The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 30, 2012
Filed:
Aug. 13, 2009
Gerd Benner, Aalen, DE;
Gerd Benner, Aalen, DE;
Carl Zeiss NTS GmbH, Oberkochen, DE;
Abstract
A particle beam apparatus has an optical axis (OA), an illuminating system () for illuminating an object, which is positioned in an object plane (), with a beam of charged particles and an objective () for imaging the illuminated object. The beam of charged particles is split at the object into a null beam and higher diffraction orders. The illuminating system is so configured that it generates an annularly-shaped illuminating aperture in a plane Fourier transformed to the object plane (). A phase-shifting element () is mounted in a focal plane () of the objective () or in a plane conjugated thereto. The focal plane () faces away from the object plane (). The phase-shifting element can be an einzel lens having two outer electrodes and one or several inner electrodes disposed therebetween when seen in the direction of the optical axis. The phase-shifting element can have an additional electrode at or near the optical axis.