Multibeamlet charged particle device and method

A method of operating a multibeamlet charged particle device, comprising:

• forming a plurality of charged particle beams, including a first beam;
• forming a plurality of beamlets from each charged particle beam, including a first group of beamlets formed from the first beam;
• and
• while translating a movable stage in a translation direction during a first exposure duration,
• setting each element of a blanking circuit, each element being reconfigurable, to form a reconfigurable passing-subset and a reconfigurable blocking-subset of the elements,
• scanning a first subgroup of the first group of beamlets in the translation direction, and
• irradiating a plurality of first regions of a target on the movable stage with the first subgroup of beamlets,
• wherein after an Mth iteration of irradiating the target, reconfiguring each of the passing-subset and the blocking-subset before an Nth iteration of irradiating the target.

A multibeamlet charged particle device, comprising:

• a movable stage for translating a target in a translation direction;
• a charged particle source;
• a plurality of apertures configured to pass a plurality of beamlets of charged particles;
• a blanking circuit which includes a plurality of elements which are reconfigurable, each element having a passing-state and a blocking-state, the blanking circuit configured to pass a reconfigurable plurality of selected beamlets of the plurality of beamlets of charged particles;
• a scanner operable such that each of the plurality of selected beamlets is scanned parallel to the translation direction;
• a projection lens configured to project the plurality of selected beamlets onto the target;
• and
• a controller configured to direct each step of selecting beamlets, initializing beamlets, and exposing the target;
• wherein
• the controller is configured
• in the step of initializing beamlets, to communicate to the scanner to point the beamlets in an initial direction;
• the controller further configured,
• in the step of selecting beamlets, to communicate to each element of the blanking circuit to be in a passing-state or a blocking-state, such as to form a reconfigurable passing-subset and a reconfigurable blocking-subset of the elements, such that the plurality of selected beamlets are passed and the remainder of the plurality of beamlets are blocked;
• and,
• the controller further configured,
• in the step of exposing the target, to communicate to the scanner to scan the plurality of selected beamlets in the translation direction, from the initial direction to a final direction;
• and
• before each step of exposing the target, to initialize beamlets and to configure the blanking circuit;
• and
• the controller is further configured to synchronize the scanner and movable stage such that in the step of exposing the target, a plurality of focal spots of the plurality of selected beamlets on the target are stationary relative to the target;
• and wherein
• the plurality of apertures is configured to pass the plurality of beamlets, the apertures arranged in rows and/or columns, each row and/or column being nonparallel to the translation direction, each aperture configured to pass a respective beamlet of the plurality of beamlets toward the blanking circuit, and wherein after an Mth iteration of exposing the target, the step of selecting beamlets reconfigures each of the passing-subset and the blocking-subset before an Nth iteration of exposing the target.