Fei Comapny

Electro Scientific Industries, Inc.

Andrew B Wells

Mark Utlaut

N William Parker

Sean Kellogg

Anthony Graupera

Kelly Bruland

Noel S Smith

Gregory A Schwind

James B McGinn

Stephen Neal Swaringen

Shouyin Zhang

Walter Skoczylas

Clive D Chandler

William N Parker

Mark W Utlaut

A system for creating a substantially planar face in a substrate, the system including directing one or more beams at a first surface of a substrate to remove material from a first location, the beam being offset from a normal to the first surface by a curtaining angle; sweeping the one or more beams in a plane that is perpendicular to the first surface to mill one or more initial cuts, the initial cuts exposing a second surface that is substantially perpendicular to the first surface; rotating the substrate about an axis other than an axis normal to the first beam or parallel to the first beam; directing the first beam at the second surface to remove additional material from the substrate without changing the curtaining angle; and scanning the one or more beams in across the second surface to mill one or more finishing cuts.

Lamella creation method and device using fixed-angle beam and rotating sample stage

An inductively-coupled plasma source for a focused charged particle beam system includes a plasma chamber and a fluid that is not actively pumped surrounding the plasma chamber for providing high voltage isolation between the plasma chamber and nearby parts which are at ground potential, such as a conductive shield. One or more cooling devices cool the plasma chamber by using evaporative cooling and heat pipes to dissipate the heat from the plasma chamber into a surrounding environment.

High voltage isolation of an inductively coupled plasma ion source with a liquid that is not actively pumped

An inductively coupled plasma charged particle source for focused ion beam systems includes a plasma reaction chamber with a removably attached source electrode. A fastening mechanism connects the source electrode with the plasma reaction chamber and allows for a heat-conductive, vacuum seal to form. With a removable source electrode, improved serviceability and reuse of the plasma source tube are now possible.

Method for attachment of an electrode into an inductively-coupled plasma

System for attachment of an electrode into a plasma source

An inductively-coupled plasma source for a focused charged particle beam system includes a conductive shield that provides improved electrical isolation and reduced capacitive RF coupling and a dielectric fluid that insulates and cools the plasma chamber. The conductive shield may be enclosed in a solid dielectric media. The dielectric fluid may be circulated by a pump or not circulated by a pump. A heat tube can be used to cool the dielectric fluid.

Encapsulation of electrodes in solid media for use in conjunction with fluid high voltage isolation

A method for detecting particulate contamination under a workpiece fixtured by a calibrated material handling system includes performing 3D measurements of a workpiece at multiple of positions to construct a 3D map of the workpiece, calibrating the 3D map by comparing a pre-computed calibration map to the 3D measurements, and detecting particulate contamination by processing the calibrated map.

Method for detecting particulate contamination under a workpiece

An improved method and apparatus of beam processing corrects for beam drift while a beam is processing a sample. The beam position is aligned using a fiducial that is sufficiently near the working area so that the fiducial can be imaged and the sample processed without a stage moving. During processing, the beam positioning is corrected for drift using a model that predicts the drift.

Beam positioning for beam processing

A method for calibrating a laser micro-machining system in three dimensions includes scanning a sample workpiece to determine the 3D surface, calculating the best fit surfaces to the scanned data in a series of steps, and storing the results so that subsequent workpieces can be calibrated to remove systematic errors introduced by variations in an associated material handling subsystem. The method optionally uses plate bending theory to model particulate contamination and splines to fit the 3D surface in a piecewise fashion to minimize the effect of local variations on the entire surface fit.

Growing community of inventors

Portland, OR, United States of America

Andrew B Wells