Method and System for Reducing Charging Artifacts in Scanning Electron Microscopy Images

A scanning electron microscopy apparatus comprising:

• a scanning electron microscopy sub-system configured to acquire a plurality of images from a sample, wherein the plurality of images includes at least one set of complimentary images including a first image acquired along a first scan direction and at least a second image acquired along a second scan direction opposite to the first scan direction, wherein at least one of the first image or the at least the second image include one or more charging artifacts;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled to one or more portions of the scanning electron microscopy sub-system, the controller including one or more processors configured to execute program instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:
• receive the plurality of images of the sample from the scanning electron microscopy sub-system;
• and
• generate a composite image by combining the at least one complimentary set of images including the first image acquired along the first scan direction and the at least the second image acquired along the second scan direction opposite to the first scan direction, wherein an intensity of one or more charging artifacts in the composite image is less than an intensity of one or more charging artifacts in at least one of the first image or the at least the second image.