Apparatus and method for surface modification using charged particle beams
First Claim
1. A method for charge neutralization of a charged particle beam, comprising:
- a) maintaining a sample under an initial low pressure within a chamber;
b) injecting a gas into the chamber directly onto a small portion of the sample creating a micro-environment on the small portion of the sample, the micro-environment having a gas concentration higher than elsewhere on the sample, while the sample outside the small portion is maintained closer to the initial low pressure; and
c) passing the charged particle beam through the micro-environment and onto the small portion of the sample for promoting charge neutralization in the micro-environment.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for using high beam currents in FIB circuit edit operations, without the generation of electrostatic discharge events. An internal partial chamber is disposed over the circuit to be worked on by the FIB. The partial chamber has top and bottom apertures for allowing the ion beam to pass through, and receives a gas through a gas delivery nozzle. A non-reactive gas, or a combination of a non-reactive gas and a reactive gas, is added to the FIB chamber via the partial chamber, until the chamber reaches a predetermined pressure. At the predetermined pressure, the gas pressure in the partial chamber will be much greater than that of the chamber, and will be sufficiently high such that the gas molecules will neutralize charging induced by the beam passing through the partial chamber.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for charge neutralization of a charged particle beam, comprising:
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a) maintaining a sample under an initial low pressure within a chamber; b) injecting a gas into the chamber directly onto a small portion of the sample creating a micro-environment on the small portion of the sample, the micro-environment having a gas concentration higher than elsewhere on the sample, while the sample outside the small portion is maintained closer to the initial low pressure; and c) passing the charged particle beam through the micro-environment and onto the small portion of the sample for promoting charge neutralization in the micro-environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification