Fei Comapny

Albert Visscher

Joseph Hubert Marie Guillaume Schroen

Marco Hugo Petrus Moers

Johannes Antonius Maria Van Den Oetelaar

Jeroen De Boeij

Joseph Schroen

A positioning system for an electron microscope includes a first carriage comprising a holder for holding a workpiece and a second carriage. The first carriage being coupled to one or more first drive units configured to position the workpiece along first, second, and third axes, and along a first tilt axis. The second carriage housing the one or more first drive units and being coupled to one or more second drive units configured to position the workpiece along a second tilt axis.

Electron microscope stage

A method of using a Charged Particle Microscope comprising:

Charged particle microscope with vibration detection / correction

A method of mitigating the effects of environmental pressure variation while using a charged particle microscope is described. The charged particle microscope equipped with a barometric pressure sensor and an automatic controller configured to use the signal from the barometric sensor as an input to a control procedure to compensate for a relative positional error between the charged particle beam and the specimen holder.

Charged particle microscope with barometric pressure correction

The invention relates to an enclosure with a substantial rectangular configuration, adapted to contain an apparatus sensitive to acoustic vibrations, the enclosure comprising walls and acoustic damping material located within the wall, wherein the acoustic damping material comprises at least one absorbing body of acoustic energy absorbing material located adjacent to a rib of the enclosure. The acoustic vibrations most disturbing the processes in the apparatus within the enclosure are caused by standing acoustic waves within the enclosure with frequencies in the range between 50 Hz and 1000 Hz. These acoustic waves are efficiently damped by the provision of a block of acoustic absorbing material adjacent to one of the ribs of the enclosure, to such an extent that the need for thick walls of the enclosure is substantially obviated, leading to a less voluminous enclosure.

Enclosure for acoustic insulation of an apparatus contained within said enclosure

An enclosure with a substantial rectangular configuration, adapted to contain an apparatus sensitive to acoustic vibrations, the enclosure comprising walls and acoustic damping material located within the wall, wherein the acoustic damping material comprises at least one absorbing body of acoustic energy absorbing material located adjacent to a rib of the enclosure. The acoustic vibrations most disturbing the processes in the apparatus within the enclosure are caused by standing acoustic waves within the enclosure with frequencies in the range between 50 Hz and 1000 Hz. These acoustic waves are efficiently damped by the provision of a block of acoustic absorbing material adjacent to one of the ribs of the enclosure, to such an extent that the need for thick walls of the enclosure is substantially obviated, leading to a less voluminous enclosure.

The invention provides a particle-optical device for irradiating an object with a beam of particles. The device comprises a housing in which are located positioning meansfor positioning the object within the housing. The positioning means comprise a reference bodysupported against a supporting portion of the housing and a kinematic system&#x2014;which can be manipulated&#x2014;with an object carrierfor manipulating the object held in the object carrier in at least one degree of freedom with respect to the reference body, the device further comprising control means and at least one combinationof a piezo-electric position actuatorand a piezo-electric force sensor, which actuator and sensor are positioned in series, whereby the control means&#x2014;in dependence upon at least one input signal from at least one sensor&#x2014;generates a control signal for at least that actuator associated with said sensor, characterized in that the series-positioned actuators and sensors of said at least one combination are positioned between the housing and the reference body, the support of the reference body against the supporting portion of the housing occurring via said at least one combination.

Particle-optical device for irradiating an object

Objects such as semiconductor wafers to be studied in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) are subject to vibrations which are intensified by vibration resonance of the (thin) wafer, so that the resolution of the SEM is severely degraded. In prior art it is known to support the wafer by means of elastic support members. However, such support members do not counteract the detrimental vibrations. According to the invention there are provided elastic support elements that can accommodate to the inevitable shape errors of the wafer and hence remain in contact with the wafer surface Moreover, the support elements are embodied in such a manner that frictional contact exists between the moving part of the support element and the body of the object carrier The support elements thus provide support which is elastic for macroscopic support but hard for the vibrational movements in the nanometer range, thus inhibiting such vibrational movements.

Growing community of inventors

Veldhoven, Netherlands

Albert Visscher