A Study on the Large-Area Image Acquisition Using Stage Transfer Synchronization Method in a Low-Energy Microcolumn System

Abstract

We studied the stage transfer synchronization method to improve the low throughput which is the biggest drawback of the raster scan method when applied to image acquisition in a low energy microcolumn system. Through preliminary experiments, we were able to acquire some sample images and some images of the measured samples by applying the synchronization method to a conventional single-microcolumn system. The image acquired in this preliminary experiment was three times larger than that acquired by the raster scan method in the vertical direction. In this study, we tested two types of the synchronization method: the first method acquires an image by horizontal electron beam scanning followed by a vertical stage transfer, and the second one acquires an image by vertical electron beam scanning followed by a horizontal stage transfer. By applying the vertical stage transfer synchronization method, we could acquire a larger image than that acquired by the conventional raster scan method. The vertical stage transfer synchronization method image was 1.8 times larger in the horizontal direction and 6 times larger in the vertical direction. In addition, a larger image approximately nine times in the horizontal direction and five times in the vertical direction was acquired by applying the horizontal stage transfer synchronization method.