196 results about "Environmental scanning electron microscope" patented technology

A system including co-axial focused ion beam and an electron beam allows for accurate processing with the FIB using images formed by the electron beam. In one embodiment, a deflector deflects the electron beam onto the axis of the ion beam and deflects secondary particles collected through the final lens toward a detector. In one embodiment, a positively biased final electrostatic lens focuses both beams using the same voltage to allow simultaneous or alternating FIB and SEM operation. In one embodiment, the landing energy of the electrons can be varied without changing the working distance.

An electron beam apparatus is configured for dark field imaging of a substrate surface. Dark field is defined as an operational mode where the image contrast is sensitive to topographical features on the surface. A source generates a primary electron beam, and scan deflectors are configured to deflect the primary electron beam so as to scan the primary electron beam over the substrate surface whereby secondary and/or backscattered electrons are emitted from the substrate surface, said emitted electrons forming a scattered electron beam. A beam separator is configured to separate the scattered electron beam from the primary electron beam. The apparatus includes a cooperative arrangement which includes at least a ring-like element, a first grid, and a second grid. The ring-like element and the first and second grids each comprises conductive material. A segmented detector assembly is positioned to receive the scattered electron beam after the scattered electron beam passes through the cooperative arrangement. Other embodiments, aspects and features are also disclosed. The apparatus is configured to yield good topographical contrast, high signal to noise ratio, and to accommodate a variety of scattered beam properties that result from different primary beam and scan geometry settings.

An inspection system using a scanning electron microscope includes a scanning electron microscope chamber inspecting an object to be inspected by using an electron beam and maintaining a vacuum condition, a stage positioned below the scanning electron microscope chamber to be separated therefrom and mounted with the object to be inspected, and a transverse guide transferring the scanning electron microscope chamber on the stage. Atmospheric conditions are maintained between the scanning electron microscope chamber and the object to be inspected. Accordingly, object to be inspected a large size of an object to be inspected may be inspected without damage to the object to be inspected such that a cost reduction and a yield improvement may be realized.

The invention provides for a scanning electron or ion beam instrument capable of transferring the beam from a high vacuum chamber (8) into a high pressure chamber (5) via aperture (1) and aperture (2). The beam is deflected and scanned by coils (3) generally positioned between apertures (1) and (2). The amplitude of deflection of the beam over a specimen placed inside chamber (5) is substantially larger than the diameter of aperture (1). Leaking gas through aperture (1) is removed via port (7) by appropriate pumping apparatus. The size of aperture (1) is such that the pressure in chamber (6) combined with the supersonic jet and shock waves naturally forming therein do not result in catastrophic electron beam loss in chamber (6). The addition of appropriate detection means result in an instrument characterised by superior performance over prior art by way of better field of view at low magnification, better vacuum system and improved detection and imaging capabilities.

A complex type microscopic device includes a slider unit moving a stage, an optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope with an electron axis intersecting with an optical axis of the optical microscope, an optical measurement/observation unit having a magnification between those of the scanning electron microscope and the optical microscope and co-using an objective lens with the optical microscope, and a control unit controlling the entire device, and a display unit having a display screen. During display of a low-magnification optical microscopic image, the control unit controls the display unit to display, on the image, a representation to designate an area to be observed at a magnification of the optical measurement/observation unit, and to display, on the image, another representation to designate an area to be observed at a magnification of the scanning electron microscope during display of a high-magnification optical microscopic image.

A vacuumed device that includes: a sealed housing, an electron beam source, an electron optic component, a thin membrane, and a detector. The thin membrane seals an aperture of the sealed housing. The sealed housing defines a vacuumed space in which vacuum is maintained. The electron beam source is configured to generate an electron beam that propagates within the vacuumed space, interacts with the electron optic component and passes through the thin membrane. A first portion of the sealed housing is shaped to fit a space defined by non-vacuumed scanning electron microscope components that are maintained in a non-vacuum environment.

A chamber suitable for use with a scanning electron microscope. The chamber comprises at least one aperture sealed with a membrane. The membrane is adapted to withstand a vacuum, and is transparent to electrons and the interior of the chamber is isolated from said vacuum. The chamber is useful for allowing wet samples including living cells to be viewed under an electron microscope.

