US 12,525,427 B2 · Transmission charged particle beam apparatus, and method of aligning such a transmission charged particle beam apparatus

Abstract

The invention relates to Transmission Charged Particle Beam (TCPB) apparatus comprising a sample holder, for holding a sample, a source for producing a beam of charged particles and an illuminator for directing said beam so as to irradiate the sample; The TCPB apparatus comprises an imaging system, for receiving a flux of charged particles transmitted through the sample and directing it onto a sensing device. Further, a controller is provided for controlling at least some operational aspects of the TCPB apparatus. As defined herein, the controller is arranged for receiving calibration data of said TCPB apparatus and using said calibration data for optically aligning said TCPB apparatus. Said calibration data may be obtained in a calibration session, wherein different settings for eucentric focus can be used as a measure of eucentric height, so that the TCPB apparatus can be optically aligned in absence of a sample on the sample holder.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A Transmission Charged Particle Beam (TCPB) apparatus comprising:

A sample holder, for holding a sample;
A source for producing a beam of charged particles;
An illuminator for directing said beam so as to irradiate the sample;
An imaging system, for receiving a flux of charged particles transmitted through the sample and directing it onto a sensing device;
and
A controller arranged for receiving calibration data of said TCPB apparatus using a measure for eucentric height as an input parameter and using said calibration data for optically aligning said TCPB apparatus, wherein said calibration data comprise one or more of the following:
beam shift, beam tilt, source tilt, source shift, astigmatism, and beam rotation centre, image rotation centre, and/or combinations thereof, and wherein optically aligning said TCPB apparatus comprises setting one or more parameters chosen from the group of:
beam shift, beam tilt, source tilt, source shift, image rotation centre and beam rotation centre, and/or a combination thereof.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Transmission charged particle beam apparatus, and method of aligning such a transmission charged particle beam apparatus

Life of this patent

Transmission charged particle beam apparatus, and method of aligning such a transmission charged particle beam apparatus

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims13