Hitachi High-tech Science Corporation

Hitachi-high-technologies Corporation

Sii Nanotechnology Inc.

Hiroshi Oba

Yasuhiko Sugiyama

Anto Yasaka

Fumio Aramaki

Osamu Matsuda

Kazuo Aita

Tomokazu Kozakai

Tatsuya Asahata

Mamoru Okabe

Yoshimi Kawanami

Takashi Ogawa

Yoshitomo Nakagawa

Toshio Doi

Hironori Moritani

Yoko Nakajima

Koji Nagahara

Naoko Hirose

Yasutaka Otsuka

Provided is a focused ion beam processing apparatus including: an ion source; a sample stage a condenser lens; an aperture having a slit in a straight line shape; a projection lens and the sample stage, wherein, in a transfer mode, by K&#xf6;hler illumination, with an applied voltage of the condenser lens when a focused ion beam is focused on a main surface of the projection lens scaled to be 100, the applied voltage is set to be less than 100 and greater than or equal to 80; a position of the aperture is set such that the focused ion beam is masked by the aperture with the one side of the aperture at a distance greater than 0 &#x3bc;m and equal to or less than 500 &#x3bc;m from a center of the focused ion beam; and the shape of the slit is transferred onto the sample.

Focused ion beam processing apparatus

An charged particle beam apparatus includes: a gas introduction chamber to which raw gas is introduced; a plasma generation chamber connected to the gas introduction chamber; a coil wound around an outer circumference of the plasma generation chamber and receiving a high-frequency power; an extraction electrode applying an extraction voltage to plasma discharged from a plasma aperture at an outlet of the plasma generation chamber; an ampere meter measuring a magnitude of a plasma current caused by the plasma moved out of the plasma aperture; an extraction voltage calculator calculating, based on variation in the magnitude of the plasma current measured by the ampere meter with respect to variation in the extraction voltage, an extraction voltage set value; and a controller controlling the extraction voltage based on the extraction voltage set value calculated by the extraction voltage calculator.

Charged particle beam apparatus

Disclosed is a composite charged particle beam apparatus including: an ion supply unit supplying an ion beam; an acceleration voltage application unit applying an acceleration voltage to the ion beam supplied by the ion supply unit to accelerate the ion beam; a first focusing unit focusing the ion beam; a beam booster voltage application unit applying a beam booster voltage to the ion beam; a second focusing unit focusing the ion beam to irradiate a sample; an electron beam emission unit emitting an electron beam to irradiate the sample; and a controller setting a value of the beam booster voltage that the beam booster voltage application unit applies to the ion beam, based on a value of the acceleration voltage applied to the ion beam by the acceleration voltage application unit and of a set value predetermined according to a focal distance of the focused ion beam.

Composite charged particle beam apparatus and control method thereof

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing an emitter in which the tip of the emitter can be formed into a desired shape even when various materials are used for the emitter. The method includes performing an electrolytic polishing process of polishing a front end of a conductive emitter material so that a diameter of the front end is gradually reduced toward a tip; performing a first etching process by irradiating a processing portion of the emitter material processed by the electrolytic polishing process with a charged particle beam; performing a sputtering process by irradiating the pointed portion formed by the first etching process with a focused ion beam; and performing a secondary etching process of further sharpening the tip by an electric field induced gas etching processing while observing a crystal structure of the tip of the pointed portion processed by the sputtering process using a field ion microscope.

Method of manufacturing emitter

A focused ion beam apparatus includes an ion source that emits an ion beam, an extraction electrode that extracts ions from a tip end of an emitter of the ion source, and a first lens electrode that configures a condenser lens by a potential difference with the extraction electrode, the condenser lens focusing the ions extracted by the extraction electrode, in which a strong lens action is generated between the extraction electrode and the first lens electrode so as to focus all ions extracted from the ion source to pass through a hole of the condenser lens including the first lens electrode.

Focused ion beam apparatus

A charged particle beam apparatus according to this invention includes: a gas introduction chamber, into which raw gas is introduced; a plasma generation chamber connected to the gas introduction chamber; a coil that is wound along an outer circumference of the plasma generation chamber and to which high-frequency power is applied; an electrode arranged at a boundary between the gas introduction chamber and the plasma generation chamber and having a plurality of through-holes formed therein; a plasma electrode that is provided apart from the electrode; a detection unit for detecting whether or not the plasma has been ignited in the plasma generation chamber; and a controller that controls, based on the result of detection by the detection unit, a voltage to be supplied to the plasma electrode in association with a predetermined pressure for supplying the raw gas.

