Charged particle beam apparatus and sample processing observation method
Disclosed are a charged particle beam apparatus and a sample processing observation method, the method including: a sample piece formation process in which a sample is irradiated with a focused ion beam such that a sample piece is cut out from the sample; a cross-section processing process in which the sample piece support holds the sample piece and a cross section thereof is irradiated with the ion beam to process the cross section; a sample piece approach movement process in which the sample piece support holds the sample piece and the sample piece is moved to a position that is closer to an electron beam column than an intersection point of beam optical axes of the ion beam and an electron beam is; and a SEM image acquisition process in which the cross section is irradiated with the electron beam to acquire the SEM image of the cross section.
1. A charged particle beam apparatus comprising: a focused ion beam column emitting a focused ion beam; an electron beam column emitting an electron beam; a stage on which a sample is placed; a sample piece support holding a sample piece, which is cut out from the sample, including an observation target portion; and a control device controlling operation of the focused ion beam column, the electron beam column, the stage, and the sample piece support,
wherein the control device performs, when acquiring an SEM image of a cross section including the observation target portion of the sample, control to move the sample piece to a position that is closer to the electron beam column than to an intersection point of a beam optical axis of the focused ion beam and a beam optical axis of the electron beam.
2. The charged particle beam apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control device performs, when forming the cross section with the focused ion beam, control to move the sample piece to the intersection point.
3. The charged particle beam apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control device, in at least one case among a case when the cross section is irradiated with the focused ion beam such that processing of the cross section is performed and a case when the SEM image of the cross section comprising the observation target portion of the sample is acquired, performs control to move the stage to approach the sample piece.
4. A sample processing observation method for processing a cross section including an observation target portion of the sample and for acquiring a SEM image thereof, by using a charged particle beam apparatus including: a focused ion beam column emitting a focused ion beam; an electron beam column emitting an electron beam; and a sample piece support holding a sample piece which is cut out from the sample, including the observation target portion, the sample processing observation method comprising:
a sample piece formation process in which the sample is irradiated with the focused ion beam such that the sample piece is cut out from the sample;
a cross-section processing process in which the sample piece is supported by the sample piece support and the cross section of the sample piece is irradiated with the focused ion beam such that processing of the cross section is performed;
a sample piece approach movement process in which the sample piece is supported by the sample piece support and the sample piece is moved to a position that is closer to the electron beam column than an intersection point of a beam optical axis of the focused ion beam and a beam optical axis of the electron beam is; and
an SEM image acquisition process in which the cross section of the sample piece is irradiated with the electron beam such that the SEM image of the cross section is acquired.
5. The sample processing observation method of claim 4 , further comprising:
a sample piece angle adjustment process in which the sample piece is supported by the sample piece support and the cross section of the sample piece is tilted to be at a right angle to the beam optical axis of the electron beam.
6. The sample processing observation method of claim 4 , further comprising:
a correction mark formation process in which a drift correction mark is formed on the sample piece.
7. The sample processing observation method of claim 5 , wherein the sample piece angle adjustment process performs transfers of the sample piece between a plurality of sample piece supports.
8. The sample processing observation method of claim 4 , wherein in at least one process among the cross-section processing process and the SEM image acquisition process, a stage on which the sample is placed is moved to approach the sample piece.
9. The sample processing observation method of claim 4 , wherein in the cross-section processing process, only a portion that locates inside of at least one part of a periphery portion of the sample piece is made into a thin film.
10. The sample processing observation method of claim 4 , wherein the processes from the cross-section processing process to the image acquisition process, including the sample piece approach movement process, are repeated a predetermined number of times.