Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A charged particle beam apparatus comprising:a charged particle beam optical system that irradiates a specimen housed in a specimen chamber with a primary charged beam, detects a secondary charged particle beam generated from the specimen, and outputs a signal of a detection result;first potential measuring means measures potentials on a surface of the specimen at a plurality of locations on a line segment including a center location of the specimen before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam during transfer of the specimen towards a specimen stage of the charged particle beam optical system;height measurement means, which measures a height of the surface of the specimen on the specimen stage before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam; anda control unit that controls the charged particle beam optical system on a basis of height information obtained by height measurement means and potential information obtained by the first potential measurement means,wherein the control unit:estimates a potential distribution for the line segment by a first interpolation on a basis of the potentials measured by the first potential measuring means before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam; andestimates a potential at any location on the specimen by a second interpolation in a circumferential direction of the specimen on a basis of the potential distribution estimated along the line segment before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam. 2. A charged particle beam apparatus comprising:a charged particle beam optical system that irradiates a specimen housed in a specimen chamber with a primary charged beam, detects a secondary charged particle beam generated from the specimen, and outputs a signal of a detection result;first potential measuring means which measures potentials on a surface of the specimen at a first plurality of locations on a first line segment including a center location of the specimen, before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam during transfer of the specimen towards a specimen stage of the charged particle beam optical system;second potential measuring means, which measures potentials on a surface of the specimen at a second plurality of locations on a second line segment parallel to the first line segment, before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam and during transfer of the specimen towards the specimen stage of the charged particle beam optical system;third potential measuring means, which measures potentials on a surface of the specimen at a third plurality of locations on a third line segment parallel to the first line segment and such that the first line segment is interposed between the second line segment and the third line segment, before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam and during transfer of the specimen towards the specimen stage of the charged particle beam optical system;a control unit that controls the charged particle beam optical system on a basis of potential information obtained by the first, second and third potential measurement means,wherein the control unit:estimates potential distributions for each of the first line segment, second line segment and third line segment using a first interpolation on a basis of the potentials measured by the first potential measuring means, second potential measuring means and third potential measuring means, respectively,estimates a potential distribution for a circular area of the surface of the specimen by a second interpolation in a circumferential direction of the specimen on a basis of the potential distribution of the first line segment included in the circular area, where the circular area is defined by a center location corresponding to the central location of the specimen and a radius equal to a distance between the first line segment and the third line segment, andestimates a potential distribution of an outer area defined by a periphery of the specimen and the circular area by a third interpolation in a circumferential direction of the specimen on a basis of the potential distributions of the first line segment, second line segment and third line segment included in the outer area. 3. A charged particle beam apparatus comprising:a charged particle beam optical system that irradiates a specimen housed in a specimen chamber with a primary charged beam, detects a secondary charged particle beam generated from the specimen, and outputs a signal of a detection result;first potential measuring means which measures potentials on a surface of the specimen at a first plurality of locations in a circumferential direction of the specimen along a circle defined by a center location of the specimen before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam during transfer of the specimen towards a specimen stage of the charged particle beam optical system;second potential measuring means, which measures potentials on a surface of the specimen at a second plurality of locations on a line segment including the center location of the specimen, before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam during transfer of the specimen towards a specimen stage of the charged particle beam optical system;a control unit that controls the charged particle beam optical system on a basis of potential information obtained by the first and second potential measuring means,wherein the control unit:estimates a potential distribution for the line segment by a first interpolation on a basis of the potentials measured by the second potential measuring means at the plurality of second locations before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam,estimates a potential distribution for the circle by a second interpolation in a circumferential direction of the specimen on a basis of the potentials measured by the first potential measuring means before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam, andestimates a potential at any location on the surface of the specimen by a third interpolation in a circumferential direction of the specimen on a basis of the potential distribution estimated along the line segment and the potential distribution estimated for the circle before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam. 4. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 1,further comprising: a transfer mechanism for transferring the specimen into the specimen chamber; andthe first potential measuring means is provided on a transfer path for the transfer mechanism to transfer the specimen. 5. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 2,further comprising: a transfer mechanism for transferring the specimen into the specimen chamber; andthe first potential measuring means is provided on a transfer path for the transfer mechanism to transfer the specimen. 6. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 3,further comprising: a transfer mechanism for transferring the specimen into the specimen chamber; andthe first potential measuring means is provided on a transfer path for the transfer mechanism to transfer the specimen. 7. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 1,further comprising:a transfer mechanism for transferring the specimen into the specimen chamber;a specimen exchange chamber for storing the specimen temporarily before the specimen is brought into the specimen chamber; andthe measurement of the potentials at the plurality of locations is performed during a linear transfer operation of the transfer mechanism to transfer the specimen into the specimen exchange chamber. 8. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 2,further comprising:a transfer mechanism for transferring the specimen into the specimen chamber;a specimen exchange chamber for storing the specimen temporarily before the specimen is brought into the specimen chamber; andthe measurement of the potentials by the first, second and third potential measurement means is performed during a linear transfer operation of the transfer mechanism to transfer the specimen into the specimen exchange chamber. 9. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 3,further comprising:a transfer mechanism for transferring the specimen into the specimen chamber;a specimen exchange chamber for storing the specimen temporarily before the specimen is brought into the specimen chamber; andthe measurement of the potentials by the first and second potential measurement means is performed during a linear transfer operation of the transfer mechanism to transfer the specimen into the specimen exchange chamber. 10. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 1, wherein:the control unit has a circumferential direction potential estimating means that executes the second interpolation. 11. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 1, wherein:the first potential measuring means measures potentials on a line segment including a center of the specimen and a notch on the specimen. 12. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 2, wherein:the first potential measuring means measures potentials on a line segment including a center of the specimen and a notch of the specimen. 13. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 3, wherein:the first potential measuring means measures potentials on a line segment including a center of the specimen and a notch of the specimen. 14. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 11, further comprising: an aligner that performs angle adjustment of the specimen relative to the notch. 15. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 1, wherein:spline interpolation is employed for the first interpolation and the second interpolation. 16. A charged particle beam apparatus of claim 1, wherein:a plurality of potential measuring means including the first potential measuring means measure the potentials on the surface of the specimen at a plurality of locations on three to five line segments. 17. A method of controlling a charged particle beam apparatus, in which a specimen is measured on a basis of distribution data of secondary charged particles generated by irradiating the specimen with a charged particle beam, comprising:measuring a plurality of potentials on a line segment including a center of the specimen, before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam and during transfer of the specimen towards a specimen stage of the charged particle beam optical system;estimating a potential distribution for the line segment by a first interpolation on a basis of the potentials measured on the line segment before irradiation of the specimen with the primary charged beam;estimating a potential at any location on a surface of the specimen by a second interpolation in a circumferential direction of the specimen on a basis of the potential distribution estimated along the line segment; andadjusting the charged particle beam apparatus according to the potential estimated by the second interpolation.