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

Claim 35:
36. A method for examining a beam of charged particles, the method comprising:
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 at least one of (i) direct modification of a part of the surface of the sample to cause persistent changes at the part of the surface of the sample, (ii) beam-induced deposition of material from vapor phase onto a part of the surface of the sample, or (iii) etching of a part of the surface of the sample using at least one etching gas;
wherein producing the persistent interactions comprises varying one or more parameters of the persistent interactions to cause the persistent interactions of the beam with the sample to become saturated with respect to a beam intensity in a core region of the beam of charged particles; and
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.