Particle beam system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10147582-B2
Application number	US-201715411538-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 20, 2017
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

Particle beam system comprising a particle source; a first multi-aperture plate with a multiplicity of openings downstream of which particle beams are formed; a second multi-aperture plate with a multiplicity of openings which are penetrated by the particle beams; an aperture plate with an opening which is penetrated by all the particles which also penetrate the openings in the first and the second multi-aperture plate; a third multi-aperture plate with a multiplicity of openings which are penetrated by the particle beams, and with a multiplicity of field generators which respectively provide a dipole field or quadrupole field for a beam; and a controller for feeding electric potentials to the multi-aperture plates and the aperture plate so that the second openings in the second multi-aperture plate respectively act as a lens on the particle beams 3 and feed adjustable excitations to the field generators.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A particle beam system, comprising:
a multiple particle beam source configured to generate a multiplicity of individual charged particle beams;
a first multi-aperture plate having a multiplicity of first openings, the multiplicity of first openings comprising at least one opening for each charged particle beam of the multiplicity of individual charged particle beams so that each individual charged particle beam passes through a respective first opening;
a second multi-aperture plate having a multiplicity of second openings, the second multi-aperture plate being arranged so that each individual charged particle beam of the multiplicity of individual charged particle beams passes through a respective second opening;
a multiplicity of field generators supported by the second multi-aperture plate, each field generator being assigned to a respective second opening, each field generator being configured to provide a field configured to act on the beam passing through its respective second 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 first multi-aperture plate, the first electric potential being configured so that the first openings act as a lens on the charged particles in the beams passing the first openings due to a difference in an electrical field strength provided upstream and downstream of the first multi-aperture plate, and the controller being configured to provide adjustable excitations to the field generators.

2. The particle beam system of claim 1 , further comprising an aperture plate arranged at a distance from the first multi-aperture plate, wherein the aperture plate has an opening configured so that each individual charged particle beam of the multiplicity of individual charged particle beams passes through the opening in the aperture plate, and the controller is configured to provide an electric potential to the aperture plate.

3. The particle beam system of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to provide a second electrical potential to the second multi-aperture plate, and the second electrical potential is different from the first electric potential.

4. The particle beam system of claim 2 , 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 second opening; and
an orientation of the field adjustable in the circumferential direction around the respective second opening.

5. The particle beam system of claim 2 , wherein the aperture plate is downstream of the first multi-aperture plate along the path of the multiplicity of charged particle beams.

6. The particle beam system of claim 2 , wherein the aperture plate is upstream of the first multi-aperture plate along the path of the multiplicity of charged particle beams.

7. The particle beam system of claim 2 , wherein each field generator comprises eight electrodes distributed in a circumferential direction around its respective second opening, and the adjustable excitations are adjustable voltages.

8. The particle beam system of claim 2 , wherein each field generator comprises at least eight coils distributed in a circumferential direction around its respective second opening, and the adjustable excitations are adjustable currents.

9. The particle beam system of claim 2 , further comprising an electronic circuit supported by the second multi-aperture plate or a carrier which supports the second multi-aperture plate, wherein:
the controller is configured to generate data representing excitations of the field generators and to transmit the data to the electronic circuit via a serial data link;
each one of the field generators is connected to the electronic circuit via at least eight feeders; and
the electronic circuit is configured so that, based on the data, the electronic circuit generates the excitations of each field generator and applies the excitations to the at least eight feeders by which the field generator is connected to the electronic circuit.

10. The particle beam system of claim 9 , wherein the electronic circuit comprises D/A converters and microcontrollers configured to convert the input digital data into analogue signals to generate currents and/or voltages.

11. The particle beam system of claim 2 , further comprising actuators configured to align the second multi-aperture plate relative to the first multi-aperture plate.

12. The particle beam system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to provide a second electrical potential to the second multi-aperture plate, and the second electrical potential is different from the first electric potential.

13. The particle beam system of claim 1 , 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 second opening; and

an orientation of the field adjustable in the circumferential direction around the respective second opening.

14. The particle beam system of claim 1 , wherein a diameter of the second openings is at least 1.05 times larger than a diameter of the first openings.

15. The particle beam system of claim 1 , wherein the second multi-aperture plate is upstream of the first multi-aperture plate along a path of multiplicity of charged particle beams.

16. The particle beam system of claim 1 , wherein each field generator comprises eight electrodes distributed in a circumferential direction around its respective second opening, and the adjustable excitations are adjustable voltages.

17. The particle beam system of claim 1 , wherein each field generator comprises at least eight coils distributed in a circumferential direction around its respective second opening, and the adjustable excitations are adjustable currents.

18. The particle beam system of claim 1 , further comprising an electronic circuit supported by the second multi-aperture plate or a carrier which supports the second multi-aperture plate, wherein:
the controller is configured to generate data representing excitations of the field generators and to transmit the data to the electronic circuit via a serial data link;
each one of the field generators is connected to the electronic circuit via at least eight feeders; and
the electronic circuit is configured so that, based on the data, the electronic circuit generates the excitations of each field generator and applies the excitations to the at least eight feeders by which the field generator is connected to the electronic circuit.

19. The particle beam system of claim 18 , wherein the electronic circuit comprises D/A converters and microcontrollers configured to convert the input digital data into analogue signals to generate currents and/or voltages.

20. The particle beam system of claim 1 , further comprising actuators configured to align the second multi-aperture plate relative to the first multi-aperture plate.

Assignees

• Zeiss Carl Microscopy Gmbh

Inventors

• Zeidler Dirk
• Kemen Thomas
• Riedesel Christof
• Lenke Ralf

Classifications

• H01J2237/1202

  Associated circuits · CPC title

• H01J37/28

  with scanning beams {(H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence)} · CPC title

• H01J37/12

  electrostatic · CPC title

• H01J37/09 Primary

  Diaphragms; Shields associated with electron or ion-optical arrangements; Compensation of disturbing fields · CPC title

• H01J2237/0453

  multiple apertures · CPC title