A scanning electron microscope can discriminate secondary particles in a desired energy region by band-pass and detect the secondary particles with a high yield point. Even when a lens 23 is disposed on an electron source side of an objective lens 18, and a primary electron beam forms any optical system on the electron gun side of the lens, the lens operates the primary electron beam to be converged to a convergent point 24 that is a specific position. A detection ExB 16 that supplies a field that affects the locus of the secondary particles that are generated from a specimen 2 is disposed at the convergent point 24 of the primary electron beam so as to lead only the secondary particles in a specific energy range to a detection unit 13. Because a position to which the field that affects the locus of the secondary particles is supplied is the convergent point of the primary electron beam 19, it is possible to lead only the secondary particles of the desired energy to the detection unit without enlarging the aberration of the primary electron beam 19 and also to effectively conduct the band-pass discrimination of the energy. As a result, the signal electrons according to an observation object can be discriminated and detected.

The invention provides a two-dimensional nanosheet and a preparation method and usage thereof. Through a means of solution stripping, the two-dimensional nanosheet which is large in sheet layer size,high in quality and small in defect number and mainly takes a single layer is prepared. The morphology of the two-dimensional nanosheet is represented through an optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope, a transmission electron microscope and an atomic force microscope. A Raman spectrum is utilized to represent that the two-dimensional nanosheet obtained through solution stripping and atwo-dimensional nanosheet obtained through a chemical vapor deposition method have the equally high crystalline quality. An infrared transmittance spectrum is utilized to represent successful modification of organic matter to the two-dimensional nanosheet. Research results show that the two-dimensional nanosheet synthesized through the preparation method has the advantages of being large in size,high in quality, small in defect number, easy to modify and the like.

In the case where a specimen is imaged by a scanning electron microscope, it is intended to acquire an image of a high quality having a noise component reduced, thereby to improve the precision of an image processing. The intensity distribution of a beam is calculated on the basis of an imaging condition or specimen information, and an image restoration is performed by using a resolving power deterioration factor other than the beam intensity distribution as a target of a deterioration mode, so that a high resolving power image can be acquired under various conditions. In the scanning electron microscope for semiconductor inspections and semiconductor measurements, the restored image is used for pattern size measurement, defect detections, defect classifications and so on, so that the measurements can be improved in precision and so that the defect detections and classifications can be made high precise.

The present invention relates to a scanning electron microscope employing a deceleration field forming technology (retarding), more particularly a scanning electron microscope which separates and detects secondary electrons at high efficiency.

The object of the present invention is accomplished by providing an electron source, a lens for condensing the primary electron beam which is emitted from said electron source, a detector for detecting electrons which are generated by radiation of the primary electron beam onto a specimen, a first deceleration means for decelerating the primary electron beam which is radiated onto said specimen, a second deceleration means for decelerating electrons which are generated on the specimen, and a deflector for deflecting said electrons which are decelerated by said second decelerating means.

There is provided a reconfigurable scanning electron microscope (RSEM) (100) comprising: (a) a gun assembly (110) and an associated electron optical column (120) for generating an electron beam (600), for demagnifying the electron beam (600) to generate an electron probe (C3) and for scanning the probe (C3) across a sample (190); (b) an electron detector (550) for detecting emissions from the sample (190) in response to scanned electron probe irradiation thereof and for generating a corresponding detected signal (Sd) indicative of the magnitude of the emissions; and (c) a display (170) for receiving the detected signal (Sd) and scanning signals (x, y) indicative of the position of the probe (C3) relative to the sample (190) for generating the image of the sample (190). The RSEM (100) is distinguished in that it further includes aperture bearing members (500, 520), each member (500, 520) including an associated electon-beam transmissive aperture, for at least partially gaseously isolating the gun assembly (110) and the electron optical column (110) from the sample (190), thereby enabling the RSEM (100) to be reconfigurable as a high-vacuum scanning electron microscope and also as an environmental scanning electron microscope, the RSEM (100) being reconfigurable to include no aperture members, one aperture member (500, 750) and a plurality of aperture members (500, 750; 520 850, 860).

The present invention is intended to prevent the deterioration of resolution due to increase in off-axis aberration resulting from the deviation of a primary electron bean from the optical axis of a scanning electron microscope. A scanning electron microscope is provided with an image shifting deflector system including two deflectors disposed respectively at upper and lower stages. The deflector disposed at the lower stage is a multipole electrostatic deflecting electrode and is disposed in an objective. Even if the distance of image shifting is great, an image of a high resolution can be formed and dimensions can be measured in a high accuracy. The SEM is able to achieving precision inspection at a high throughput when applied to inspection in semiconductor device fabricating processes that process a wafer having a large area and provided with very minute circuit elements.

