Abstract: A focused charged particle beam apparatus including an aberration corrector, capable of finding the absolute value of the aberration coefficient at high speed, and capable of making high-accuracy adjustments at high speed. A deflection coil tilts the input beam relative to the object point, and measures the defocus data and aberration quantity at high speed while the beam is tilted from one image, and perform least squares fitting on these results to find the absolute value of the aberration coefficient prior to tilting the beam, and to adjust the aberration corrector.

Abstract: A charged particle beam apparatus having an aberration correction capability at high acceleration voltages. The charged particle beam apparatus comprises a charged particle beam source; an extraction electrode to extract charged particles from the charged particle beam source; a charged particle beam gun including a means for converging a charged particle beam; an acceleration means for accelerating a charged particle beam emitted from the charged particle beam gun; and an aberration correction means disposed between the charged particle beam gun and the acceleration means, in which an aberration enough to cancel out an aberration of a charged particle beam on the specimen surface is provided to an extraction electrical potential or an equivalent beam at the initial acceleration stage.

Abstract: A scanning electron microscope includes an electron gun to generate an electron beam, and an electron optical system directing the electron beam to a specimen. The electron optical system includes an objective lens that converges the electron beam to a surface of the specimen, an aberration corrector disposed between the electron gun and the objective lens so as to at least compensate for aberration caused by the objective lens, and a tilter which tilts electron beam to be incident into the aberration corrector. The aberration corrector further compensates for aberration caused by the tilter.

Abstract: A charged particle beam apparatus having an aberration correction capability at high acceleration voltages. The charged particle beam apparatus comprises a charged particle beam source; an extraction electrode to extract charged particles from the charged particle beam source; a charged particle beam gun including a means for converging a charged particle beam; an acceleration means for accelerating a charged particle beam emitted from the charged particle beam gun; and an aberration correction means disposed between the charged particle beam gun and the acceleration means, in which an aberration enough to cancel out an aberration of a charged particle beam on the specimen surface is provided to an extraction electrical potential or an equivalent beam at the initial acceleration stage.

Abstract: A scanning charged particle microscope which facilitates adjustment, has a deep focal depth, and is provided with an aberration correction means. The state of aberration correction is judged from a SEM image by using a stop having plural openings and the judgment result is fed back to the adjustment of the aberration correction means. A stop of a nearly orbicular zone shape is used in combination with the aberration correction means.

Abstract: The present invention provides an aberration corrector giving excellent assembly accuracy but having fewer parts and fewer adjustment locations in number. In order to achieve it, a multistage multipole is formed by arranging plural combinations of electrodes around an optical axis using alignment blocks, each combination of electrodes being made by brazing-integrating plural electrodes with a ceramic material interposed therebetween.

Abstract: A charged particle beam apparatus includes: a correction image acquisition part 52 for making a detector 20 acquire items of two-dimensional image data at different focal positions; a directional differentiation operation part 53 for obtaining directional derivative values in a plurality of directions for each of the items of two-dimensional image data at different focal positions; an aberration parameter calculation part 54 for obtaining aberration parameters according to previously determined methods by using the directional derivative values in a plurality of directions for each of the items of two-dimensional image data; an aberration correction value calculation part 55 for obtaining correction values for aberrations by using the aberration parameters; and a control part 56 for setting the correction values in a correction optical system control means to make an aberration corrector 16 correct the aberrations.

Abstract: The present invention provides a stable charged particle beam apparatus to enable high-resolution observation by reducing the influence of the noise of a large number of power supplies used in an aberration corrector. The charged particle beam apparatus that has: an SEM column for irradiating an electron beam onto a specimen and making the electron beam scan it; a specimen chamber for housing a specimen stage on which the specimen is placed and held; a detector for detecting secondary electrons generated by the scanning of the electron beam; display means for displaying an output signal of the detector as an SEM image; and a control unit for controlling component parts including the SEM column, the specimen chamber, and the display means.

Abstract: A scanning electron microscope includes an electron gun to generate an electron beam, and an electron optical system directing the electron beam to a specimen. The electron optical system includes an objective lens that converges the electron beam to a surface of the specimen, an aberration corrector disposed between the electron gun and the objective lens so as to at least compensate for aberration caused by the objective lens, and a tilter which tilts electron beam to be incident into the aberration corrector. The aberration corrector further compensates for aberration caused by the tilter.

Abstract: When an accelerating voltage and operating distance are changed, an excitation current and a pole voltage of an aberration corrector must also be changed. Moreover, different multipole voltages or currents must be added individually for each pole in order to superpose multipoles.

Abstract: The present invention provides a charged particle beam column that does not cause displacement of an image or degradation of a resolution of images when a charged particle beam is tilted at a large angle. In the charged particle beam column including an aberration corrector, a deflector is used to control the direction of incidence of the charged particle beam on a second condenser lens but the object point of a condenser lens is not shifted. Consequently, the converging charged particle beam is tilted at a large angle with respect to the surface of a specimen without the necessity of shifting the object point of an objective lens lying on the optical axis of the charged particle beam column. At this time, the aberration corrector prevents a shift of an image or degradation of a resolution derived from the tilt of the charged particle beam.

Abstract: A scanning charged particle microscope which facilitates adjustment, has a deep focal depth, and is provided with an aberration correction means. The state of aberration correction is judged from a SEM image by using a stop having plural openings and the judgment result is fed back to the adjustment of the aberration correction means. A stop of a nearly orbicular zone shape is used in combination with the aberration correction means.

Abstract: A charged particle beam apparatus having an aberration correction capability at high acceleration voltages. The charged particle beam apparatus comprises a charged particle beam source; an extraction electrode to extract charged particles from the charged particle beam source; a charged particle beam gun including a means for converging a charged particle beam; an acceleration means for accelerating a charged particle beam emitted from the charged particle beam gun; and an aberration correction means disposed between the charged particle beam gun and the acceleration means, in which an aberration enough to cancel out an aberration of a charged particle beam on the specimen surface is provided to an extraction electrical potential or an equivalent beam at the initial acceleration stage.

Abstract: The present invention provides a charged particle beam column that does not cause displacement of an image or degradation of a resolution of images when a charged particle beam is tilted at a large angle. In the charged particle beam column including an aberration corrector, a deflector is used to control the direction of incidence of the charged particle beam on a second condenser lens but the object point of a condenser lens is not shifted. Consequently, the converging charged particle beam is tilted at a large angle with respect to the surface of a specimen without the necessity of shifting the object point of an objective lens lying on the optical axis of the charged particle beam column. At this time, the aberration corrector prevents a shift of an image or degradation of a resolution derived from the tilt of the charged particle beam.

Abstract: The present invention solves a problem that a power controller be large in a refrigerating system, and provides a compact-size as well as an inexpensive power controller. Highly heat-dissipating first board 1 including an inverter circuit mounted thereon and second board including a control circuit mounted thereon are placed in parallel with each other and accommodated by case 9. Case 9 has slits through which heat sink 2 and connector 6 can extend outside case 9, and further has fixing section 11 for fixing case 9 to a compressor. This structure allows the power controller to dissipate heat in an optimum manner and to be downsized, and also allows the compressor to integrate the controller thereinto. A capacity that the controller occupies in the refrigerating system can be substantially reduced.