Ceos Corrected Electron Optical Systems Gmbh

Other

Carl Zeiss Nts Gmbh

Carl-zeiss-smt Ag

Carl Zeiss Microscopy Gmbh

Applied Materials Israel Limited

Heiko Müller

Harald Rose

Rainer K Knippelmeyer

Thomas Kemen

Stephan Uhlemann

Oliver Kienzle

Antonio Casares

Michael Steigerwald

Maximilian Haider

Max Haider

Dirk Stenkamp

Maximilan Haider

A corrective for eliminating the third-order aperture aberration and the first-order, first-degree axial chromatic aberration includes two correction pieces, which are arranged one behind the other in the direction of the optical axis, in which each correction piece has a plurality of quadrupole fields (QP) and at least one octupole field (OP.) Each correction piece is constructed such that it is symmetrical with respect to its central plane (S, S') with each correction piece having an uneven number of at least five quadrupole fields (QP) and at least one octupole field (OP). Each correction piece is further constructed so that it is symmetrical with respect to its central plane. The central quadrupole field is arranged so that it is centered with respect to the central plane of the correction piece and is electromagnetic. The quadrupole fields of the two correction pieces are antisymmetrical and a transfer lens system is arranged such that it is symmetrical with respect to the central plane of the corrective between the correction pieces. The transfer lens system has two round lenses and the setting of the transfer lens system takes place so that the two round lenses image the central plane of the two correction pieces anamorphically onto one another, in which the enlargement in one main section is the reciprocal of the enlargement in the other main section and with an octupole field superimposed on the central quadrupole field.

Corrective for eliminating the third-order aperture aberration and the first-order, first-degree axial, chromatic aberration

A particle-optical corrector for eliminating both the third-order aperture aberration and the third-order extra-axial coma, using circular lenses and hexapole fields, includes three coaxially arranged hexapole fields, at least one circular lens doublet being arranged between adjacent hexapole fields and adjusted so that the center hexapole field is imaged on the hexapole fields. Between the hexapole fields, an intermediate plane prevails and the intermediate planes are conjugated with one another. The three hexapole fields are identically oriented in the Larmor reference system with the intensities of the three fields being chosen so that the image aberration coefficient of the astigmatism with three-fold symmetry becomes 0. The corrective contains two hexapole fields, in which the fields of the hexapole field pair are excited anti-symmetrically to one another, and the pairs are in each case arranged around the two intermediate planes. The orientation of the hexapole field pairs is rotated with respect to the orientation defined by the hexapole fields by a sufficient angle so that the extra-axial third order coma is corrected.

Electron-optical corrector for aplanatic imaging systems

An electron microscopy system comprises an objective lens () which images a field displaceable in x-direction on a fixed beam axis (). The objective lens has an astigmatic effect which is compensated for by a beam shaper () on the fixed axis. Furthermore, lens configurations can selectively act on the primary electron beam or the secondary electron beam.

Beam guiding arrangement, imaging method, electron microscopy system and electron lithography system

Disclosed is a lens array having a laterally movable axis for corpuscular rays, particularly for transmission from areas of an object surface onto the focal plane by means of electrons. The inventive array consists of a combined lens comprising a cylinder lens and a quadrupole lens provided with slit diaphragms which can be impinged upon by electric and/or magnetic fields. The optical axis of the quadrupole lens is oriented parallel to the axis of the cylinder lens and defines the optical axis of the projection, the position of which can be altered in relation to the axis of the cylinder lens. The quadrupole lens is in focus in the sector in which the cylinder lens is not in focus and is out of focus in the section in which the cylinder lens is in focus. The inventive combined lens can be operated as an immersion lens for projecting secondary electrons. The immersion field consists of at least two adjacent axially aligned fields. The first field lies between the object and the first slit diaphragm, and the second field lies between the first slit diaphragm and the second slit diaphragm. Both fields can be focused independently from each other. The potential difference between the object and the first diaphragm is comparatively small in relation to the potential difference between the first diaphragm and the second diaphragm, and the potential course between the object and the first diaphragm has to be approximately linear. The combined lens is brought into/out of focus by superposing the immersion field, the cylinder lens field, and the quadrupole field. Alternatively, the lens array can be used as a cathode lens for a photocathode with several homogenous adjacent emission areas.

