Patent ID: 9396907
Filing Date: 2016-07-19
CPC Classification: H01J

Claim Text:
1. A method of calibrating a Scanning Transmission Charged-Particle Microscope comprising: a specimen holder, for holding a specimen; a source, for producing a beam of charged particles; an illuminator, for directing said beam so as to irradiate the specimen; an imaging system, for directing charged particles that traverse the specimen onto a detector; scanning means, for causing said beam to undergo scanning motion relative to a surface of the specimen, which microscope can be operated in: a non-scanning mode, whereby said beam is relatively broad and said detector forms an image without invocation of said scanning means; or a scanning mode, whereby said beam is relatively narrow and said detector accumulates an image as a function of scan position of said beam, said calibration method comprising: providing a calibration specimen on said specimen holder; in non-scanning mode, using said detector to form a calibration image of the calibration specimen, using a given configuration of said imaging system; utilizing a known dimension of said calibration specimen and comparing it to a corresponding dimension in said calibration image to calibrate a characteristic dimension of a field of view of said detector; in scanning mode, recording a beam pattern of said beam in the calibrated field of view of said detector, and examining the recorded beam pattern to derive a geometric aspect thereof.