Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method of raster scanning a sample on a continuously moving stage for charged-particle beam imaging said sample, comprising:line scanning a charged-particle beam across a surface of said sample repeatedly to form thereon at least one 2-dimensional line array composed of a plurality of scan lines lying adjacent to each other, each line array having a parallelogram shape with one of its parallel-edge pairs (or extension lines thereof) intersecting the axis of stage movement, the distance along the axis of stage movement between the intersection points being referred to as the image width,wherein when each line scan is to be performed, said charged-particle beam is shifted, along the stage-moving direction, by an extra predefined distance at least equal to a distance of said stage travel during a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the first formed line array to the beginning of the current line scan to be performed of the current line array being formed, andwherein said at least one line array forms an image of said sample surface. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising after said image is formed, directing said charged-particle beam to the beginning position of the first line scan of the next image to be formed. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the moving speed of said stage is less than said image width divided by a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the previous said image formed to the beginning of the first line scan of the next image to be formed. 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the moving speed of said stage is substantially equal to said image width divided by a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the previous image formed to the beginning of the first line scan of the next image to be formed. 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the moving speed of said stage is greater than said image width divided by a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the previous image formed to the beginning of the first line scan of the of the next image to be formed. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein lines of said parallel-edge pair (or extensions thereof) intersecting the axis of stage movement have a larger incident angle with the axis of stage movement than lines of the other parallel-edge pair of said parallelogram. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the line-scan direction is parallel to the stage-moving direction. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the line-scan direction is perpendicular to the stage-moving direction. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the line-scan direction is at an angle with the stage-moving direction, said angle falling in a range of 0 to 180 degrees but excluding 0, 90 and 180 degrees. 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeatedly line scanning said charged-particle beam across a same position of line on said sample at least two times,wherein when each of said at least two line scans is to be performed, said charged-particle beam is shifted, along the stage-moving direction, by an extra predefined distance at least equal to a distance of said stage travel during a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the first formed line array to the beginning of the current line scan to be performed of the current said line array being formed. 11. A charged-particle beam imaging system, comprising:a charged-particle beam provider for providing a focused charged-particle beam;a deflection module for scanning said charged-particle beam across a surface of a sample to be imaged;a moving stage whereupon said sample is secured for imaging; anda control module coupled with said stage and said deflection module for coordinating the motion of said stage and said charged-particle beam, such that said charged-particle beam is scanned across a surface of said sample repeatedly to form thereon at least one 2-dimensional line array composed of a plurality of scan lines lying adjacent to each other, each line array having a shape of a parallelogram with lines of one of its parallel-edge pairs or extensions thereof intersecting the axis of stage movement, thereby defining a width on the axis between the intersection points,wherein when each line scan is to be performed, said charged-particle beam is shifted, along the stage-moving direction, by an extra predefined distance at least equal to one said stage traveled during a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the first formed said line array to the beginning of the current line scan to be performed of the current said line array being formed, andwherein said at least one line array forms an image of said sample surface. 12. The charged-particle beam imaging system of claim 11, wherein after said image is formed the system is configured to direct said charged-particle beam to the beginning position of the first line scan of the next image to be formed on said sample surface. 13. The charged-particle beam imaging system of claim 12, wherein the moving speed of said stage is less than said width divided by a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the previous said image formed to the beginning of the first line scan of the next image to be formed. 14. The charged-particle beam imaging system of claim 12, wherein the moving speed of said stage is substantially equal to said width divided by a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the previous said image formed to the beginning of the first line scan of the next image to be formed. 15. The charged-particle beam imaging system of claim 12, wherein the moving speed of said stage is greater than said width divided by a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the previous said image formed to the beginning of the first line scan of the next image to be formed. 16. The charged-particle beam imaging system of claim 11, wherein the lines of said parallel-edge pair intersecting the axis have a larger incident angle with the axis than do lines of the other parallel-edge pair of said parallelogram. 17. The charged-particle beam imaging system of claim 11, wherein the line-scan direction is parallel to the stage-moving direction. 18. The charged-particle beam imaging system of claim 11, wherein the line-scan direction is perpendicular to the stage-moving direction. 19. The charged-particle beam imaging system of claim 11, wherein an angle between the line-scan direction and the stage-moving direction is in a range of 0 to 180 degrees but is not equal to 0, 90 or 180 degrees. 20. The charged-particle beam imaging system of claim 11, the system being configured to repeatedly line scan, at least two times, said charged-particle beam across a same position of line on said sample,wherein when each of said at least two line scans is to be performed, the system is configured to shift said charged-particle beam along the stage-moving direction by an extra predefined distance about equal to that traveled by said stage during a time period from the beginning of the first line scan of the first formed line array to the beginning of the current line scan to be performed of the current said line array being formed.