公开(公告)号：US20210151291A1

公开(公告)日：2021-05-20

申请号：US17146409

申请日：2021-01-11

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Weiming REN ,  Xuedong LIU ,  Xuerang HU ,  Zhong-wei CHEN

IPC: H01J37/317 ,  H01J37/147 ,  H01J37/30 ,  H01J37/28 ,  B82Y10/00 ,  B82Y40/00

Abstract: The present disclosure proposes a crossover-forming deflector array of an electro-optical system for directing a plurality of electron beams onto an electron detection device. The crossover-forming deflector array includes a plurality of crossover-forming deflectors positioned at or at least near an image plane of a set of one or more electro-optical lenses of the electro-optical system, wherein each crossover-forming deflector is aligned with a corresponding electron beam of the plurality of electron beams.

公开(公告)号：US20200381212A1

公开(公告)日：2020-12-03

申请号：US16888424

申请日：2020-05-29

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Weiming REN ,  Xuedong LIU ,  Xuerang HU ,  Zhong-wei CHEN

IPC: H01J37/317 ,  H01J37/28 ,  H01J37/141 ,  H01J37/147

Abstract: Systems and methods of reducing the Coulomb interaction effects in a charged particle beam apparatus are disclosed. The charged particle beam apparatus may comprise a charged particle source and a source conversion unit comprising an aperture-lens forming electrode plate configured to be at a first voltage, an aperture lens plate configured to be at a second voltage that is different from the first voltage for generating a first electric field, which enables the aperture-lens forming electrode plate and the aperture lens plate to form aperture lenses of an aperture lens array to respectively focus a plurality of beamlets of the charged particle beam, and an imaging lens configured to focus the plurality of beamlets on an image plane. The charged particle beam apparatus may comprise an objective lens configured to focus the plurality of beamlets onto a surface of the sample and form a plurality of probe spots thereon.

公开(公告)号：US20200381211A1

公开(公告)日：2020-12-03

申请号：US16885872

申请日：2020-05-28

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Weiming REN ,  Xuedong LIU ,  Xuerang HU ,  Zhong-wei CHEN ,  Martinus Gerardus Johannes Maria MAASSEN

IPC: H01J37/317 ,  H01J37/145 ,  H01J37/28

Abstract: Systems and methods of mitigating Coulomb effect in a multi-beam apparatus are disclosed. The multi-beam apparatus may include a charged-particle source configured to generate a primary charged-particle beam along a primary optical axis, a first aperture array comprising a first plurality of apertures having shapes and configured to generate a plurality of primary beamlets derived from the primary charged-particle beam, a condenser lens comprising a plane adjustable along the primary optical axis, and a second aperture array comprising a second plurality of apertures configured to generate probing beamlets corresponding to the plurality of beamlets, wherein each of the plurality of probing beamlets comprises a portion of charged particles of a corresponding primary beamlet based on at least a position of the plane of the condenser lens and a characteristic of the second aperture array.

公开(公告)号：US20200286707A1

公开(公告)日：2020-09-10

申请号：US16824499

申请日：2020-03-19

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Martinus Gerardus, Maria, Johannes MAASSEN ,  Peter Paul HEMPENIUS ,  Weiming REN ,  Zhongwei CHEN

IPC: H01J37/21 ,  H01J37/244 ,  H01J37/28

Abstract: A charged particle beam apparatus includes a beamlet forming unit configured to form and scan an array of beamlets on a sample. A first portion of the array of beamlets is focused onto a focus plane, and a second portion of the array of beamlets has at least one beamlet with a defocusing level with respect to the focus plane. The charged particle beam apparatus also includes a detector configured to detect an image of the sample formed by the array of beamlets, and a processor configured to estimate a level of separation between the focus plane and the sample based on the detected image and then reduce the level of separation based on the estimated level.

公开(公告)号：US20200161079A1

公开(公告)日：2020-05-21

申请号：US16679023

申请日：2019-11-08

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Weiming REN ,  Xuedong LIU ,  Xuerang HU ,  Zhong-wei CHEN

IPC: H01J37/145 ,  H01J37/26 ,  H01J37/285

Abstract: An electromagnetic compound lens may be configured to focus a charged particle beam. The compound lens may include an electrostatic lens provided on a secondary optical axis and a magnetic lens also provided on the secondary optical axis. The magnetic lens may include a permanent magnet. A charged particle optical system may include a beam separator configured to separate a plurality of beamlets of a primary charged particle beam generated by a source along a primary optical axis from secondary beams of secondary charged particles. The system may include a secondary imaging system configured to focus the secondary beams onto a detector along the secondary optical axis. The secondary imaging system may include the compound lens.