Charged particle beam apparatus and plasma ignition method

A focused ion beam apparatus is equipped with a gas field ion source that can produce a focused ion beam for a long period of time by stably and continuously emitting ions from the gas field ion source having high luminance, along an optical axis of an ion-optical system for a long period of time. The gas field ion source has an emitter for emitting ions, the emitter having a sharpened end part made of iridium fixed to a cylinder-shaped base part made of dissimilar wire.

There is provided an iridium tip including a pyramid structure having one {100} crystal plane as one of a plurality of pyramid surfaces in a sharpened apex portion of a single crystal with &#x3c;210&#x3e; orientation. The iridium tip is applied to a gas field ion source or an electron source. The gas field ion source and/or the electron source is applied to a focused ion beam apparatus, an electron microscope, an electron beam applied analysis apparatus, an ion-electron multi-beam apparatus, a scanning probe microscope or a mask repair apparatus.

Iridium tip, gas field ion source, focused ion beam apparatus, electron source, electron microscope, electron beam applied analysis apparatus, ion-electron multi-beam apparatus, scanning probe microscope, and mask repair apparatus

A plasma ion source includes: a gas introduction chamber, into which raw gas is introduced; an insulation member provided in the gas introduction chamber; a plasma generation chamber connected to the gas introduction chamber; a coil that is wound along an outer circumference of the plasma generation chamber and to which high-frequency power is applied; and an electrode arranged at a boundary between the gas introduction chamber and the plasma generation chamber and having a plurality of through-holes formed therein, wherein a size of the through-holes is smaller than a length of a plasma sheath.

Plasma ion source and charged particle beam apparatus

A plasma ion source includes: a gas introduction chamber, into which raw gas is introduced; a plasma generation chamber connected to the gas introduction chamber and made of a dielectric material; a coil wound along an outer circumference of the plasma generation chamber and to which high-frequency power is applied; an envelope surrounding the gas introduction chamber, the plasma generation chamber and the coil; and insulating liquid filled inside the gas introduction chamber, the plasma generation chamber and the envelope to immerse the coil and having an dielectric strength voltage relatively greater than that of the envelope and the same dielectric dissipation factor as the plasma generation chamber.

A focused ion beam system includes a gas ion source and an emitter structure. The emitter structure includes a pair of conductive pins fixed to a base member, a filament connected between the pair of conductive pins, and an emitter which has a tip end with one atom or three atoms and which is connected to the filament. A supporting member is fixed to the base material, and the emitter is connected to the supporting member.

Emitter structure, gas ion source and focused ion beam system

A focused ion beam apparatus has an emitter for emitting an ion beam, an ion source chamber accommodating the emitter, a cooling unit and a heating unit for cooling and heating, respectively, the emitter, and an ion source gas supply section for supplying to the ion source chamber an ion source gas that is exchangeable with another ion source gas. A control section controls an operation of the cooling unit such that a temperature of a wall surface contacting the ion source gas in the ion source chamber is maintained at a temperature higher than a temperature at which the ion source gas before and after the exchange freezes. The control section controls an operation of the heater so that the emitter is temporarily heated to release the ion source gas from a surface of the emitter before the ion source gas is exchanged with the other ion source gas.

Focused ion beam apparatus and control method thereof

There is provided a repair apparatus including a gas field ion source which includes an ion generation section including a sharpened tip, a cooling unit which cools the tip, an ion beam column which forms a focused ion beam by focusing ions of a gas generated in the gas field ion source, a sample stage which moves while a sample to be irradiated with the focused ion beam is placed thereon, a sample chamber which accommodates at least the sample stage therein, and a control unit which repairs a mask or a mold for nano-imprint lithography, which is the sample, with the focused ion beam formed by the ion beam column. The gas field ion source generates nitrogen ions as the ions, and the tip is constituted by an iridium single crystal capable of generating the ions.

Repair apparatus

There is provided an emitter structure, a gas ion source including the emitter structure, and a focused ion beam system including the gas ion source. The emitter structure includes a pair of conductive pins which are fixed to a base member, a filament which is connected between the pair of conductive pins, and an emitter which is connected to the filament and has a sharp tip. A supporting member is fixed to the base material, and the emitter is connected to the supporting member.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Hiroshi Oba