IP Library Granted Patent US 10,991,542
Granted Patent B2
US 10,991,542 · App. 16/477,986 · Granted Apr 27, 2021

Charged particle beam device

Inventors: Ryota Watanabe (Tokyo, JP); Yuko Sasaki (Tokyo, JP); Kazunari Asao (Tokyo, JP); Makoto Suzuki (Tokyo, JP); Wataru Mori (Tokyo, JP); Minoru Yamazaki (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: Hitachi High-Tech Corporation
H01J37/222H01J37/10H01J37/244H01J37/28H01J2237/221H01J2237/2448H01J2237/281H01J2237/2806H01J2237/2817
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,991,542
App. No.
16/477,986
Granted
Apr 27, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a charged particle beam device which adjusts brightness and contrast or adjusts focus and the like appropriately in a short time even if there are few detected signals. Proposed as an aspect for achieving this purpose is a charged particle beam device provided with: a detector for detecting charged particles obtained on the basis of irradiation of a specimen with a charged particle beam emitted from a charged particle source; and a control unit for processing a signal obtained on the basis of the output of the detector, wherein the control unit performs statistical processing on gray level values in a predetermined region of an image generated on the basis of the output of the detector, and executes signal processing for correcting a difference between a statistical value obtained by the statistical processing and reference data relating to the gray level values of the image.

Claims (32)

1. A charged particle beam device comprising:

a detector that detects charged particles obtained on the basis of irradiation of a specimen with a charged particle beam emitted from a charged particle source; and

a control unit that processes a signal obtained on the basis of output of the detector, wherein

the control unit is an image processing device that integrates a plurality of frame images to generate an integrated image, and

the control unit performs, before irradiation of the charged particle beam for generating the integrated image, statistical processing on gray level values of frames in a predetermined region of an image generated on the basis of the output of the detector, the number of the frames subject to the statistical processing being smaller than the number of the frames of the integrated image, and

executes signal processing that corrects a difference between a statistical value obtained by the statistical processing and reference data relating to gray level values of the image, thereby generating the integrated image.

2. The charged particle beam device according to claim 1 , wherein

the control unit adjusts contrast and brightness of an image obtained on the basis of an output signal of the detector so as to correct a difference between an average value of the gray level values in the predetermined region and the reference data.

3. The charged particle beam device according to claim 1 , wherein

the control unit is an image processing device that integrates a plurality of frame images to generate an integrated image, and performs signal detection so as to generate the integrated image under a changed device condition after changing the device condition in order to perform the signal processing.

4. The charged particle beam device according to claim 1 , wherein

the control unit calculates each of the statistical values in a plurality of regions of an image generated on the basis of the output of the detector.

5. The charged particle beam device according to claim 4 , wherein

the control unit generates a luminance histogram having a plurality of peaks on the basis of a plurality of statistical values calculated in each of the plurality of regions of the image.

6. The charged particle beam device according to claim 4 , wherein

the plurality of regions include a defect region on a specimen and a region other than the defect region.

7. The charged particle beam device according to claim 1 , wherein

the control unit is an image processing device that integrates a plurality of frame images to generate an integrated image, which includes a first detector and a second detector that detect charged particles obtained on the basis of irradiation of a specimen with the charged particle beam, the statistical processing is performed on the basis of a signal obtained by the first detector, and the integrated image is generated on the basis of output of the second detector.

8. The charged particle beam device according to claim 7 , wherein

a change of a device condition is performed in order to perform the signal processing on the basis of output of the first detector.

9. The charged particle beam device according to claim 8 , wherein

the first detector is a detector that detects secondary electrons.

10. The charged particle beam device according to claim 1 , wherein

the control unit calculates a gray level value of the predetermined region and a variation thereof.

11. A charged particle beam device comprising:

an objective lens that focuses a charged particle beam emitted from a charged particle source;

a detector that detects charged particles obtained on the basis of irradiation of a specimen with the charged particle beam; and

a control unit that processes a signal obtained on the basis of output of the detector, wherein

the control unit is an image processing device that integrates a plurality of frame images to generate an integrated image,

the control unit performs, before irradiation of the charged particle beam for generating the integrated image, statistical processing on gray level values of frames in a predetermined region of an image generated on the basis of the output of the detector, the number of the frames subject to the statistical processing being smaller than the number of the frames of the integrated image, and

the control unit executes signal processing that corrects a difference between a statistical value obtained by the statistical processing and reference data relating to gray level values of the image, thereby generating the integrated image, and

the control unit adjusts a lens condition of the objective lens so as to reduce a variance value obtained on the basis of gray level values in a predetermined region of an image generated on the basis of the output of the detector.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 12, 2021
From: WATANABE, RYOTA; SASAKI, YUKO; ASAO, KAZUNARI; SUZUKI, MAKOTO; MORI, WATARU; YAMAZAKI, MINORU
To: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 055573/0859 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Apr 14, 2020
From: HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
To: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 052398/0249 →
Continuity (1)
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