The invention discloses a three-dimensional reconstruction method for a soil microstructure. The three-dimensional reconstruction method comprises the following steps: I, acquiring a soil sample: acquiring the soil sample on which three-dimensional reconstruction is required to be performed, wherein the soil sample is a cylindrical soil sample; II, hierarchically scanning the soil sample: hierarchically scanning the soil sample from top to bottom by using a scanning electron microscope, wherein the soil sample is divided into a plurality of scanning surfaces from top to bottom, the scanning electron microscope is adopted during scanning of each scanning surface, and each scanning surface is divided into a plurality of regions for scanning, then a plurality of electron microscope scanning images acquired by scanning are spliced to acquire an entire electron microscope scanning image of the scanning surface; III, sorting the electron microscope scanning images; IV, positioning the images; V, performing three-dimensional reconstruction: calling a three-dimensional reconstruction module to process a plurality of entire electron microscope scanning images to acquire a three-dimensional space model of the soil. The method has the advantages of simple steps, rational design, convenience in implementation and good use effect, and the established soil three-dimensional space model can truly reduce the internal structure of the soil.

One embodiment relates to a portable scanning electron microscope (SEM) system. The system includes a portable SEM device including a CRT-type gun and deflectors to generate and scan the electron beam. Another embodiment relates to a portable SEM device which includes a CRT-type gun and deflectors to generate and scan the electron beam, a chamber through which the electron beam is scanned, and a detector in the chamber for detecting radiation emitted as a result of scanning the electron beam. Another embodiment relates to a method of obtaining an electron beam image of a surface of a bulk specimen where a portable SEM device is moved to the bulk specimen. Other embodiments and features are also disclosed.

The present invention suppresses decreases in the volumes of the patterns which have been formed on the surfaces of semiconductor samples or of the like, or performs accurate length measurements, irrespective of such decreases. In an electrically charged particle ray apparatus by which the line widths and other length data of the patterns formed on samples are to be measured by scanning the surface of each sample with electrically charged particle rays and detecting the secondary electrons released from the sample, the scanning line interval of said electrically charged particle rays is set so as not to exceed the irradiation density dictated by the physical characteristics of the sample. Or measured length data is calculated from prestored approximation functions.

The invention discloses a method for quantitative analysis on material organization through a scanning electron microscope and an energy disperse spectrometer and belongs to the technical field of metal material detection. The method specifically includes the steps that a sample is prepared, wherein the surface of the sample is cleaned and polished; the sample is observed, wherein the prepared sample is put into an electron microscope sample room, and a clearly-focusing electronic image is obtained; data collecting and processing are conducted, wherein the area percentage of a tested phase in the field is displayed; thresholds are selected, wherein selection of the thresholds affects the measuring accuracy; data is output, wherein an experiment result is output in the mode of a color bitmap or a form report. The method has the advantages that the method is suitable for various metal materials, iron and steel products, minerals and fireproof materials and is fast in measuring operation and convenient to use.

The invention provides a three-dimensional reconstruction method for the image of a scanning electron microscope. The method comprises the steps of providing a micro-nano structure; obtaining the image of a scanning electron microscope of the micro-nano structure; according to the image of the scanning electron microscope, obtaining a rough graph of a three-dimensional structure; according to the image of the scanning electron microscope, constructing a reflection electron intensity database; according to the reflection electron intensity database, correcting the rough graph of the three-dimensional structure to obtain a corrected graph of the three-dimensional structure; obtaining the boundary information of the micro-nano structure and correcting the corrected graph of the three-dimensional structure based on the boundary information so as to obtain the fine graph of the three-dimensional structure.

In a scanning electron microscope, an optimum scanning method for reducing the amount of deflection of a primary electron beam and secondary electrons is determined to acquire stable images. An energy filter is used to discriminate between energy levels. The change in yield of obtained electrons is used to measure the variation in specimen potential. The time constant of charging created during electron beam irradiation is extracted. The scanning method is optimized based on the extracted time constant to reduce the distortion and magnification variation that appear in a SEM image.