公开(公告)号：US20200152412A1

公开(公告)日：2020-05-14

申请号：US16551655

申请日：2019-08-26

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Weiming REN ,  Xuedong LIU ,  Xuerang HU ,  Zhongwei CHEN

IPC: H01J37/147 ,  H01J37/10 ,  H01J37/06 ,  H01J37/28

Abstract: A multi-beam apparatus for observing a sample with high resolution and high throughput is proposed. In the apparatus, a source-conversion unit forms plural and parallel images of one single electron source by deflecting plural beamlets of a parallel primary-electron beam therefrom, and one objective lens focuses the plural deflected beamlets onto a sample surface and forms plural probe spots thereon. A movable condenser lens is used to collimate the primary-electron beam and vary the currents of the plural probe spots, a pre-beamlet-forming means weakens the Coulomb effect of the primary-electron beam, and the source-conversion unit minimizes the sizes of the plural probe spots by minimizing and compensating the off-axis aberrations of the objective lens and condenser lens.

公开(公告)号：US20200051779A1

公开(公告)日：2020-02-13

申请号：US16536284

申请日：2019-08-08

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Weiming REN ,  Xuedong Liu ,  Xuerang Hu ,  Zong-wei Chen

IPC: H01J37/28 ,  H01J37/10 ,  H01J37/147 ,  H01J37/06

Abstract: Systems and methods for observing a sample in a multi-beam apparatus are disclosed. A charged particle optical system may include a deflector configured to form a virtual image of a charged particle source and a transfer lens configured to form a real image of the charged particle source on an image plane. The image plane may be formed at least near a beam separator that is configured to separate primary charged particles generated by the source and secondary charged particles generated by interaction of the primary charged particles with a sample. The image plane may be formed at a deflection plane of the beam separator. The multi-beam apparatus may include a charged-particle dispersion compensator to compensate dispersion of the beam separator. The image plane may be formed closer to the transfer lens than the beam separator, between the transfer lens and the charged-particle dispersion compensator.

公开(公告)号：US20200027694A1

公开(公告)日：2020-01-23

申请号：US16484106

申请日：2018-02-01

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Yongxin WANG ,  Weiming REN ,  Zhonghua DONG ,  Zhongwei CHEN

IPC: H01J37/244 ,  H01J37/28

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for charged particle detection. The detection system can comprise a signal processing circuit configured to generate a set of intensity gradients based on electron intensity data received from a plurality of electron sensing elements. The detection system can further comprise a beam spot processing module configured to determine, based on the set of intensity gradients, at least one boundary of a beam spot; and determine, based on the at least one boundary, that a first set of electron sensing elements of the plurality of electron sensing elements is within the beam spot. The beam spot processing module can further be configured to determine an intensity value of the beam spot based on the electron intensity data received from the first set of electron sensing elements and also generate an image of a wafer based on the intensity value.

公开(公告)号：US20190333732A1

公开(公告)日：2019-10-31

申请号：US16474027

申请日：2017-12-22

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Weiming REN ,  Xuedong LIU ,  Xuerang HU ,  Zhong-wei CHEN

IPC: H01J37/145

Abstract: The present disclosure proposes an anti-rotation lens and using it as an anti-rotation condenser lens in a multi-beam apparatus with a pre-beamlet-forming mechanism. The anti-rotation condenser lens keeps rotation angles of beamlets unchanged when changing currents thereof, and thereby enabling the pre-beamlet-forming mechanism to cut off electrons not in use as much as possible. In this way, the multi-beam apparatus can observe a sample with high resolution and high throughput, and is competent as a yield management tool to inspect and/or review defects on wafers/masks in semiconductor manufacturing industry.

公开(公告)号：US20190279844A1

公开(公告)日：2019-09-12

申请号：US16295971

申请日：2019-03-07

Applicant: ASML Netherlands B.V.

Inventor： Weiming REN ,  Xuedong LIU ,  Xuerang HU ,  Zhong-wei CHEN

IPC: H01J37/317 ,  H01J37/147 ,  H01J37/30 ,  B82Y40/00 ,  B82Y10/00

Abstract: The present disclosure proposes a crossover-forming deflector array of an electro-optical system for directing a plurality of electron beams onto an electron detection device. The crossover-forming deflector array includes a plurality of crossover-forming deflectors positioned at or at least near an image plane of a set of one or more electro-optical lenses of the electro-optical system, wherein each crossover-forming deflector is aligned with a corresponding electron beam of the plurality of electron beams.