Patent ID: 9552957
Date: 2017-01-24
CPC Classifications: H01J

Claim:
1. A particle beam system, comprising: a particle source configured to generate a first beam of charged particles; a first multi-aperture plate having a multiplicity of first openings, the first multi-aperture plate being arranged so that a first portion of the charged particles in the first beam strike the first multi-aperture plate and a second portion of the charged particles in the first beam pass through the first openings to provide a plurality of second beams of charged particles downstream of the first multi-aperture plate, each second beam having a cross section defined by a cross section of a respective first opening through which the second beam passed; a second multi-aperture plate having a multiplicity of second openings, the second multi-aperture plate being arranged so that each second beam passes through a respective second opening; an aperture plate arranged at a distance from the second multi-aperture plate, the aperture plate having an opening configured so that each second beam passes through the opening in the aperture plate; a third multi-aperture plate having a multiplicity of third openings, the third multi-aperture plate being arranged so that each second beam passes through a respective third opening; a multiplicity of field generators supported by the third multi-aperture plate, each field generator being assigned to a respective third opening, each field generator being configured to provide a field which acts on the second beam passing through its respective third opening, each field comprising a field selected from the group consisting of a dipole field and a quadrupole field; and a controller configured to provide a first electric potential to the aperture plate and a second electric potential to the second multi-aperture plate, the first and second electric potentials being configured so that the second openings act as a lens on the charged particles in the second beams, and the controller being configured to provide adjustable excitations to the field generators.