Automated ion-beam alignment for dual-beam instrument

An automated method performed via a computing device for providing scientific instrument support, the method comprising:

• acquiring one or more images by causing an ion-beam instrument of a dual-beam instrument to scan an ion beam across a sample and detecting, via one or more detectors of the dual-beam instrument, emission from the sample produced in response to the scan of the ion beam, the ion beam including first and second sub-beams having ions of different respective mass-to-charge ratios, each of the one or more images being acquired with a charged-particle-beam (CPB) lens of an electron-beam instrument of the dual-beam instrument operating in a respective setting;
• applying automated image processing to the one or more images to quantify an amount of spatial misalignment of the first and second sub-beams at the sample represented within each of the one or more images and selecting at least one image of the plurality of images based on the quantified amount of spatial misalignment presented with each of the one or more images;
• and
• controlling the dual-beam instrument to set the CPB lens of the electron-beam instrument to a setting based on the respective setting of the CPB lens associated with the selected at least one image of the one or more images.

A scientific instrument, comprising:

• an ion-beam instrument configured to generate an ion beam, the ion beam including first and second sub-beams having ions of different respective mass-to-charge ratios;
• an electron-beam instrument including a charged-particle-beam (CPB) lens having an adjustable setting controlling a magnetic force applied to the first and second sub-beams;
• and
• a computing device configured to:
• acquire one or more images by causing the ion-beam instrument to scan the ion beam across a sample, each of the one or more images corresponding to a respective setting of the CPB lens of the electron-beam instrument,
• apply automated image processing to the one or more images to quantify an amount of spatial misalignment of the first and second sub-beams at the sample represented within each of the one or more images and selecting at least one image of the one or more images based on the quantified amount of spatial misalignment presented with each of the one or more images, and
• control the CPB lens of the electron-beam instrument to a setting based on the amount of spatial misalignment within each of the one or more images.