Charged-particle beam device for diffraction analysis

Abstract

A charged-particle beam device for charged-particle crystallography of a crystalline sample comprises a charged-particle source for generating a charged-particle beam to be radiated onto a sample and a charged-particle-optical system downstream the charged-particle source, which is configured to form in a diffraction mode a substantially parallel charged-particle beam at a predefined sample position and in an imaging mode a focused charged-particle beam having a focus at the predefined sample position. The charged-particle-optical system comprises a charged-particle zoom lens system consisting of a first magnetic lens, a second magnetic lens downstream the first magnetic lens and a third magnetic lens downstream the second magnetic lens, wherein at least the second magnetic lens, preferably each one of the first, the second and the third magnetic lens has a variable focal length. The charged-particle-optical system further comprises a single beam limiting aperture with a fixed aperture diameter arranged at a fixed position between the second magnetic lens and the third magnetic lens for limiting the diameter of the charged-particle beam at the sample position. The charged-particle-optical system is configured such that the diameter of the charged-particle beam at the sample position is in a range between 100 nanometer and 1000 nanometer, in particular between 220 nanometer and 250 nanometer, in the diffraction mode, and in a range between 10 nanometer and 200 nanometer in the imaging mode.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.