Radiant energy – Inspection of solids or liquids by charged particles – Electron probe type
Reexamination Certificate
2008-05-20
2008-05-20
Vanore, David (Department: 2881)
Radiant energy
Inspection of solids or liquids by charged particles
Electron probe type
C250S311000, C250S3960ML, C250S397000, C250S399000, C250S306000, C250S307000
Reexamination Certificate
active
11324311
ABSTRACT:
In a scanning electron microscope, slimming is reduced by reducing a frame count. As the frame count is reduced, the amount of detected secondary electrons decreases, so that a probe current amount is increased to emit an increased amount of detected secondary electrons. A primary electron beam is scanned on a sample, a histogram is created, and the histogram is second-order differentiated to calculate a level of halftone at which a sample image changes in contrast, and to calculate the probe current amount. By adjusting the frame count suitable for the calculated probe current amount, and the contrast suitable for the sample image, the slimming of the sample is limited, and a highly visible sample image is generated for length measurement.
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Fujita Masashi
Iwama Satoru
Kawada Hiroki
Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
Souw Bernard
Vanore David
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