Abstract: A corrector (10) for an electron microscope is proposed which is less sensitive to fluctuations of the electrical power supply if a stigmatic intermediate image (9) of the axial fundamental rays (x?, y?) is produced in the quadrupole field (1?) of a first quadrupole element (1) and this quadrupole field (1?) is set such that astigmatic intermediate images (12, 13) of the off-axial fundamental rays (x?, y?) are produced in the region of the center of the quadrupole fields (3?, 4?) of a third (3) and fourth multipole element (4) and there also, due to the setting of the quadrupole field (2?) of a second quadrupole element (2), the axial fundamental rays (x?, y?) of the same section (x, y) as that, in which the intermediate images (12, 13) of the off-axial fundamental rays (x?, y?) are located, each exhibit a maximum.

Abstract: The invention concerns a corrector (9) for chromatic and aperture aberration correction in an electron microscope with six multipoles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) which are disposed in the optical path (7) one after the other symmetrically with respect to a symmetry plane (8) for generating quadrupole fields (1?, 2?, 3?, 4?, 5?, 6?) and octupole fields, wherein the quadrupole fields (1?, 2?, 3?, 4?, 5?, 6?) of all six multipoles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) are consecutively rotated through 90° with respect to one another, thereby generating a mirror-symmetrical exchange symmetry of the axial fundamental rays (x?, y?).

Abstract: The invention concerns a corrector (9) for chromatic and aperture aberration correction in an electron microscope with six multipoles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) which are disposed in the optical path (7) one after the other symmetrically with respect to a symmetry plane (8) for generating quadrupole fields (1?, 2?, 3?, 4?, 5?, 6?) and octupole fields, wherein the quadrupole fields (1?, 2?, 3?, 4?, 5?, 6?) of all six multipoles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) are consecutively rotated through 90° with respect to one another, thereby generating a mirror-symmetrical exchange symmetry of the axial fundamental rays (x?, y?).

Abstract: A corrector (10) for an electron microscope is proposed which is less sensitive to fluctuations of the electrical power supply if a stigmatic intermediate image (9) of the axial fundamental rays (x?, y?) is produced in the quadrupole field (1?) of a first quadrupole element (1) and this quadrupole field (1?) is set such that astigmatic intermediate images (12, 13) of the off-axial fundamental rays (x?, y?) are produced in the region of the center of the quadrupole fields (3?, 4?) of a third (3) and fourth multipole element (4) and there also, due to the setting of the quadrupole field (2?) of a second quadrupole element (2), the axial fundamental rays (x?, y?) of the same section (x, y) as that, in which the intermediate images (12, 13) of the off-axial fundamental rays (x?, y?) are located, each exhibit a maximum.

Abstract: According to the invention, the image contrast in electron optics can be improved without causing aberrations that are no longer tolerable by using, for production and correction of the at least one anamorphic image, quadrupole fields before and after this image whose extent in the direction of the optical axis is equal to at least twice their focal length, and wherein at least one of the axial rays, by an appropriate choice of the magnification M of the intermediate image, enters the quadrupole field before the at least one anamorphic image at a slope 1/M such that a length of the anamorphic image is achieved at which any aberrations caused are still within a tolerable range. The invention also relates to devices for implementing this method.

Abstract: The invention concerns a phase plate for electron optical imaging, wherein the zero beam (4) is phase-shifted in order to obtain an image with optimum contrast through interference with the diffracted electron beams (5, 5?). The shading of diffracted electron beams (5, 5?) is kept to a minimum and shading that cannot be reconstructed from the obtained image data is prevented. This is achieved in that the electrode (1?) is designed as a shielded conductor (7), which is disposed to extend from a mounting (8) in a substantially radial direction towards the area of the zero beam (4), wherein the shielded conductor (7) has an end (9) in front of the area of the zero beam (4) such that a field (6) is formed between the conductor (7) and the shielding (10) surrounding it, which overlaps this area. The invention also concerns an imaging method for complete reconstruction of the image and an electron microscope (12) which is provided with the phase plate (1).

Abstract: A corrector (1) for the axial and off-axial beam path of a particle-optical system, comprises a first (10) and a second (20) correction piece, which are disposed one behind the other in the beam path (2) on an optical axis (3).

Abstract: Multipole coils (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) for influencing particle beams have at least two coils (1, 2) which concentrically enclose an imaginary axis (10), wherein a winding (7) made from a flexible circuit board (8) is formed by means of conducting paths (9) disposed thereon for each coil (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and the circuit boards (8) are rolled into at least one circuit board layer (11, 12, 13, 14). Multipole coils of this kind (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) are utilized for aberration correction in particle optics, wherein the windings (7) of the multipole coils (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) form windows (16) whose width in the peripheral direction is chosen in such a fashion that no secondary interfering fields occur and whose length in the axial direction corresponds at least to its width.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for producing image contrast by phase shifting in the electron optics, wherein, from an intermediate image (5), an anamorphic image (6, 6?) of the axial rays (x?, y?) is produced by quadrupole fields (Q1?, Q2?, Q3?; Q11?, Q12?, Q13?) with simultaneous passage through zero of the field rays (x?, y?) in at least one diffraction intermediate image plane (8, 8?), where a relative phase shift between a region (14) around the electron beam of zeroth order of diffraction (13) and the electron beams of higher orders of diffraction (15) is caused by a magnetic or electric field (9, 9?), and thereafter the at least one anamorphosis of the beam path produced is corrected again by further quadrupole fields (Q4?, Q5?; Q13?, Q14?, Q15?).

