying a voltage between the extracting electrode and the tip. A cathode electrode accelerates the ions toward a sample, and a gun alignment electrode positioned on the side of the sample with respect to the ion gun unit and adjusts the direction of irradiation of the ion beam ejected from the ion gun unit. A lens system includes a focusing lens electrode and an objective lens electrode to focus the ion beam onto the sample.

Abstract: A composite focused ion beam device includes a first ion beam irradiation system 10 including a liquid metallic ion source for generating a first ion, and a second ion beam irradiation system 20 including a gas field ion source for generating a second ion.

Abstract: A composite focused ion beam device includes a first ion beam irradiation system 10 including a liquid metal ion source for generating a first ion, and a second ion beam irradiation system 20 including a gas field ion source for generating a second ion, and a beam diameter of the second ion beam 20A emitted from the second ion beam irradiation system 20 is less than that of the first ion beam 10A emitted from the first ion beam irradiation system 10.

Abstract: There is provided a focused ion beam processing method in which damage to a workpiece is minimized when the surface of the workpiece is irradiated and processed with an ion beam. The method comprises the steps of: generating an acceleration voltage between an ion source and a workpiece; focusing an ion beam emitted from the ion source; and applying the ion beam to a predetermined process position to process the surface of the workpiece. In this process, the energy level of the ion beam produced by the acceleration voltage is set within a range from at least 1 keV to less than 20 keV.

Abstract: A focused ion beam apparatus including a plasma type gas ion source for generating an ion beam, and an ion optical system for gathering the ion beam generated from the plasma type gas ion source onto a sample. The ion optical system is constructed by a constitution having 2 pieces of basic electrostatic lenses and an ion optical system magnification of the 2 pieces of basic electrostatic lenses is set to be equal to or smaller than 1/300.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a method for solving the problem of surface damage due to gallium ion irradiation that poses a problem when carrying out mask repair using currently established FIB techniques, and the problem of residual gallium, and to provide a device realizing this method. The device of the present invention has an electron beam lens barrel that can carry out processing, as well as an FIB lens barrel, provided inside the same sample chamber, which means that a mask repair method of the present invention, in correction processing to remove redundant sections such as a mask opaque defect, phase shift film bump defect or a glass substrate cut remnant defect, comprises a step of coarse correction by etching using a focused ion beam and a step of finishing processing using an electron beam, to remove surface damage due to gallium irradiation, and residual gallium.

Abstract: An apparatus has a holder member (21) which holds a sample (3), and a removing beam source (13) which irradiates an inert ion beam onto a cross section (4) of the sample (3) held by a holder member (21) and removes a fracture layer on the cross section (4). Then, the removing beam source (13) is disposed on the holding end side of the sample (3) with respect to the normal L of the cross section (4) so that the irradiating direction of the inert ion beam is tilted at the tilt angle ? to the normal L with respect to the cross section (4).

Abstract: There is provided a liquid metal ion beam irradiation device for irradiating a specific portion of a sample 6 with a prescribed liquid metal ion beam so as to form a cross section, and a gaseous ion beam irradiation device 7 for scanning a prescribed region (observation region) of the cross section using a gaseous ion beam focused to a prescribed diameter and removing a damaged layer on the prescribed region.

Abstract: There is provided a focused ion beam processing method in which damage to a workpiece is minimized when the surface of the workpiece is irradiated and processed with an ion beam. The method comprises the steps of: generating an acceleration voltage between an ion source and a workpiece; focusing an ion beam emitted from the ion source; and applying the ion beam to a predetermined process position to process the surface of the workpiece. In this process, the energy level of the ion beam produced by the acceleration voltage is set within a range from at least 1 keV to less than 20 keV.