Method and apparatus for X-ray analyses

A method for inspecting opening states of a plurality of fine holes with identical structures formed on the surface of a sample, said method comprising the steps of:

• irradiating a finely converged electron beam into a standard fine hole, one of said fine holes subjected to inspection using said method that has been verified to have a good opening state in advance, observing an X-ray emitted from the inside of said standard fine hole due to the irradiation of said electron beam in order to carry out an element analysis of a residue substance existing at the opening bottom of said standard fine hole and storing standard analysis data resulting from said element analysis into a memory;
• irradiating a finely converged electron beam into a first fine hole of said fine holes, observing an X-ray emitted from the inside of said first fine hole due to the irradiation of said electron beam in order to carry out an element analysis of a residue substance existing at the opening bottom of said first fine hole and storing first analysis data resulting from said element analysis into said memory;
• and
• reading out said first analysis data of said first fine hole and said standard analysis data of said standard fine hole from said memory, comparing said first analysis data with said standard analysis data, forming a judgment as to whether or not a difference between said first analysis data and said standard analysis data is smaller than a threshold value and using an outcome of said judgment to determine the opening state of said first fine hole,
• only said X-rays emitted from the insides of said first and standard fine holes within the angular range -.theta. to +.theta. are observed, where notation .theta. is an angle formed by said X-ray and the center axis of the irradiated electron beam and so defined that tan .theta. is substantially equal to a/d whereas notations a and d are the radius and the depth of each of said first and standard fine holes respectively.

A method for inspecting opening states of a plurality of fine holes with identical structures formed on the surface of a sample, said method comprising the steps of:

• (1) irradiating a finely converged electron beam into a first fine hole of said fine holes, observing an X-ray emitted from the inside of said first fine hole due to the irradiation of said electron beam in order to carry out an element analysis of a residue substance existing at the opening bottom of said first fine hole and storing first analysis data resulting from said element analysis into a memory:
• (2) irradiating a finely converged electron beam into a second fine hole of said fine holes, observing an X-ray emitted from the inside of said second fine hole due to the irradiation of said electron beam in order to carry out an element analysis of a residue substance existing at the opening bottom of said second fine hole and storing second analysis data resulting from said element analysis into said memory;
• and
• (3) reading out said first analysis data of said first fine hole and said second analysis data of said second fine hole from said memory, comparing said first analysis data with said second analysis data, forming a judgment as to whether or not a difference between said first analysis data and said second analysis data is smaller than a threshold value and using an outcome of said judgment to determine the opening states of said first and second fine holes,
• only said X-rays emitted from the insides of said first and second fine holes within the angular range -20 degrees to +20 degrees from the center axis of the irradiated electron beam are observed.

A method for inspecting opening states of a plurality of fine holes with identical structures formed on the surface of a sample, said method comprising the steps of:

• irradiating a finely converged electron beam into a standard fine hole, one of said fine holes subjected to inspection using said method that has been verified to have a good opening state in advance, observing an X-ray emitted from the inside of said standard fine hole due to the irradiation of said electron beam in order to carry out an element analysis of a residue substance existing at the opening bottom of said standard fine hole and storing standard analysis data resulting from said element analysis into a memory;
• irradiating a finely converged electron beam into a first fine hole of said fine holes, observing an X-ray emitted from the inside of said first fine hole due to the irradiation of said electron beam in order to carry out an element analysis of a residue substance existing at the opening bottom of said first fine hole and storing first analysis data resulting from said element analysis into said memory;
• and
• reading out said first analysis data of said first fine hole and said standard analysis data of said standard fine hole from said memory, comparing said first analysis data with said standard analysis data, forming a judgment as to whether or not a difference between said first analysis data and said standard analysis data is smaller than a threshold value and using an outcome of said judgment to determine the opening state of said first fine hole,
• only said X-rays emitted from said insides of said first and standard fine holes within the angular range -20 degrees to +20 degrees from the center axis of the irradiated electron beam are observed.

An apparatus for inspecting opening states of a plurality of fine holes with identical structures formed on the surface of a sample, said apparatus comprising:

• an electron-beam irradiating means for irradiating a finely converged electron beam into each of said fine holes;
• an X-ray observing means for observing an X-ray emitted from the inside of said fine hole due to the irradiation of said electron beam;
• an analysis means for carrying out an element analysis of a residue substance existing at the opening bottom of said fine hole on the basis of results of observing said X-ray;
• a storage means for storing analysis data resulting from said element analysis;
• and
• a processing means for reading out pieces of analysis data of said fine holes from said storage means, comparing said pieces of analysis data with each other,
• only said X-rays emitted from the inside of said fine hole within the angular range -.theta. to +.theta. are observed where notation .theta. is an angle formed by said X-ray and the center axis of the irradiated electron beam and so defined that tan .theta. is substantially equal to a/d whereas notations a and d are the radius and the depth of said fine hole respectively.

An apparatus for inspecting opening states of a plurality of fine holes with identical structures formed on the surface of a sample, said apparatus comprising:

• an electron-beam irradiating means for irradiating a finely converged electron beam into each of said fine holes;
• an X-ray observing means for observing an X-ray emitted from the inside of said fine hole due to the irradiation of said electron beam;
• an analysis means for carrying out an element analysis of a residue substance existing at the opening bottom of said fine hole on the basis of results of observing said X-ray;
• a storage means for storing analysis data resulting from said element analysis;
• and
• a processing means for reading out pieces of analysis data of said fine holes from said storage means, comparing said pieces of analysis data with each other,
• only said X-rays emitted from the insides of said fine hole within the angular range -20 degrees to +20 degrees from the center axis of the irradiated electron beam are observed.