Abstract: The invention concerns a corrector (10) for chromatic and aperture aberration correction in a scanning electron microscope or a scanning transmission electron microscope, comprising four multipole elements (1, 2, 3, 4) which are consecutively disposed in the optical path (9), the first (1) and fourth (4) of which are used to generate quadrupole fields (5, 6) and the second (2) and third (3) of which are used to generate octupole fields (11, 12) and quadrupole fields (7, 7?, 8, 8?), wherein the latter are superposed magnetic (7, 8) and electric (7?, 8?) fields, and wherein the quadrupole fields (5, 6, 7, 8) of all four multipole elements (1, 2, 3, 4) are successively rotated with respect to one another through 90°.

Abstract: The invention concerns a phase plate for electron optical imaging, wherein the zero beam (4) is phase-shifted in order to obtain an image with optimum contrast through interference with the diffracted electron beams (5, 5?). The shading of diffracted electron beams (5, 5?) is kept to a minimum and shading that cannot be reconstructed from the obtained image data is prevented. This is achieved in that the electrode (1?) is designed as a shielded conductor (7), which is disposed to extend from a mounting (8) in a substantially radial direction towards the area of the zero beam (4), wherein the shielded conductor (7) has an end (9) in front of the area of the zero beam (4) such that a field (6) is formed between the conductor (7) and the shielding (10) surrounding it, which overlaps this area. The invention also concerns an imaging method for complete reconstruction of the image and an electron microscope (12) which is provided with the phase plate (1).

Abstract: A corrector (1) for the axial and off-axial beam path of a particle-optical system, comprises a first (10) and a second (20) correction piece, which are disposed one behind the other in the beam path (2) on an optical axis (3).

Abstract: The invention concerns a corrector (10) for chromatic and aperture aberration correction in a scanning electron microscope or a scanning transmission electron microscope, comprising four multipole elements (1, 2, 3, 4) which are consecutively disposed in the optical path (9), the first (1) and fourth (4) of which are used to generate quadrupole fields (5, 6) and the second (2) and third (3) of which are used to generate octupole fields (11, 12) and quadrupole fields (7, 7?, 8, 8?), wherein the latter are superposed magnetic (7, 8) and electric (7?, 8?) fields, and wherein the quadrupole fields (5, 6, 7, 8) of all four multipole elements (1, 2, 3, 4) are successively rotated with respect to one another through 90°.

Abstract: Multipole coils (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) for influencing particle beams have at least two coils (1, 2) which concentrically enclose an imaginary axis (10), wherein a winding (7) made from a flexible circuit board (8) is formed by means of conducting paths (9) disposed thereon for each coil (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and the circuit boards (8) are rolled into at least one circuit board layer (11, 12, 13, 14). Multipole coils of this kind (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) are utilized for aberration correction in particle optics, wherein the windings (7) of the multipole coils (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) form windows (16) whose width in the peripheral direction is chosen in such a fashion that no secondary interfering fields occur and whose length in the axial direction corresponds at least to its width.

Abstract: Multipole coils (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) comprise at least two coils (1, 2) which are disposed to concentrically enclose an imaginary axis (10). Multipole coils (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of this type are designed in such a fashion that effective fields can be generated in the area of an imaginary axis (10) when little installation space is available, and the multipole coils can be reproducibly manufactured with high precision. This is achieved in that, for each coil (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), at least one winding (7) is disposed on a flexible printed circuit board (8) through disposed strip conductors (9), and the printed circuit board (8) is rolled in at least one printed circuit board layer (11, 12, 13, 14).

Abstract: There is disclosed a method and apparatus for automatically correcting a charged-particle beam with an aberration corrector without the operator performing manual operations. The apparatus has an extraction portion for extracting the profile of the beam from images of a surface of a sample, a calculation unit for calculating the amount of axial deviation of the apparatus from the position of the extracted profile of the beam, and a feedback unit for automatically applying feedback to the aberration corrector or to the objective lens according to the calculated amount of axial deviation.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method and apparatus for automatically correcting a charged-particle beam with an aberration corrector without the operator performing manual operations. The apparatus has an extraction portion for extracting the profile of the beam from images of a surface of a sample, a calculation unit for calculating the amount of axial deviation of the apparatus from the position of the extracted profile of the beam, and a feedback unit for automatically applying feedback to the aberration corrector or to the objective lens according to the calculated amount of axial deviation.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method and apparatus for automatically correcting aberrations in an electron beam by the use of a computer. An axis deviation-correcting means for correcting deviation of the axis of the beam, a focusing means for correcting defocus of the beam, a chromatic aberration-correcting means for correcting chromatic aberration in the beam, and an aperture aberration-correcting means for correcting aperture aberration in the beam are stored in the computer.

Abstract: A multipole lens producing less magnetic field variations is offered. Also, a charged-particle beam instrument fitted with such multipole lenses is offered. The multipole lens has plural polar elements, an annular holding member, and an annular yoke disposed outside the holding member. Each polar element has a held portion and a base-end portion. The held portions of the polar elements are held by the holding member. The yoke is magnetically coupled to the base-end portions of the polar elements. The yoke is provided with openings extending circumferentially. The base-end portions of the polar elements are positioned in the openings.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method and apparatus for automatically correcting aberrations in an electron beam by the use of a computer. An axis deviation-correcting means for correcting deviation of the axis of the beam, a focusing means for correcting defocus of the beam, a chromatic aberration-correcting means for correcting chromatic aberration in the beam, and an aperture aberration-correcting means for correcting aperture aberration in the beam are stored in the computer.