# US 11,309,161 B2 · Charged particle beam apparatus and adjustment method for charged particle beam apparatus

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- Number: US 11,309,161 B2
- Document ID: US11309161B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/155,308
- Filed: 2021-01-22
- Published: 2021-07-29
- Granted: 2022-04-19
- Earliest claimed: 2020-01-23
- Assignees: JEOL Ltd.
- Applicants: JEOL Ltd.
- Inventors: Kazuya Yamazaki
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11309161B2

## CPC

- H01J 37/185: {Means for transferring objects between different enclosures of different pressure or atmosphere}
- H01J 37/20: Means for supporting or positioning the object or the material; Means for adjusting diaphragms or lenses associated with the support
- H01J 37/18: Vacuum locks {; Means for obtaining or maintaining the desired pressure within the vessel}
- H01J 37/244: Detectors; Associated components or circuits therefor
- H01J 37/265: {Controlling the tube; circuit arrangements adapted to a particular application not otherwise provided, e.g. bright-field-dark-field illumination}
- H01J 37/28: with scanning beams {(H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence)}
- H01J 2237/182: Obtaining or maintaining desired pressure
- H01J 2237/184: Vacuum locks
- H01J 2237/2485: Electric or electronic means
- H01J: ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS (spark-gaps H01T; electric arc lamps H05B31/00; particle accelerators H05H)

## Abstract

A charged particle apparatus includes: a specimen chamber which is maintained at vacuum and in which a specimen is disposed; a preliminary exhaust chamber that is connected to the specimen chamber via a vacuum gate valve; an exhaust device that exhausts the preliminary exhaust chamber; charged particle beam source an optical system; a detector; a transporting device that transports the specimen from the preliminary exhaust chamber to the specimen chamber; and a control unit. The control unit performs: adjustment processing in which at least one of the optical system and the detector is adjusted in a state where the specimen is housed in the preliminary exhaust chamber; and transporting processing which is performed after the adjustment processing and in which the vacuum gate valve is opened and the transporting device transports the specimen to the specimen chamber.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A charged particle beam apparatus comprising:
a specimen chamber which is maintained at vacuum and in which a specimen is disposed;
a preliminary exhaust chamber that is connected to the specimen chamber via a vacuum gate valve;
an exhaust device that exhausts the preliminary exhaust chamber;
a charged particle beam source;
an optical system;
a detector;
a transporting device that transports the specimen from the preliminary exhaust chamber to the specimen chamber; and
a control unit that controls the exhaust device, the optical system, the detector and the transporting device, wherein
the control unit performs:
adjustment processing in which at least one of the optical system and the detector is adjusted in a state where the specimen is housed in the preliminary exhaust chamber; and
transporting processing which is performed after the adjustment processing and in which the vacuum gate valve is opened and the transporting device transports the specimen to the specimen chamber,
wherein the control unit performs preliminary exhaust processing in which the exhaust device preliminarily exhausts the preliminary exhaust chamber, and
the preliminary exhaust processing and the adjustment processing are performed in parallel, and
wherein a charged particle beam emitted from the charged particle beam source is used in the adjustment processing.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the control unit starts the preliminary exhaust processing and the adjustment processing when the control unit has received an instruction to start the preliminary exhaust processing.

### Claim 3

An adjustment method for a charged particle beam apparatus, the charged particle beam apparatus comprising:
a specimen chamber which is maintained at vacuum and in which a specimen is disposed;
a preliminary exhaust chamber that is connected to the specimen chamber via a vacuum gate valve;
an exhaust device that exhausts the preliminary exhaust chamber;
a charged particle beam source;
an optical system;
a detector; and
a transporting device that transports the specimen from the preliminary exhaust chamber to the specimen chamber,
the adjustment method comprising:
a preliminary exhaust step in which the exhaust device preliminarily exhausts the preliminary exhaust chamber;
an adjustment step in which at least one of the optical system and the detector is adjusted in a state where the specimen is housed in the preliminary exhaust chamber; and
a transporting step which is performed after the adjustment step and in which the vacuum gate valve is opened and the specimen is transported to the specimen chamber,
wherein the preliminary exhaust step and the adjustment step are performed in parallel, and
wherein a charged particle beam emitted from the charged particle beam source is used in the adjustment step.