| US 7,586,093 B2 | ||
| Apparatus and method for inspecting a sample of a specimen by means of an electron beam | ||
| Hans-Peter Feuerbaum, Munich (Germany) | ||
| Assigned to ICT, Integrated Circuit Testing Gesellschaft fur Halbleiterpruftechnik mbH, Heimstetten (Germany) | ||
| Appl. No. 10/554,572 PCT Filed Apr. 26, 2004, PCT No. PCT/EP2004/004402 § 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Nov. 06, 2006, PCT Pub. No. WO2004/097378, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 11, 2004. |
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| Claims priority of application No. 03009558 (EP), filed on Apr. 28, 2003. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0057182 A1, Mar. 15, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. A61N 5/00 (2006.01); G21G 5/00 (2006.01); G01N 23/00 (2006.01); G21K 7/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 250—311 [250/310; 250/306; 250/307; 250/492.3] | 24 Claims |
| 18. A method for inspecting a sample of a specimen by means of an electron beam comprising:
a) providing an apparatus having a vacuum chamber, an ion beam device to generate an ion beam and an electron beam device
to generate an electron beam;
b) introducing the specimen into the vacuum chamber;
c) irradiating the specimen in the vacuum chamber by means of the electron beam while detecting electrons released from the
specimen in a backward direction with respect to the direction of the electron beam;
d) etching the sample out of the specimen in the vacuum chamber by means of the ion beam and separating the specimen and the
sample by separating means comprising a specimen holder and a sample holder; and
e) irradiating the sample of the specimen in the vacuum chamber by means of the electron beam while detecting electrons released
from the sample in a forward direction with respect to the direction of the electron beam.
|