Multi-beam particle beam system having an electrostatic booster lens, method for operating a multi-beam particle beam system, and associated computer program product

A multi-beam particle beam system, comprising:

• a particle source configured to emit a charged particle beam;
• a multi-aperture arrangement comprising an aperture plate which comprises a multiplicity of passage openings, the multi-aperture arrangement is configured to generate a first field of a plurality of first individual charged particle beams from the charged particle beam;
• a first particle-optical unit having a first particle-optical beam path, the first particle-optical unit configured to image the first individual particle beams onto a sample surface in an object plane of the multi-beam system so that the first individual particle beams are incident on the sample surface at incidence locations which define a second field;
• a magnetic and/or electrostatic objective lens configured to have the first individual particle beams pass therethrough, a crossover region of the first particle-optical beam path of the first individual charged particle beams being disposed in a region of an upper focal plane of the objective lens;
• an electrostatic booster lens in a region of this crossover region;
• a voltage provision unit;
• and
• a controller configured to control the multi-beam particle beam system,
• wherein the controller is configured to provide a booster high voltage at the electrostatic booster lens via the voltage provision unit so that the first individual charged particle beams pass through the crossover region section-wise with a substantially increased kinetic energy to reduce aberrations due to Coulomb interaction between the individual particle beams within the crossover region.