Charged particle beam apparatus and trajectory correction method in charged particle beam apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9484181-B2
Application number	US-201414760053-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 21, 2014
Priority date	Jan 24, 2013
Publication date	Nov 1, 2016
Grant date	Nov 1, 2016

Abstract

There is provided a charged particle beam apparatus that includes a trajectory monitoring unit which is disposed above an objective lens ( 14 ) and which includes an optical element ( 12 ) having a lens action and a trajectory correcting deflector ( 10 ). An applied voltage and an excitation current of the optical element ( 12 ) are set to zero after a trajectory correction of a primary charged particle beam ( 30 ). Accordingly, the lens action and an aberration of the optical element ( 12 ) have no influence on resolution.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A charged particle beam apparatus comprising:
a charged particle source for supplying a primary charged particle beam;
a condenser lens for controlling a focusing angle and a focusing position of the primary charged particle beam;
an objective lens for focusing the primary charged particle beam on a sample;
a scanning device that scans the sample with the primary charged particle beam;
a detector that detects charged particles which are generated from the sample;
an image processing device that forms a sample image based on a signal from the detector; and
a trajectory monitoring unit that is disposed above the objective lens and includes an optical element having a lens action and a trajectory correcting deflector,
wherein an applied voltage and an excitation current of the optical element are set to zero after a trajectory correction of the primary charged particle beam.

2. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein one optical element having the lens action is provided and the trajectory correcting deflector is configured to include two deflectors,
wherein one deflector of the two deflectors and the optical element are disposed at the same elevation and are disposed such that the center of the one deflector is coincident with the center of the optical element, and
wherein the other deflector of the two deflectors is disposed above the one deflector and the optical element.

3. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the optical element includes magnetic-field type or electric-field type quadrupoles and has a trajectory correcting function of the one deflector.

4. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the applied voltage and the excitation current of the optical element are set to zero after the trajectory correcting deflector corrects the primary charged particle beam to a trajectory which passes through the center of the optical element.

5. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an aberration correcting lens for correcting an aberration of the objective lens during a tilt of the primary charged particle beam; and
a deflector for causing the primary charged particle beam to pass off-axis through the aberration correcting lens,
wherein the optical element is disposed such that the center of the optical element is coincident with an object point of the objective lens, and
wherein the trajectory monitoring unit corrects a change of a trajectory due to a spherical aberration of the aberration correcting lens.

6. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 5 ,
wherein the trajectory monitoring unit corrects the trajectory of the primary charged particle beam to a trajectory connecting two points of the object point of the objective lens and the center of the objective lens.

7. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a control unit that includes a first control mode in which each of the applied voltage and the excitation current of the optical element is caused to temporally change and a second control mode in which an excitation current of the objective lens is caused to temporally change; and
a voltage/current control unit that adjusts an applied voltage and an excitation current of the trajectory correcting deflector such that an image shift amount of the sample image becomes zero in the first control mode and the second control mode.

8. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising:
a recording unit that records the applied voltage and the excitation current which are adjusted by the voltage/current control unit; and
a trajectory calculating unit that calculates a trajectory of the primary charged particle beam using the applied voltage and the excitation current of the trajectory correcting deflector, which are recorded in the recording unit.

9. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an aberration corrector for correcting an aberration of an optical system of the charged particle beam apparatus,
wherein the trajectory monitoring unit is disposed above the aberration corrector,
wherein the optical element is configured to include an upper optical element and a lower optical element,
wherein the trajectory correcting deflector is configured to include an upper deflector and a lower deflector, and wherein the lower optical element and the upper deflector are disposed at the same elevation and are disposed such that the center of the lower optical element is coincident with the center of the upper deflector.

10. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 9 ,
wherein an applied voltage and an excitation current of the upper optical element become zero after the trajectory correction of the primary charged particle beam.

11. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 9 ,
wherein the trajectory monitoring unit performs a correction to a trajectory obtained by connecting two points of the center of the upper optical element and the center of the lower optical element.

12. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising:
a control unit that includes a third control mode in which each of the applied voltage and the excitation current of the upper optical element is caused to temporally change and a fourth control mode in which each of the applied voltage and the excitation current of the lower optical element is caused to temporally change; and
a voltage/current control unit that adjusts an applied voltage and an excitation current of the upper deflector such that an image shift amount of the sample image becomes zero in the third control mode and adjusts an applied voltage and an excitation current of the lower deflector such that an image shift amount of the sample image becomes zero in the fourth control mode.

13. A trajectory correction method of a charged particle beam apparatus that includes
a charged particle source for supplying a primary charged particle beam,
a condenser lens for controlling a focusing angle and a focusing position of the primary charged particle beam,
an objective lens for focusing the primary charged particle beam on a sample,
a scanning device that scans the sample with the primary charged particle beam,
a detector that detects charged particles which are generated from the sample,
an image processing device that forms a sample image based on a signal from the detector, and
a trajectory monitoring unit that is disposed above the objective lens and includes an optical element having a lens action and a trajectory correcting deflector,
the method comprising:
adjusting an applied voltage and an excitation current of the trajectory correcting deflector such that an image shift amount of the sample image becomes zero in a first control mode in which each of the applied voltage and the excitation current of the optical element is caused to temporally change;
setting the applied voltage and the excitation current of the optical element to zero; and
adjusting an applied voltage and an excitation current of the trajectory correcting deflector such that an image shift amount of the sample image becomes zero in a second control mode in which an excitation current of the objective lens is caused to temporally change.

Assignees

• Hitachi High Tech Corp

Inventors

• Dohi Hideto
• Ikegami Akira
• Kazumi Hideyuki

Classifications

• H01J2237/1506

  Tilting or rocking beam around an axis substantially at an angle to optical axis · CPC title

• H01J37/147

  Arrangements for directing or deflecting the discharge along a desired path ({H01J37/045 take precedence;} lenses H01J37/10) · CPC title

• H01J37/28

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

• H01J2237/1507

  dynamically, e.g. to obtain same impinging angle on whole area · CPC title

• H01J2237/221

  Image processing · CPC title