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US 7,064,324 B2Granted
Charged particle beam apparatus
AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.
InventorTakashi Onishi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The charged particle beams is provided, which can analyze contamination of the inner wall of the system without being disassembled and supply information on appropriate maintenance timing. The contamination level of the inner wall of the system is identified by measuring the spectrum of the X-rays emitted from the inner wall due to irradiation of a charged particle beam or a recoil electron.
Claims9
A charged particle beam apparatus comprising:
- a charged particle gun for emitting a charged particle beam, a converging lens for converging the charged particle beam, a specimen stage for putting a specimen on, a deflector for deflecting the charged particle beam, wherein at least one element of charged particle generation has an inner structure irradiated by charged particles, an X-ray detector for detecting X-ray emitted from an inner structure of the charged particle beam apparatus, and a processor for analyzing the detected X-ray to determined if the detected X-ray comprises a characteristic X-ray of a contaminant.
A method for deciding a maintenance timing of a charged particle beam apparatus:
- comprising the step of:
- irradiating a charged particle beam to an inner structure of the charged particle beam apparatus;
- detecting an X-ray emitted from the inner structure;
- detecting an X-ray of a contaminant included in the detected X-ray
- judging whether the value of characteristic X-ray exceeds a predetermined value or not to determine whether or not maintenance is appropriate.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.