Abstract: A method of detecting charged particles may include detecting beam intensity as a primary charged particle beam moves along a first direction; acquiring a secondary beam spot projection pattern as the primary charged particle beam moves along a second direction; and determining a parameter of a secondary beam spot based on the acquired secondary beam spot projection pattern. A method of compensating for beam spot changes on a detector may include acquiring a beam spot projection pattern on the detector, determining a change of the beam spot projection pattern, and adjusting a parameter of a detector cell of the detector based on the change. Another method may be provided for forming virtual apertures with respect to detector cells of a detector.

Abstract: A method of operating a secondary imaging system of a charged particle beam apparatus may include using an anti-scanning mode. Excitation of a component of the secondary imaging system may be adjusted synchronously with a primary scanning deflection unit. Together with an anti-scanning deflection unit performing anti-scanning, a component of the secondary imaging system, such as a lens, may be adjusted in step. As scanning and anti-scanning is performed, excitation parameters of the component may also be constantly updated.

Abstract: HAMR media with a magnetic recording layer having a reduced Curie temperature and methods of fabricating the HAMR media are provided. One such HAMR medium includes a substrate, a heat sink layer on the substrate, an interlayer on the heat sink layer, and a multi-layer magnetic recording layer on the interlayer. In such case, the multi-layer magnetic recording layer includes a first magnetic recording layer including an alloy selected from FePtX and CoPtX, where X is a material selected from the group consisting of Cu, Ni, and combinations thereof, a second magnetic recording layer on the first magnetic recording layer and having at least one material different from the materials of the first magnetic recording layer, and a third magnetic recording layer on the second magnetic recording layer and having at least one material different from the materials of the first magnetic recording layer.