Electrical impedance measurement using an electron beam

A method for evaluating an impedance related value of a structure of a sample, the method comprising:

• performing, by an imager, a first illumination iteration that comprises charging the structure, using an electron beam, with an illumination iteration charge;
• wherein the structure is three dimensional and of microscopic scale;
• performing, by the imager, a second illumination iteration that comprises imaging the structure, using the electron beam, to provide an image of the structure;
• wherein there is a time difference between the first illumination iteration and the second illumination iteration;
• wherein a value of the illumination iteration charge and a value of the time difference between the first illumination iteration and the second illumination iteration are determined to introduce a dependency between an impedance of the structure and the image of the structure;
• and
• determining, by an impedance circuit, the impedance related value of the structure based on the image of the structure, wherein the impedance related value of the structure is selected out of three or more different impedance related values.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for evaluating an impedance related value of a structure of a sample, the non-transitory computer readable medium stores instructions that once executed by a charged particle system, cause the charged particle system to:

• perform, by an imager of the charged particle system, a first illumination iteration that comprises charging the structure, using an electron beam, with an illumination iteration charge;
• wherein the structure is three dimensional and of microscopic scale;
• perform, by the imager, a second illumination iteration that comprises imaging the structure, using the electron beam, to provide an image of the structure;
• wherein there is a time difference between the first illumination iteration and the second illumination iteration;
• wherein a value of the illumination iteration charge and a value of the time difference between the first illumination iteration and the second illumination iteration are determined to introduce a dependency between an impedance of the structure and the image of the structure;
• and
• determining, by an impedance circuit of the charged particle system, the impedance related value of the structure based on the image of the structure, wherein the impedance related value of the structure is selected out of three or more different impedance related values.