Abstract: A charged particle beam apparatus has a charged particle beam column configured to irradiate a charged particle beam, and a controller configured to control the charged particle beam column to irradiate the charged particle beam at a first pixel interval for a first region and to irradiate the charged particle beam at a second pixel interval different from the first pixel interval for a second region included in the first region. The first and second regions include plural first and second pixels each including first and second sub-pixels which are irradiated by the charged particle beam to generate secondary electrons. First and second sub-pixel images are formed based on the detected secondary electrons, and the first and second sub-pixel images are synthesized to form first and second images.

Abstract: A charged particle beam apparatus is provided with: a charged particle beam column configured to irradiate a charged particle beam; and a controller configured to control the charged particle beam column to irradiate the charged particle beam at a first pixel interval for a first region and to irradiate the charged particle beam at a second pixel interval different from the first pixel interval for a second region included in the first region.

Abstract: A computer sets a process area based on an image obtained by observing a mask, and determines the positions of representative points that form a contour of the process area for each pixel with sub-pixel accuracy that is better than a pixel, the position of each of the representative points being able to be set to either the center position of the pixel or a position displaced therefrom. Furthermore, for the pixels within the process area, the computer sets the center positions of the pixels as the representative points and corrects the positions of the representative points of the pixels within the process area on a sub-pixel basis such that nonuniformity between the representative points is reduced.

Abstract: After a scan area for observing or processing a mask is set, a computer of the charged particle beam apparatus determines a plurality of scan lines in the scan area by the following steps of: setting a scan line along the outer circumference of the scan area; determining a scan line inside and along the thus set scan line; determining a scan line inside and along the thus determined scan line; and repeating the step of determining a scan line. After the scan lines are determined, the computer controls a scanning circuit to apply an ion beam to the scan lines while thinning out scan lines and/or pixels.

Abstract: After a scan area for observing or processing a mask is set, a computer of the charged particle beam apparatus determines a plurality of scan lines in the scan area by the following steps of: setting a scan line along the outer circumference of the scan area; determining a scan line inside and along the thus set scan line; determining a scan line inside and along the thus determined scan line; and repeating the step of determining a scan line. After the scan lines are determined, the computer controls a scanning circuit to apply an ion beam to the scan lines while thinning out scan lines and/or pixels.

Abstract: A reference area that contains a straight contour of a workpiece pattern is irradiated with a beam at a fixed interval to form images. The positions of the contour line in the images before and after a certain time of image formation are compared with each other and the amount of displacement between the positions is calculated. When the workpiece is processed, the beam is applied to the process position corrected by the amount of displacement.

Abstract: A computer sets a process area based on an image obtained by observing a mask, and determines the positions of representative points that form a contour of the process area for each pixel with sub-pixel accuracy that is better than a pixel, the position of each of the representative points being able to be set to either the center position of the pixel or a position displaced therefrom. Furthermore, for the pixels within the process area, the computer sets the center positions of the pixels as the representative points and corrects the positions of the representative points of the pixels within the process area on a sub-pixel basis such that nonuniformity between the representative points is reduced.

Abstract: A network system has a first LAN, a second LAN, and a storage device for storing data accessible from the first LAN and the second LAN. A control apparatus controls accessibility of the data stored in the storage device from the first LAN and the second LAN. The control apparatus includes an access prevention device for preventing access from the first LAN to the second LAN and from the second LAN to the first LAN and a device for overriding a setting of the access prevention device to allow accessibility of the second LAN from the first LAN.