Oxford Instruments Nanotechnology Tools Limited

Angus Bewick

Peter John Statham

Stuart Andrew Swan

Grigore Moldovan

Santokh Singh Bhadare

A system for preventing collisions between components in a particle beam instrument is disclosed. The system is particularly beneficial in use with instruments wherein moveable components are used within a chamber that obscures them from being viewed from outside the chamber. The system comprises: a capacitance sensor configured to monitor the capacitance between a first component and a second component of the instrument, and a proximity module configured to: derive a capacitance parameter from the monitored capacitance between the first component and the second component; and output a proximity alert signal in accordance with a comparison between the derived capacitance parameter and a predetermined capacitance parameter threshold value.

Collision avoidance for particle beam instruments

A method and system for processing a diffraction pattern image obtained in an electron microscope are disclosed. The method comprises, according to a first set of microscope conditions, causing an electron beam to impinge upon a calibration specimen so as to cause resulting electrons to be emitted therefrom and monitoring the resulting electrons using a detector device so as to obtain a calibration image comprising a plurality of pixels having values, the first set of microscope conditions being configured such that the calibration image includes substantially no electron diffraction pattern; obtaining, from the calibration image, a gain variation image comprising a plurality of pixels, each having a value representing relative detector device gain for a corresponding pixel of the calibration image; according to a second set of microscope conditions, causing an electron beam to impinge upon a target specimen so as to cause resulting electrons to be emitted therefrom and monitoring the resulting electrons using the detector device so as to obtain a target image comprising a plurality of pixels having values, the second set of microscope conditions being configured such that the target image includes an electron diffraction pattern; and for each pixel of the target image, removing from the pixel value, in accordance with the value of the corresponding pixel of the gain variation image, the contribution to the pixel value of the relative detector device gain, so as to obtain a gain variation-corrected image.

System for electron diffraction analysis

An apparatus for detecting one or each of Kikuchi and Kossel diffraction patterns is provided. The apparatus comprises an electron column adapted in use to provide an electron beam () directed to wards a sample (), the electron beam () having an energy in the range 2 keV to 50 keV, and a particle detector () for receiving and counting particles () from the sample () due to interaction of the electron beam () with the sample (), the detector comprising an array of pixels () and having a count rate capability of at least 1000 particles per second for each pixel. The particle detector () is further adapted to provide electronic energy filtering of the received particles in order to count the received particles which are representative of the said diffraction pattern.

Apparatus and method for performing microdiffraction analysis

A charged particle filter comprises a magnetic deflector and an outer shield. The magnetic deflector has a bore along an axis thereof passing through the deflector from a specimen end to a detector end of the deflector and through which charged particles pass when in use. The deflector is formed from one or more magnets positioned around the bore in a Halbach configuration thereby generating a relatively high magnetic field strength within the bore and a relatively low magnetic field strength outside of the deflector. The deflector has a geometry defining an outer surface and an inner surface, wherein each of the outer and inner surfaces of the deflector taper towards the axis as a respective function of distance in the specimen direction along the axis. The outer shield is formed from a soft magnetic material surrounding the magnet deflector on an outer surface side of the deflector and having a projecting portion which extends in the specimen direction with respect to the magnetic deflector from the specimen end of the deflector.

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Abindgon, United Kingdom

Angus Bewick