Electron beam apparatus

• US 7,960,697 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2008
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ASML Netherlands BV (ASML Holding NV)
• Original Assignee: Hermes Microvision, Inc. (ASML Holding NV)
• Inventors: He, Wei, Cao, Feng, Ren, Weiming, Liu, Xuedong, He, Fumin, Dou, Juying, Guo, Xiaoli, Ren, Yan, Xi, Qingpo, Wang, Joe, Chen, Zhongwei
• Primary Examiner(s): Vanore; David A
• Application Number:
  US12/257,304
• Publication Number:
  US 20100102227A1
• Time in Patent Office: 964 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 250/310
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/06341 Field emission
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/24592 Inspection and quality control of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/073 Electron guns using field emission, photo emission, or secondary emission electron sources
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/244 Detectors; Associated components or circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/28 with scanning beams H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence

Abstract

The present invention relates to a charged particle beam apparatus which employs a scanning electron microscope for sample inspection and defect review.

The present invent provides solution of improving imaging resolution by utilizing a field emission cathode tip with a large tip radius, applying a large accelerating voltage across ground potential between the cathode and anode, positioning the beam limit aperture before condenser lens, utilizing condenser lens excitation current to optimize image resolution, applying a high tube bias to shorten electron travel time, adopting and modifying SORIL objective lens to ameliorate aberration at large field of view and under electric drifting and reduce the urgency of water cooling objective lens while operating material analysis.

The present invent provides solution of improving throughput by utilizing fast scanning ability of SORIL and providing a large voltage difference between sample and detectors.

Claims

1. A charged particle beam apparatus which employs a scanning electron microscope for sample inspection and defect review, comprising:

a primary particle beam source for generating a primary particle beam, wherein the primary electron beam source has a ZrO/W field emission cathode (cathode);

an accelerating electrode (anode) for accelerating generated primary electron beam;

a beam limit aperture for adjusting preferred probe current;

a condenser lens to condense the primary particle beam;

a beam tube with a positive bias to ground potential to guide primary beam toward sample to be inspected;

a SORIL type objective lens system for focusing the primary electron beam into an electron beam probe;

a sample to be inspected with a negative bias to ground potential; and

a detection system for detecting secondary electrons and x-ray emanating from sample upon being impinged by the electron beam probe.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tip radius of the ZrO/W field emission cathode tip is equal to or larger than 1.0 micron.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tip radius of the ZrO/W field emission cathode tip is in a range between 1.2 and 1.6 micron.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cathode has a negative bias to ground potential.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the anode has a positive potential to ground potential.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage difference between accelerating electrode and field emission cathode is equal to or larger than 10 KV.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage difference between accelerating electrode and field emission cathode is equal to or larger than 15 KV.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beam limit aperture is positioned in front of condenser lens.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beam tube is set to the anode voltage.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beam tube is set to the vicinity of anode voltage.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sample bias voltage to ground potential is equal to or lower than −

4 KV and higher than the cathode voltage when not operating with EDS.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SORIL type objective lens system comprises:

a magnetic lens for generating a magnetic field in the vicinity of sample to focus the electron beam probe onto the sample, the magnetic lens having a central bore through which the electron beam travels;

a controlling electrode with positive bias to the sample voltage for controlling the retarding electrical field on sample surface lower than the value which ensures no sample micro-arcing and dynamically performing micro-focusing while the image is defocused; and

a deflection system for deflecting the electron beam probe to allow scanning of the sample.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the value of retarding electrical field on sample surface to ensure no sample micro-arcing is 1.8 KV/mm.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the controlling electrode is made of electrical conduction materials with high magnetic permeability.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the controlling electrode is a towards-optical-axis extension of outer polepiece of the magnetic objective lens.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the controlling electrode has a function to provide no enforced cooling while operating with EDS.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the controlling electrode is electrically isolated from the outer polepiece of the magnetic objective lens.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detecting system further comprises:

a detector for detecting secondary electrons emanating from sample upon being impinged by the electron beam probe; and

a detector for detecting x-ray emanating from sample upon being impinged by the electron beam probe.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, where the detector for detecting secondary electrons is a multi-channels detector for revealing stereo image.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, where the detector for detecting x-ray is Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS) detector for material identification.