Abstract: Provided are an automatic analyzer and an optical measurement method for correcting a variation in the multiplication factor of a photoelectric element with high accuracy. The automatic analyzer comprises: a photoelectric element which generates electrons by light and outputs a current signal; a voltage application unit which applies a voltage to the photoelectric element; and a processing unit which corrects a variation in the multiplication factor of the photoelectric element, wherein the photoelectric element outputs a pulse signal as the current signal, and the processing unit corrects the variation in the multiplication factor on the basis of the pulse area of the pulse signal.

Abstract: Provided are an automatic analyzer and an optical measurement method for correcting a variation in the multiplication factor of a photoelectric element with high accuracy. The automatic analyzer comprises: a photoelectric element which generates electrons by light and outputs a current signal; a voltage application unit which applies a voltage to the photoelectric element; and a processing unit which corrects a variation in the multiplication factor of the photoelectric element, wherein the photoelectric element outputs a pulse signal as the current signal, and the processing unit corrects the variation in the multiplication factor on the basis of the pulse area of the pulse signal.

Abstract: A signal detected by a photomultiplier tube is pre-amplified and converted into a digital signal. A time average value of signal components, each of which has a voltage lower than a predetermined base threshold value, is calculated as a base voltage. A signal that has been subjected to base correction processing is subjected to threshold value processing and to base correction processing in a non-incident state in which light is not incident on the photomultiplier tube. An output signal thereof is subjected to dark current calculation processing; and a light emission signal amount is calculated by subtracting, from the signal component of the detection light obtained by the threshold value processing, a time average value of the signal components of the dark current. As the result, discriminating the dark current pulse from floor noises enhances the accuracy of the base voltage, and thus the accuracy of light detection.

Abstract: In a charged particle apparatus with an ion pump, which is a charged particle beam apparatus with an ion pump including a charged particle beam irradiation detecting unit for irradiating a sample with a charged particle beam in a chamber and detecting a secondary charged particle, an image processing unit for forming a secondary charged particle image from a detection signal of the detected secondary charged particle, an output unit for processing at the image processing unit and outputting an image, an ion pump for maintaining the interior of the processing chamber in a vacuum state, a driving power supply unit of the ion pump, and a high voltage cable for connecting the ion pump and the driving power supply unit, the driving power supply unit of the ion pump is structured to include a high voltage power supply circuit unit for operating the ion pump, a load current detection circuit unit for detecting a load current applied to the ion pump, and a canceller circuit unit for reducing low frequency noise appli

Abstract: In a charged particle apparatus with an ion pump, which is a charged particle beam apparatus with an ion pump including a charged particle beam irradiation detecting unit for irradiating a sample with a charged particle beam in a chamber and detecting a secondary charged particle, an image processing unit for forming a secondary charged particle image from a detection signal of the detected secondary charged particle, an output unit for processing at the image processing unit and outputting an image, an ion pump for maintaining the interior of the processing chamber in a vacuum state, a driving power supply unit of the ion pump, and a high voltage cable for connecting the ion pump and the driving power supply unit, the driving power supply unit of the ion pump is structured to include a high voltage power supply circuit unit for operating the ion pump, a load current detection circuit unit for detecting a load current applied to the ion pump, and a canceller circuit unit for reducing low frequency noise appli

Abstract: A signal detected by a photomultiplier tube is pre-amplified and converted into a digital signal. A time average value of signal components, each of which has a voltage lower than a predetermined base threshold value, is calculated as a base voltage. A signal that has been subjected to base correction processing is subjected to threshold value processing and to base correction processing in a non-incident state in which light is not incident on the photomultiplier tube. An output signal thereof is subjected to dark current calculation processing; and a light emission signal amount is calculated by subtracting, from the signal component of the detection light obtained by the threshold value processing, a time average value of the signal components of the dark current. As the result, discriminating the dark current pulse from floor noises enhances the accuracy of the base voltage, and thus the accuracy of light detection.

Abstract: A light signal detecting circuit, a light amount detecting device, and a charged-particle-beam device capable of discriminating the signal component of a small amount of light from the signal component of noise due to dark current. A data-processing-unit detects pulses from digital voltage signal corresponding to an amount of light obtained by an amplifier and an A-D converter, calculates a crest value as the maximum voltage value of each pulse, and stores the occurrence frequency of each calculated crest value in a frequency occurrence storage area. A data analysis unit compares a previously-determined frequency lower limit with the occurrence frequency of each crest value in ascending order of the crest values and sets a pulse determination threshold to the first crest value whose occurrence frequency is equal to or smaller than the frequency lower limit. The threshold processing unit thus outputs the digital signal higher than the pulse determination threshold.

Abstract: A light signal detecting circuit, a light amount detecting device, and a charged-particle-beam device capable of discriminating the signal component of a small amount of light from the signal component of noise due to dark current. A data-processing-unit detects pulses from digital voltage signal corresponding to an amount of light obtained by an amplifier and an A-D converter, calculates a crest value as the maximum voltage value of each pulse, and stores the occurrence frequency of each calculated crest value in a frequency occurrence storage area. A data analysis unit compares a previously-determined frequency lower limit with the occurrence frequency of each crest value in ascending order of the crest values and sets a pulse determination threshold to the first crest value whose occurrence frequency is equal to or smaller than the frequency lower limit. The threshold processing unit thus outputs the digital signal higher than the pulse determination threshold.

Abstract: To enable measurement over a wide dynamic range from weak light quantity to strong light quantity in a light quantity detection device for detecting the light quantity, a detection signal from a photon counting light detector is A/D converted. When the A/D converted detection signal has a preset threshold value or more, the detection signal is transmitted as it is to a number-of-photons calculation circuit in a subsequent stage, and when the detection signal has the threshold value or less, threshold value processing for transmitting a preset reference value to the subsequent stage is performed. In the number-of-photons calculation circuit, the number of photons or the light quantity incident on the photon counting light detector is acquired from the dimension of an acquired detection signal waveform until the light quantity measurement ends.

Abstract: To enable measurement over a wide dynamic range from weak light quantity to strong light quantity in a light quantity detection device for detecting the light quantity, a detection signal from a photon counting light detector is A/D converted. When the A/D converted detection signal has a preset threshold value or more, the detection signal is transmitted as it is to a number-of-photons calculation circuit in a subsequent stage, and when the detection signal has the threshold value or less, threshold value processing for transmitting a preset reference value to the subsequent stage is performed. In the number-of-photons calculation circuit, the number of photons or the light quantity incident on the photon counting light detector is acquired from the dimension of an acquired detection signal waveform until the light quantity measurement ends.

Abstract: A patterned medium inspection method according to the present invention includes a timing computation process including a read process reading the reproduced signal of a patterned medium under inspection and a computation process computing the signal interval values from the patterned medium reproduced signal read in the read process, and a judgment process judging the quality of the patterned medium using the reproduced signal interval values computed in the computation process.