Charged particle beam inspection apparatus and inspection method using charged particle beam

An inspection method using a charged particle beam to measure a dimension of a pattern formed on a sample by use of a charged particle beam inspection apparatus, the apparatus including:

• an electron gun emitting an electron beam;
• a first condenser lens and a second condenser lens used to focus the electron beam;
• a beam control panel disposed between the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens;
• a storage to store values of excitation currents to be respectively supplied to the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens;
• and a control unit controlling the electron gun, the first condenser lens, and the second condenser lens, the method comprising the steps of:
• extracting, from the storage, the value of the excitation current to be supplied to the first condenser lens, the value of the excitation current to be supplied to the second condenser lens, and an emission time period;
• supplying the excitation currents respectively to the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens, where the excitation current to be supplied to the first condenser lens is set smaller than the excitation current supplied thereto for the measurement of the dimension of the sample to make a focal distance of the first condenser lens longer than a focal distance thereof for the measurement, and the excitation current to be supplied to the second condenser lens is set larger than the excitation current supplied thereto for the measurement to set a focal distance of the second condenser lens to be equal to a focal distance thereof for the measurement, to regulate the electron beam passing through an opening of the beam control panel so that the electron beam to be emitted onto the sample has a larger current amount than that at the measurement;
• emitting the electron beam onto the sample for the emission time period which is extracted from the storage thereby stabilizing a potential on a surface of the sample;
• and
• after the emission of the electron beam, measuring the pattern on the sample by setting the values of the excitation currents to be supplied respectively to the first condenser lens and the second condenser lens back to values for the measurement.

A charged particle beam inspection apparatus comprising:

• an electron gun emitting an electron beam;
• a first condenser lens forming, upon receipt of the electron beam emitted from the electron gun, a first focused beam which focuses at a position located a predetermined first focal distance away from the first condenser lens;
• a beam control panel forming a passed beam upon receipt of the first focused beam, the passed beam formed of a portion of the first focused beam passing through a predetermined opening formed in the beam control panel and located at a center of an optical axis;
• a second condenser lens forming, upon receipt of the passed beam, a second focused beam which focuses at a position located a predetermined second focal distance away from the second condenser lens;
• an objective lens emitting, upon receipt of the second focused beam, the second focused beam onto an irradiation target sample a predetermined third focal distance away from the objective lens;
• and
• a control unit controlling, in order to perform a stabilizing processing a potential on a surface of the sample, focusing conditions by increasing the first focal distance of the first condenser lens to be longer than that of a measurement processing of dimension of the sample, and regulating the second focal distance of the second condenser lens to be equal to a focal distance thereof for the measurement processing in a way that the passed beam passing through the opening becomes larger in such a way that the electron beam to be emitted onto the sample has a larger current amount in the stabilizing processing than that at the measurement processing.