Abstract: An electron microscope includes a secondary electron detector (51) which detects an electron generated when a sample (70) is illuminated with an electron beam from an electron gun (1), a monitor (39) which displays a secondary electron image of the sample based on an output of the detector, a gas inlet device (60) which emits gas to the sample, and a gas control device (81) which controls a gas emitting amount of the gas inlet device so that a degree of vacuum in an intermediate chamber (74) in which the secondary electron detector is installed may be kept at less than a set value P1 during gas emission performed by the gas inlet device. Accordingly, a microscopic image of the sample in a gas atmosphere with use of the detector requiring application of voltage is obtained.

Abstract: An electron microscope includes: a sample holder; a first optical system irradiating and scanning the sample; an electron detection unit detecting secondary electrons discharged from the sample; a first vacuum chamber which holds the sample holder, the first optical system, and the electron detection unit in a vacuum atmosphere; a display unit displaying a microscopic image of the sample; and a control unit which controls the sample holder and the operation of the first optical system. The electron microscope includes a second vacuum chamber different from the first vacuum chamber, and a second optical system in the second vacuum chamber and is different from the first optical system. The second optical system and the control unit are capable of mutual communication, and the second vacuum chamber has a state changing means which changes the state of the sample.

Abstract: The objective of the present invention is to maintain the surrounding of a sample at atmospheric pressure and efficiently detect secondary electrons. In a sample chamber of a charged particle device, a sample holder (4) has: a gas introduction pipe and a gas evacuation pipe for controlling the vicinity of a sample (20) to be an atmospheric pressure environment; a charged particle passage hole (18) and a micro-orifice (18) enabling detection of secondary electrons (15) emitted from the sample (20), co-located above the sample (20); and a charged particle passage hole (19) with a hole diameter larger than the micro-orifice (18) above the sample (20) so as to be capable of actively evacuating gas during gas introduction.

Abstract: In energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, an increase in the area of a detector causes a decrease in the peak/background ratio of a detected signal. In order to solve this problem, a sample holder has a main body part for holding a sample, and a sample retaining part detachably provided to the main body part; the sample retaining part being mounted on the main body part to secure the sample held by the main body part, and the sample retaining part having: a first hole for allowing a charged particle beam to pass therethrough; and a second hole for introducing, from among signals generated by the sample, only a specific signal into a detector. The sample holder is applicable to a charged particle beam device, for example.

Abstract: The objective of the present invention is to maintain the surrounding of a sample at atmospheric pressure and efficiently detect secondary electrons. In a sample chamber of a charged particle device, a sample holder (4) has: a gas introduction pipe and a gas evacuation pipe for controlling the vicinity of a sample (20) to be an atmospheric pressure environment; a charged particle passage hole (18) and a micro-orifice (18) enabling detection of secondary electrons (15) emitted from the sample (20), co-located above the sample (20); and a charged particle passage hole (19) with a hole diameter larger than the micro-orifice (18) above the sample (20) so as to be capable of actively evacuating gas during gas introduction.

Abstract: An electron microscope includes a secondary electron detector (51) which detects an electron generated when a sample (70) is illuminated with an electron beam from an electron gun (1), a monitor (39) which displays a secondary electron image of the sample based on an output of the detector, a gas inlet device (60) which emits gas to the sample, and a gas control device (81) which controls a gas emitting amount of the gas inlet device so that a degree of vacuum in an intermediate chamber (74) in which the secondary electron detector is installed may be kept at less than a set value P1 during gas emission performed by the gas inlet device. Accordingly, a microscopic image of the sample in a gas atmosphere with use of the detector requiring application of voltage is obtained.

Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a noise-proof cover and a charged particle beam apparatus that realize both of suppression of an image failure caused by a specific frequency and a reduction in size. To attain the object, the present invention proposes a noise-proof cover that surrounds a charged particle beam apparatus, the noise-proof cover including a hollow section forming member that forms a cylindrical body having a wall surface extending along an inner wall of the noise-proof cover, one end of the cylindrical body formed by the hollow section forming member being opened and the other end of the cylindrical section being closed, and the charged particle beam apparatus surrounded by the noise-proof cover.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the acquisition of tilted series images of a minute sample in a short time. The present invention relates to: measuring in advance the relation between an amount of focus shift and a degree of coincidence at the time of acquiring tilted series images; calculating backwards a focus shift from the degree of coincidence on the basis of this relation; correcting the focus shift by controlling a stage, an objective lens, and the like; and thus acquiring the tilted series images. In addition, the present invention relates to: acquiring a reference image in advance at the time of photographing the tilted series images; obtaining the correlation between an acquired image and the reference image; and performing, if the degree of coincidence is equal to or smaller than a set value, processing such as the transmission of a warning message and the stop of an image acquisition sequence.

Abstract: This electron microscope (20) comprises: a first imaging device (291); a second imaging device (240) that can be moved away from transmitted light (P); and another detection device (260). The second imaging device is disposed in an observation chamber (230) above the first imaging device, and an attachment portion (231) of the other detection device is disposed at a position rotated 90 degrees from the attachment position of the second imaging device on the same plane on which the second imaging device is disposed. Thus, the second imaging means and the other detector can be attached compactly to the observation chamber disposed on the table surface of a mount housing, whereby an electron microscope can be provided in which workability of the devices and effective use of the table surface are achieved.

Abstract: A transmission electron microscope includes an electron gun 1 that irradiates a sample 5 with an electron beam 2; an electron detector 13 that detects electrons that are passed through the sample 5 and scattered; a first detection-side annular aperture 15 that is located between the electron detector 13 and the sample 5 and has a ring-shaped slit that limits inner and outer diameters of a transmission region of electrons scattered from the sample 5; and a second detection-side annular aperture 16 that is located between the first detection-side annular aperture 15 and the electron detector 13 and has a ring-shaped slit that limits inner and outer diameters of a transmission region of scattered electrons that have passed through the first detection-side annular aperture 15. It is, therefore, possible to detect electrons scattered at high scattering angles without a limitation caused by a spherical aberration of an electron lens and improve a depth resolution.

