Nikon Corporation

Shigeru Takemoto

Kinya Kato

Muneki Hamashima

Yoshiaki Kohama

Hideo Kimura

Yoshihiko Fujimori

Tetsuyuki Arai

Kenichi Kotaki

This invention concerns an apparatus and a method for observing and inspecting a predetermined area in a surface of a sample by use of an electron beam. The apparatus according to this invention comprises an MCP for multiplying a secondary beam emerging from the surface of the sample. The apparatus and method employ a CCD TDI array in order to increase the lifetime of the MCP, and special scan control is carried out in the observation and inspection operation. In addition, the apparatus according to this invention has various structures for enabling correction for positional deviation of the sample and high-speed processing.

Apparatus and method for inspecting predetermined region on surface of specimen using electron beam

This invention relates an interferometer having a structure for suppressing measurement errors arising from leakage light by minimizing nonlinear errors due to the leakage light in a polarization beam splitter for splitting incident light into a first polarized light component and a second polarized light component, and apparatuses to which the interferometer is applied. The interferometer includes an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the angle of light incidence on the beam splitting surface of the polarization beam splitter such that the extinction ratio of the polarization beam splitter is minimized by using the dependence of the polarization beam splitter on the incident angle.

Interferometer, adjusting method therefor, stage apparatus having the

The invention provides an image binarizing apparatus which includes multi-value image window circuitry for retrieving multi-value image data; a first binarizing circuit for binarizing the multi-value image data in accordance with a variable threshold determined based on the multi-value image data of pixels around a desired pixel; a second binarizing circuit for binarizing the multi-value image data in accordance with a predetermined threshold; and binary image window circuitry for retrieving image data which has been binarized by the second binarizing circuit. The image binarizing apparatus further includes edge detecting circuitry for comparing and collating binary two-dimensional image data obtained by the binary image window circuitry with edge templates each having a predetermined angle; memory circuitry for storing two types of smoothly binarized data in addresses which are generated based not only on the multi-value image data obtained by the multi-value image window circuitry, but also on the edge detection data which is output from the edge detecting circuitry; and selecting circuitry for selecting either one of the two types of smooth binary image data which are output either from the first binarizing circuit or from the memory circuitry.

Apparatus for binarizing images

A pattern forming apparatus for inverting at least one of plural patterns according to numerical design data respectively representing the plural patterns and synthesizing thus inverted pattern with the remainder of the plural patterns, comprises first operation device for attaching a flag of a positive image to the design data of uninverted patterns, and attaching a flag of an inverted image to the design data of inverted patterns, second operation device for handling the entire area of either inverted patterns or uninverted ones among the plural patterns as a single pattern, and attaching a corresponding flag to the design data of the pattern, and image forming device for forming image data of the area according to the data of the second operation device and then forming image data of each pattern according to the data of the first operation device.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Shigeru Takemoto