Scanning electron microscope

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9159529-B2
Application number	US-201314379704-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2013
Priority date	Feb 28, 2012
Publication date	Oct 13, 2015
Grant date	Oct 13, 2015

Abstract

It is an object of the present invention to provide a scanning electron microscope for discriminating an angle of an electron ejected from a sample without providing an opening for restricting the angle at outside of an axis. In order to achieve the object described above, there is proposed a scanning electron microscope which includes a deflector to deflect an irradiating position of an electron beam, and a control unit to control the deflector, and further includes a detector to detecting an electron provided by irradiating a sample with the electron beam, an opening configuring member arranged between the detector and the deflector and having an opening for passing the electron beam, and a secondary signal deflector to deflect an electron ejected from the sample, in which the secondary signal deflector is controlled to deflect the electron ejected from the sample toward an opening of passing the electron beam in accordance with a deflection control of the deflector.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A scanning electron microscope comprising:
an electron source;
a deflector to deflect a scanning area of an electron beam emitted from the electron source; and
a control unit to control the deflector,
the scanning electron microscope further including:
a first detector to detect an electron provided by irradiating a sample with the electron beam;
an opening configuring member arranged between the first detector and the deflector and having an opening for passing the electron beam; and
a secondary signal deflector having an upper deflector and a lower deflector to deflect the electrons emitted from the sample,
wherein the control device controls
the lower deflector to deflect the electrons deflected by the deflector depending on a deflection condition of the deflector so as to direct the electrons deflected by the deflector at a trajectory of the electron beam, and
the upper deflector to deflect the electrons deflected by the lower deflector depending on the deflection condition of the deflector to direct the electrons deflected by the lower deflector at the opening.

2. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1 , wherein the opening portion configuring member is a conversion electrode for generating an electron by colliding an electron, and includes a second detector for detecting the electron generated by the conversion electrode.

3. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1 , wherein the opening portion configuring member is a second detector for detecting the electron.

4. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a second detector to detect the electron ejected in a range wider than a range of the first detector centering on an axis of the electron beam; and
a calculating unit to synthesize outputs of the first detector and the second detector.

5. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 4 , wherein the calculating unit processes the outputs of the first detector and the second detector such that contrasts of a specific pattern are equal to each other, and synthesizes the outputs of the first detector and the second detector to erase the contrasts of the specific pattern.

6. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1 , wherein the deflector is an image shift deflector to deflect a scanning position of the electron beam, and the control unit controls the secondary signal deflector in accordance with a scanning position of the electron beam.

7. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1 , wherein an energy filter is arranged on a side of the electron source of the opening configuring member.

8. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 7 , further comprising:
a deflector for adjusting an angle of incidence of the electron to the energy filter.

9. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory to store a control amount of the deflector and an operating condition of the secondary signal deflector to be related with each other.

10. The scanning electron microscope according to claim 1 , wherein the secondary signal deflector is a Wien filter.

11. A scanning electron microscope comprising:
an electron source;
a deflector to deflect a scanning area of an electron beam emitted from the electron source; and
a control unit to control the deflector,
the scanning electron microscope further including:
a first detector to detect an electron provided by irradiating a sample with the electron beam;
a second detector to detect an electron emitted in a range relatively wider than a range of the first detector by centering on an axis of the electron beam, or an electron provided by the electron; and
a calculating unit configured to:
form a first image based on an output of the first detector and a second image based on an output of the second detector,

adjust at least one of brightness of parts of the first image and the second image so as to narrow a brightness difference between the parts of the first image and the second image, and
subtract the second image from the first image after adjusting at least one of brightness of parts of the first image and the second image.

Assignees

• Hitachi High Tech Corp

Inventors

• Yamazaki Minoru
• Kazumi Hideyuki
• Sasaki Yuko
• Suzuki Makoto

Classifications

• H01J2237/2814

  Measurement of surface topography · CPC title

• H01J37/244 Primary

  Detectors; Associated components or circuits therefor · CPC title

• H01J2237/15

  Means for deflecting or directing discharge · CPC title

• H01J2237/2449

  Detector devices with moving charges in electric or magnetic fields · CPC title

• H01J37/29

  Reflection microscopes · CPC title