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US 11,961,703 B2Granted
Multiple electron-beam image acquisition apparatus and multiple electron-beam image acquisition method using beam arrangement with omitted corners in a scan direction
AssigneeNuFlare Technology, Inc.
InventorChosaku Noda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A beam arrangement portion is provided to arrange multiple primary electron beams on a substrate. The beam arrangement portion arranges the multiple primary electron beams in a square lattice along a first moving direction of a stage allowing the substrate to be placed thereon and a second moving direction perpendicular to the first moving direction in a state where, when the multiple primary electron beams are viewed as a whole, beams around four corners of the square lattice are omitted.
Claims12
A multiple electron-beam image acquisition apparatus radiating multiple primary electron beams onto a substrate and acquiring an image of multiple secondary electron beams emitted from the substrate, the apparatus comprising:
- a beam arrangement portion configured to arrange the multiple primary electron beams on the substrate, wherein
- the beam arrangement portion arranges the multiple primary electron beams in a square lattice along a first moving direction of a stage allowing the substrate to be placed thereon and a second moving direction perpendicular to the first moving direction in a state where, when the multiple primary electron beams are viewed as a whole, beams around four corners of the square lattice are omitted, and
- an arrangement state of the multiple primary electron beams is a state where, when the first moving direction is defined as a column-arranged direction and the second moving direction is defined as a row-arranged direction, a sum of number of beams in a K-th row and number of beams in a (N−A+K)-th row is M, where
- M is a maximum number of columns of beams forming the multiple primary electron beams,
- N is number of rows of the beams forming the multiple primary electron beams,
- A is ½ of number of rows in which number of beams in the column-arranged direction is smaller than M, and
- K is any integer that is equal to or larger than one and is equal to or smaller than A, wherein
- the multiple electron-beam image acquisition apparatus is configured to scan an inspection region of the substrate along a plurality of stripes with the multiple primary electron beams, the stripes being obtained by virtually dividing the inspection region, the stripes extending along the first moving direction, the stripes having no gaps, being non-overlapping, and being adjacent to each other in the second moving direction,
- each of the stripes having a symmetrical shape in the second moving direction, the symmetrical shape in the second moving direction having a varying period and a varying shape in the second moving direction, the symmetrical shapes of adjacent stripes being shifted from each other in a phase, and the inspection region has a shape with no gap,
- each of the stripes includes a plurality of scanning regions aligned in the first moving direction, each scanning region included in the same stripe being adjacent to an edge of an adjacent scanning region in the same stripe, and
- the stage is moved in a continuous moving method.
8 more elements
A multiple electron-beam image acquisition method radiating multiple primary electron beams onto a substrate and acquiring an image of multiple secondary electron beams emitted from the substrate, the method comprising:
- arranging the multiple primary electron beams on the substrate in a square lattice along a first moving direction of a stage allowing the substrate to be placed thereon and a second moving direction perpendicular to the first moving direction in a state where, when the multiple primary electron beams are viewed as a whole, beams around four corners of the square lattice are omitted, wherein
- an arrangement state of the multiple primary electron beams is a state where, when the first moving direction is defined as a column-arranged direction and the second moving direction is defined as a row-arranged direction, a sum of number of beams in a K-th row and number of beams in a (N−A+K)-th row is M, where
- M is a maximum number of columns of beams forming the multiple primary electron beams,
- N is number of rows of the beams forming the multiple primary electron beams,
- A is ½ of number of rows in which number of beams in the column-arranged direction is smaller than M, and
- K is any integer that is equal to or larger than one and is equal to or smaller than A, wherein
- the multiple electron-beam image acquisition method further comprising scanning an inspection region of the substrate along a plurality of stripes with the multiple primary electron beams, the stripes being obtained by virtually dividing the inspection region, the stripes extending along the first moving direction, the stripes having no gaps, being non-overlapping, and being adjacent to each other in the second moving direction,
- each of the stripes having a symmetrical shape in the second moving direction, the symmetrical shape in the second moving direction having a varying period and a varying shape in the second moving direction, the symmetrical shapes of adjacent stripes being shifted from each other in a phase, and the inspection region has a shape with no gap,
- each of the stripes includes a plurality of scanning regions aligned in the first moving direction, each scanning region included in the same stripe being adjacent to an edge of an adjacent scanning region in the same stripe, and
- the stage is moved in a continuous moving method.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.