Photo-electrical evolution defect inspection

A scanning electron microscope, comprising:

• a primary electron source configured to generate a primary electron beam to be scanned across a region of a sample a plurality of times, the region including a first location;
• a laser configured to irradiate the first location with light from the laser;
• and
• a controller configured to adjust a parameter of the laser between the plurality of times so that energy or frequency of light irradiating the first location differs between the plurality of times.

A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a set of instructions that is executable by at least one processor of a charged particle beam system to cause the charged particle beam system to perform operations for detecting defects on a sample, the operations comprising:

• sending a first signal to cause a charged particle beam to be incident on a region of the sample to enable the sample to be inspected;
• sending a second signal to cause the region of the sample to be irradiated with a secondary source;
• generating a first defect distribution at a first value of a parameter of an output of the secondary source;
• and
• generating a second defect distribution at a second value of the parameter.

A method of detecting defects, comprising:

• inspecting a sample using a charged particle beam incident on a region of the sample;
• irradiating the region of the sample with a secondary source;
• generating a first defect distribution at a first value of a parameter of an output of the secondary source;
• and
• generating a second defect distribution at a second value of the parameter.