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First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- exposing a first portion of a sample to a charged particle beam to generate a first image of the first portion of the sample;
receiving, at a control system, a directional input;
determining if a second portion of the sample adjacent to the first portion of the sample in a direction based on the directional input has been previously exposed to generate an image of the second portion;
if the second portion has been previously exposed, retrieving the image of the second portion from a memory; and
if the second portion has not been previously exposed, exposing a second portion of the sample adjacent to the first portion of the sample in a direction based on the directional input to a charged particle beam to generate a second image;
combining at least a portion of the first image with the second image or the retrieved image of the second portion to generate a third image; and
displaying the third image on a user interface.
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Abstract
In general, in one aspect, the disclosure features a method and system for imaging of samples, for example, imaging samples with charged particles.
7 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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exposing a first portion of a sample to a charged particle beam to generate a first image of the first portion of the sample; receiving, at a control system, a directional input; determining if a second portion of the sample adjacent to the first portion of the sample in a direction based on the directional input has been previously exposed to generate an image of the second portion; if the second portion has been previously exposed, retrieving the image of the second portion from a memory; and if the second portion has not been previously exposed, exposing a second portion of the sample adjacent to the first portion of the sample in a direction based on the directional input to a charged particle beam to generate a second image; combining at least a portion of the first image with the second image or the retrieved image of the second portion to generate a third image; and displaying the third image on a user interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method comprising:
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exposing a sample to a charged particle beam to generate a first image of a first portion of the sample; exposing portions of the sample adjacent to the first portion of the sample in multiple directions to a charged particle beam to generate a set of adjacent images; receiving, at a control system, a directional input; combining at least a portion of the first image with at least a portion of one or more of the adjacent images to generate a third image; and displaying the third image on a user interface.
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15. A method comprising:
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displaying, on a user interface associated with a particle beam system, a first image of a first portion of a sample, the first image comprising an image generated by exposing the first portion of the sample to a charged particle beam; displaying, on the user interface, a second image of a second portion of the sample, the second portion of the sample including a non-overlapping region not included in the first portion and an overlapping region included in the first portion;
the second image comprising an image generated by exposing the non-overlapping region of the sample to a charged particle beam without exposing the overlapping region to the charged particle beam. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A method comprising:
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displaying a slow scan image of a first portion of a sample at a first magnification on a user interface; receiving an input indicating a second portion of the sample desired to be viewed at a second level of magnification that is different than the first level of magnification; determining if the second portion has been previously exposed to generate an image of the second portion at the second level of magnification; if the second portion has been previously exposed at the second level of magnification, retrieving the image of the second portion from a memory; and if the second portion has not been previously exposed at the second level of magnification, scanning the second portion of the sample at the second magnification using a slow scan technique, displaying the slow scan image of the second portion of the sample on the user interface. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A method comprising:
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exposing a first portion of a sample to a charged particle beam to generate a first image of a the first portion of the sample at a first level of magnification; receiving an identification of one or more regions of interest in the first image; and exposing the identified regions of interest to the charged particle beam to generate a images of the regions of interest at a second level of magnification, the second level of magnification being greater than the first level of magnification. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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Specification