Methods and devices for examining an electrically charged specimen surface

1. A method for examining a specimen surface with a probe of a scanning probe microscope, the specimen surface having an electrical potential distribution of an electrostatic charge, the method comprising the steps of:

a. scanning a particle beam across at least one first partial region of the specimen surface;

b. determining an energy spectrum of at least one of secondary particles or back-scattered particles that result from the scanning of the particle beam across the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface;

c. determining the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge of the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface based on the energy spectrum of the at least one of secondary particles or back-scattered particles; and

d. modifying the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface and/or modifying an electrical potential of the probe of the scanning probe microscope before scanning at least one second partial region of the specimen surface.

2. The method according to claim 1 , step (d) being performed if an absolute value of the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface exceeds a first threshold.

3. The method according to claim 2 , also comprising the step of: scanning the at least one second partial region of the specimen surface with the probe of the scanning probe microscope if an absolute value of the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface is less than or equal to the first threshold.

4. The method according to claim 2 , also comprising the step of: modifying the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface if the absolute value of the determined electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge of the at least one first partial region exceeds a second threshold, which is greater than the first threshold.

5. The method according to claim 4 , also comprising the steps of:

a. again determining the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge at least in the first partial region of the specimen surface; and

b. scanning the at least one second partial region of the specimen surface with the probe of the scanning probe microscope if the absolute value of the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region is less than or equal to the first threshold; or

c. again modifying the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one second partial region of the specimen surface and/or modifying the electrical potential of the probe before the scanning of the at least one second partial region if the absolute value of the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface exceeds the first threshold and is less than the second threshold.

6. The method according to claim 1 , the modification of the electrical potential of the probe of the scanning probe microscope comprising applying to the probe a voltage that corresponds substantially to the determined electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one second partial region of the specimen surface.

7. The method according to claim 1 , the modification of the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface comprising irradiating the specimen surface with a charged particle beam.

8. The method according to claim 7 , also comprising the step of: at least one of (i) fixing an irradiation dose of the charged particle beam in dependence on the determined electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge of the at least one first partial region, or (ii) applying a plasma discharge to at least the first partial region of the specimen surface, and fixing a time period of the plasma discharge in dependence on the determined electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge of the at least one first partial region.

9. The method according to claim 1 , the modification of the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge comprising applying a plasma discharge to at least the first partial region of the specimen surface.

10. The method according to claim 1 , the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface comprising the at least one second partial region of the specimen surface.

11. The method of claim 1 in which determining the energy spectrum comprises determining the energy spectrum of the secondary particles that result from the scanning of the particle beam across the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface.

12. The method of claim 1 in which the particle beam comprises an electron beam, and the at least one of secondary particles or back-scattered particles comprise at least one of secondary electrons or back-scattered electrons.

13. The method of claim 12 in which determining the energy spectrum comprises determining the energy spectrum of the secondary electrons.

14. The method of claim 12 , comprising using scanning data obtained from the scanning of the electron beam to generate a scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the at least one first partial region.

15. The method of claim 1 , comprising using scanning data obtained from the scanning of the particle beam to generate an image of the at least one first partial region.

16. The method of claim 15 , comprising, based on the electrical potential distribution, correcting the scanning data to generate an image of the at least one first partial region with better quality in which artifacts caused by the electrical potential distribution are reduced.

17. A device for examining a specimen surface with a probe of a scanning probe microscope, the specimen surface having an electrical potential distribution of an electrostatic charge, the device comprising

a. means for scanning a particle beam across at least one first partial region of the specimen surface;

b. means for determining an energy spectrum of at least one of secondary particles or back-scattered particles that result from the scanning of the particle beam across the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface;

c. means for determining the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge of the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface based on the energy spectrum of the at least one of secondary particles or back-scattered particles; and

d. means for modifying the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge of the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface and/or means for modifying an electrical potential of the probe of the scanning probe microscope before scanning at least one second partial region of the specimen surface if an absolute value of the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface exceeds a first threshold.

18. The device according to claim 17 , the device being designed to perform the method steps according to claim 1 .

19. The device of claim 17 in which the means for modifying the electrical potential of the probe of the scanning probe microscope comprising means for applying to the probe a voltage that corresponds substantially to the determined electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one second partial region of the specimen surface.

20. The device of claim 17 in which the means for modifying the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface comprises means for irradiating the specimen surface with a charged particle beam.

21. The device of claim 17 in which the means for modifying the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge comprising means for applying a plasma discharge to at least the first partial region of the specimen surface.

22. A system comprising:

a scanning probe microscope comprising a probe and configured to examine a specimen surface having an electrical potential distribution of an electrostatic charge;

a scanning particle microscope configured to scan a particle beam across at least one first partial region of the specimen surface; and

a computer configured to determine the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge of the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface based on scanning data obtained from the scanning particle microscope, in which the system is configured to at least one of modify the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge in the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface, or modify an electrical potential of the probe of the scanning probe microscope, before scanning at least one second partial region of the specimen surface.

23. The system of claim 22 in which the computer is configured to:

determine an energy spectrum of at least one of secondary particles or back-scattered particles that result from the scanning of the particle beam across the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface; and

determine the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge of the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface based on the energy spectrum of the at least one of secondary particles or back-scattered particles.

24. The system of claim 22 in which the scanning particle microscope comprises a scanning electron microscope configured to scan an electron beam across the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface.

25. The system of claim 24 in which the computer is configured to:

determine an energy spectrum of at least one of secondary electrons or back-scattered electrons that result from the scanning of the electron beam across the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface; and

determine the electrical potential distribution of the electrostatic charge of the at least one first partial region of the specimen surface based on the energy spectrum of the at least one of secondary electrons or back-scattered electrons.