Particle beam system

A particle beam system, comprising:

• a particle source configured to generate a first beam of charged particles;
• a first multi-aperture plate having a multiplicity of first openings, the first multi-aperture plate being arranged so that a first portion of the charged particles in the first beam strike the first multi-aperture plate and a second portion of the charged particles in the first beam pass through the first openings to provide a plurality of second beams of charged particles downstream of the first multi-aperture plate, each second beam having a cross section defined by a cross section of a respective first opening through which the second beam passed;
• a second multi-aperture plate having a multiplicity of second openings, the second multi-aperture plate being arranged so that each second beam passes through a respective second opening;
• an aperture plate arranged at a distance from the second multi-aperture plate, the aperture plate having an opening configured so that each second beam passes through the opening in the aperture plate;
• a third multi-aperture plate having a multiplicity of third openings, the third multi-aperture plate being arranged so that each second beam passes through a respective third opening;
• a multiplicity of field generators supported by the third multi-aperture plate, each field generator being assigned to a respective third opening, each field generator being configured to provide a field which acts on the second beam passing through its respective third opening, each field comprising a field selected from the group consisting of a dipole field and a quadrupole field;
• and
• a controller configured to provide a first electric potential to the aperture plate and a second electric potential to the second multi-aperture plate, the first and second electric potentials being configured so that the second openings act as a lens on the charged particles in the second beams, and the controller being configured to provide adjustable excitations to the field generators,
• wherein:
• for each field generator and excitations to be fed to the field generator, the field generator and the excitations are configured so that:
• an intensity of the field is adjustable in a circumferential direction around the respective third opening;
• and an orientation of the field adjustable in the circumferential direction around the respective third opening;
• for each second beam, a diameter of the second opening through which the second beam passes is at least 1.05 times larger than a diameter of the first opening through which the second beam passes;
• for each second beam, a diameter of the third opening through which the second beam passes is at least 1.05 times larger than the diameter of the first opening through which the second beam passes;
• the third multi-aperture plate is upstream of the second multi-aperture plate along a path of the second beams;
• the first multi-aperture plate is upstream of the third multi-aperture plate along the path of the second beams;
• the aperture plate is downstream of the second multi-aperture plate along the path of the second beams;
• a distance between the first multi-aperture plate and the third multi-aperture plate along the path of the second beams is from 0.1 to 10.0 times a diameter of the openings of the first multi-aperture plate;
• and
• a distance between the third multi-aperture plate and the second multi-aperture plate along the path of the second beams is from 0.1 to 10.0 times the diameter of the openings of the first multi-aperture plate.