Lens array with a laterally movable optical axis for corpuscular rays

A slit lens arrangement for particle beams, and particularly for the projection of a mask onto a workpiece, includes a combined lens, having a cylinder lens and a quadrupole lens, the optical axes of which run parallel to each other, so that the optical axis of the quadrupole lens may be displaced in a parallel manner and which may have a gap-like opening between the pole shoes or in the electrodes with the same spatial relationship to each other. Both lenses are thus so arranged relative to each other, that the focussing of the quadrupole lens occurs in that plane in which the cylinder lens is not focussed, and the defocusing of the quadrupole lens occurs in that plane in which the cylinder lens focuses. Two combined lenses are provided with functionally identical elements arranged such that the optical axes of both lenses lie coaxial to each other, defining the mid-axis of the total system and in which the beam path is telescopic throughout the entire slit lens arrangement. The optical axis of the image is given by the optical axis of the quadrupole. Further, the diffraction plane, or aperture plane, for the total system lies between both combined lenses and fixes a point on the mid-axis, relative to which the combined lenses are arranged, so that the above are anti-symmetric to each other and simultaneously fill the condition that the separation of the first and the second combined lenses from the diffraction plane and the assembly and/or the fields of functionally identical elements in the combined lenses is in a ratio which corresponds to the image scale, preferably, reduction ratio. The shifts of the optical axes of the quadrupole lenses of both combined lenses occur in diametrically opposed directions, such that the size of the shifts are in a ratio to each other which corresponds to the image scale, preferably, the reduction ratio.

Slit lens arrangement for particle beams

A particle-optical apparatus is disclosed which combines the functions of an energy selectorand a beam splitterThe particle-optical apparatus is used in an electron microscopy system and serves to separate and superimpose, respectively, beam paths of a primary electron beamand a secondary electron beam

Electron microscopy system

An examining system for imaging an object positionable in an object plane, includes an illumination device for supplying energy to a delimited field of the object such that charged particles emerge from locations of the field, the field being displaceable in the plane of the object, a first deflector for providing a variable deflection field for guiding charged particles emerging from locations of a selectable region of the object through a fixed, predetermined beam cross-section, and a position-sensitive detector disposed in the beam path such that the charged particles, after having passed through the first deflector, impinge on the position-sensitive detector, wherein particles emerging from different locations of the region are imaged on different locations of the position-sensitive detector which are allocated to the locations of emergence.

Examining system for the particle-optical imaging of an object, deflector for charged particles as well as method for the operation of the same

An optical particle corrector with a straight optical axis for eliminating color and aperture aberrations in optical particle lenses includes multipole elements in the form of electric and/or magnetic quadrupole and octupole elements. There are at least twelve quadrupole elements and ten octupole elements, in which three quadrupole elements and two octupole elements are assembled into a group. These groups are arranged successively along the straight optical axis, in which a first symmetrical plane is defined between the first and second groups, a second symmetrical plane is defined between the second and third groups and a third symmetrical plane is defined between the third and fourth groups. The multipole elements from one group to another correspond to each other in pairs, in which the multipole elements of the corresponding following group are positioned in reverse order along the straight optical axis in comparison with the corresponding multipole elements of the preceding group. The structure and refractive powers of the multipole elements that correspond to each other are mirror-symmetrically configured relative to the corresponding symmetrical plane between the groups. At least two of the quadrupole elements generate electric-magnetic quadrupole fields, in which the quadrupole element are, preferably, arranged in a mirror-symmetrical manner relative to the second, or to all, symmetrical planes. An additional octupole element is arranged in the first and third symmetrical planes. The corrector enables the transmission of extremely large image fields, while the optical quality remains the same due to the fact image aberrations outside the axis can be corrected.

Growing community of inventors

Heidelberg, Germany

Heiko Müller