Abstract: A retaining device for photo blanks, comprising a retaining member (1) with a supporting surface (3) for a photo blank (4) and a ground element (10) which can be brought into contact with an electroconductive layer (6) of said photo blank. The ground element is provided with a contact tip (15) which can be manipulated in such a way that it can be lowered substantially onto the photo blank (4) without any lateral movement in relation to said photo blank which is inserted into the retaining device.

Abstract: An improved charged-particle beam optical apparatus for imaging a first mask including a plurality of apertures on a specimen to be irradiated. The mask is uniformly illuminated by a beam through a plurality of condenser lenses and the apparatus includes means for adjusting the position of the mask relative to the specimen. A selected area of the specimen has an adjustment marking disposed thereon which is illuminated by a ray of charged particles from the beam passing through a test opening provided in the mask. The apparatus further includes means for detecting radiation emanating from the specimen.

Abstract: A charged-particle beam optical apparatus for the reduction imaging of a mask on a specimen to be examined. The apparatus comprises a beam source for illuminating the mask, a condenser lens system comprising a plurality of lenses generating a ray bundle which strikes the mask as a probe, a beam deflection system located ahead of the last of the condenser lenses in the direction of the beam path, and a projection lens system including a long focal length intermediate lens and a short focal length imaging lens. The intermediate and imaging lenses are spaced apart by a distance which is equal to the sum of their focal lengths, and the mask is located in the front focal plane of the intermediate lens. The improvement of the invention comprises the provision of means for generating a probe in the form of a ray bundle comprising a plurality of rays which are at least approximately parallel to each other and which simultaneously illuminate a partial two-dimensional surface area of the mask.

Abstract: A method for irradiating a specimen by corpuscular-beam radiation in which an irradiated surface pattern including isolated areas unexposed to the corpuscular beam surrounded at least almost completely by areas exposed to the beam is generated on a specimen by first imaging a mask which is supported by a support grid comprising a plurality of parallel strips and having a pattern corresponding to the surface pattern to be generated, on the specimen by shadow projection by means of a corpuscular beam consisting of a plurality of parallel rays. The image of the supporting grid is then removed by tilting the corpuscular beam in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the strips forming the support grid through an angle which is at least equal in radians to the ratio of the width of the strips to the distance between the mask and the specimen.