Abstract: Disclosed is a transmission interference microscope that provides a degree of freedom to a region being observed while obtaining pure transmission information, and obtains highly-accurate interference images at high magnification under optimized radiation conditions. An electron beam emitted from an electron source 1 is split by a biprism 11 positioned under a converging lens 3, and enters objective lenses 4 as an electron beam 6 passing through a sample and an electron beam 7 passing through a vacuum. The electron beams are bent at the front magnetic fields of the objective lenses 4, and are emitted as a collimated beam in a state in which the sample location and vacuum are each appropriately are left a space.

Abstract: An electron microscope according to the present invention includes a phase plate (510) having a thickness which changes in a radial direction, and adjusts a phase difference caused by a difference in electron beam path due to an effect of a spherical aberration when an electron beam is converged by a lens or an image of the electron beam is formed. Accordingly, the phase difference caused by the difference in electron beam path is adjusted, to thereby improve the coherence, so that a phase contrast image of transmitted electrons can be obtained at a higher resolution.

Abstract: An electron microscope is provided that can automatically adjust the optical axis even in a state of deviation of the optical axis according to which the position of an electron beam on a fluorescent plate cannot be verified after replacement of an electron source. The microscope measures current of a fluorescent plate and determining whether the fluorescent plate is irradiated with an electron beam or not; without irradiation, controls a deflector to move the electron beam such that the fluorescent plate is irradiated with the electron beam; and, with irradiation, controls the deflector such that the current becomes a local maximum and a magnitude of luminance acquired from the image of the electron beam with which the fluorescent plate is irradiated becomes a local maximum.

Abstract: There is provided a charged particle beam device which can prevent a specimen from not being able to be observed due to entering of a part of a grid of a mesh in a field of view, in which each pixel of a scanning transmission electron microscope image is displayed on the basis of a gray value of a predetermined gradation scale. In the case where the number of pixels of the predetermined gray value is not less than a predetermined percentage, it is judged that the mesh image is included in the scanning transmission electron microscope image. When the mesh image is not anymore included in the scanning transmission electron microscope image, the predetermined gradation scale is converted to another gradation scale and a scanning transmission electron microscope image is obtained.

Abstract: A transmission electron microscope includes an electron gun 1 that irradiates a sample 5 with an electron beam 2; an electron detector 13 that detects electrons that are passed through the sample 5 and scattered; a first detection-side annular aperture 15 that is located between the electron detector 13 and the sample 5 and has a ring-shaped slit that limits inner and outer diameters of a transmission region of electrons scattered from the sample 5; and a second detection-side annular aperture 16 that is located between the first detection-side annular aperture 15 and the electron detector 13 and has a ring-shaped slit that limits inner and outer diameters of a transmission region of scattered electrons that have passed through the first detection-side annular aperture 15. It is, therefore, possible to detect electrons scattered at high scattering angles without a limitation caused by a spherical aberration of an electron lens and improve a depth resolution.

Abstract: Using, as a detector, a CCD detector having a CCD element to which a scintillator is closely fixed, a backscattered or scanning transmission image is obtained by the following method. The detector is disposed directly under an objective lens to obtain the backscattered electron image. When one point of a specimen is irradiated with an electron beam, backscattered or transmission electrons generated from the specimen collide with the scintillator to form a luminescent pattern. This pattern is detected by the CCD detector, and stored in a memory. This processing is sequentially repeated for each irradiation position to obtain all the patterns in an electron beam scanning range. Arithmetic processing is performed on each pattern to convert it into an image. Usually, image data for one pixel is calculated from one pattern. By sequentially repeating this, a backscattered or transmission electron image in the electronic beam scanning range can be obtained.

Abstract: When a scanning image of a scanning charged particle microscope is impaired by an external disturbance, a disturbance frequency can be simply and precisely analyzed from the image in order to specify the external disturbance. The maximum frequency analyzable by the scanning charged particle microscope can also be increased up to several kHz, which is the rotation frequency of, for example, a turbo-molecular pump commonly used as an exhaust pump of the scanning charged particle microscope. In an FFT analysis of a stripe pattern which is an impairment of the scanning image, the scanning charged particle microscope performs a one-dimensional FFT (1D-FFT) in the Y-direction (sub-deflection direction of the charged particle beam) or a one-dimensional DFT (1D-DFT) in the X-direction (main deflection direction of the charged particle beam).

Abstract: An electron microscope according to the present invention includes a phase plate (510) having a thickness which changes in a radial direction, and adjusts a phase difference caused by a difference in electron beam path due to an effect of a spherical aberration when an electron beam is converged by a lens or an image of the electron beam is formed. Accordingly, the phase difference caused by the difference in electron beam path is adjusted, to thereby improve the coherence, so that a phase contrast image of transmitted electrons can be obtained at a higher resolution.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the acquisition of tilted series images of a minute sample in a short time. The present invention relates to: measuring in advance the relation between an amount of focus shift and a degree of coincidence at the time of acquiring tilted series images; calculating backwards a focus shift from the degree of coincidence on the basis of this relation; correcting the focus shift by controlling a stage, an objective lens, and the like; and thus acquiring the tilted series images. In addition, the present invention relates to: acquiring a reference image in advance at the time of photographing the tilted series images; obtaining the correlation between an acquired image and the reference image; and performing, if the degree of coincidence is equal to or smaller than a set value, processing such as the transmission of a warning message and the stop of an image acquisition sequence.