US 10,520,454 B2Granted

Innovative X-ray source for use in tomographic imaging

AssigneeFEI Company

InventorsPetr Strelec, Ondrej Shanel

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Abstract

A method, target, and apparatus are disclosed for investigating a specimen using X-ray tomography. The specimen in mounted on a specimen holder. An X-ray target has a substrate of relatively low-atomic-number material carrying an array of mutually isolated nuggets of a relatively high-atomic number material. X-rays are generated by irradiating a single nugget in the target with a charged particle beam, which then illuminates the specimen along a first line of sight through the specimen. A flux of X-rays transmitted through the specimen is detected to form a first image. The illumination process is repeated for a series of different lines of sight through the specimen, to produce a series of images. A mathematical reconstruction on the series of images is then performed to produce a tomogram of at least part of the specimen.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method of investigating a specimen using X-ray tomography, comprising:

(a) mounting the specimen to a specimen holder;
(b) providing an X-ray source, in which X-rays are generated by irradiating a target with a charged particle beam;
(c) using said X-ray source to illuminate the specimen with a beam of X-rays along a first line of sight through the specimen, detecting a flux of X-rays transmitted through the specimen and forming a first image therewith;
(d) repeating step (c) for a series of different lines of sight through the specimen, thereby producing a corresponding series of images;
(e) performing a mathematical reconstruction on said series of images, so as produce a tomogram of at least part of the specimen;
(f) configuring said target to comprise a substrate of relatively low-atomic-number material that carries an array of mutually isolated nuggets of a relatively high-atomic-number material, wherein a surface of said substrate is provided with a thermally conductive coating, except at a number of uncoated surfacial islands located on nodes of said array, and each of said nuggets is disposed within a perimeter of a corresponding one of said islands;
(g) selecting a particular one of said nuggets;
and
(h) performing step (c) by focusing said charged particle beam onto said selected nugget, without concurrently impinging upon another nugget.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.