Patent ID: 11961705
Assignee: CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 27:
28. An apparatus for examining a beam of charged particles, comprising:
a. means for producing persistent interactions of the beam with a sample at a plurality of positions of the sample relative to the beam, in which the persistent interactions comprise beam-induced deposition of material from vapor phase onto a part of the surface of the sample, the deposited material being obtained from at least one precursor material; and
b. means for deriving at least one property of the beam by analyzing the spatial distribution of the persistent interactions at the plurality of positions,
wherein at least some of the plurality of positions of the sample are arranged at different points in the direction of propagation of the beam by adjusting the position of the sample while keeping beam optics parameters constant;
wherein producing the persistent interactions further comprises varying one or more parameters of the beam-induced deposition of material to cause the deposition of material to become saturated with respect to a beam intensity in a core region of the beam of charged particles by performing at least one of:
(i) increasing the intensity of the beam of charged particles;
(ii) changing an interaction duration of the beam with the sample;
(iii) reducing an amount of the at least one precursor material provided to the part of the surface of the sample to reduce the concentration of the at least one precursor material at the part of the surface of the sample; or
(iv) depleting the precursor material in the core region of the beam.