Abstract:
Small tweezers having a pair of arms openable and closable is moved closer to a sample and grips a particle attached on a surface of the sample and carries it onto an adhesion member to attach it thereto. The small tweezers are opened to release the particle and brought away from the adhesion member to leave the particle on the adhesion member. A particle removing device includes small tweezers having a pair of arms openable and closable; an opening/closing driving unit that drives the arm or arms to open/close the small tweezers; a stage mounting an adhesion member that attaches thereto a particle to withdraw the particle; and a moving mechanism that moves the small tweezers between the sample and the adhesion member mounted on the stage. Also, an atomic force microscope and a charged ion beam apparatus that include the particle removing device are disclosed.

Description:
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE 
       [0001]    The disclosure of the following priority application is herein incorporated by reference: 
         [0002]    Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-159230 (filed Jun. 15, 2007). 
         [0003]    Also, the disclosures of the following patent references are incorporated herein by reference: 
         [0004]    U. S. Pat. No. 5,406,833; and 
         [0005]    U. S. Pat. Nos. 5,086,230, and 5,574,280, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0138388. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0007]    The present invention relates to a particle removing method, a particle removing device, an atomic force device, and a charged particle beam apparatus. 
         [0008]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0009]    Adhesion of particles in a semiconductor device production process affects the yield and quality of the semiconductor device produced. Particles on the photomask cause post-defects upon exposure. Various methods for removing such particles thus far presented include removing the particles by picking up them with tweezers (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2005-84582). U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,833 discloses an atomic force microscope. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,086,230 and 5,574,280 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0138388 disclose focused ion beam devices. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    However, small particles have small weights and hence they tend to adhere to tweezers that grip them due to static charge or cohesion even after the tweezers are released or opened. As a result, the particles do not come off from the tweezers at a predetermined position. This is inconvenient in that when the tweezers with the particles attached thereto are used again and brought close up to an object to be cleaned, i.e., an object from which a particle is to be removed, the particle on the tweezers is attached again to the object to be cleaned. 
         [0011]    In a first aspect, the present invention provides a particle removing method, including: relatively moving small tweezers having a pair of arms with respective gripping sections that are openable and closable closer to a surface of a sample and gripping a particle attached on the surface of the sample with the sample gripping sections of the arms; relatively moving the small tweezers gripping the particle onto an adhesion member and having the particle contacted with the adhesion member; and then opening the small tweezers to release the particle and relatively moving the small tweezers away from the adhesion member. 
         [0012]    In the first aspect, the method may further include: relatively moving the small tweezers to position the sample gripping section of the small tweezers at a predetermined distance above the surface of the sample before gripping the particle; and when the particle is contacted with the adhesion member, relatively moving the small tweezers to press a lower part of the particle gripped by the sample gripping section of the small tweezers against the adhesion member so that only the particle is attached to the adhesion member. 
         [0013]    In the first aspect, the method may further include: scanning the surface of the sample with a tip of the arms to perform atomic microscope observation to obtain image information and detect a position of the particle on the surface of the sample and a height of the particle on the surface of the sample based on the obtained image information; and aligning the small tweezers with the detected position and controlling the height of the sample gripping section from the surface of the sample according to the height of the particle to grip the particle. 
         [0014]    In the first aspect, the method may further include: pressing the sample gripping section of the small tweezers against the adhesion member to remove micro dust attached to the sample gripping section before the gripping the particle attached on the surface of the sample with the small tweezers. 
         [0015]    In a second aspect, the present invention provides a particle removing method, including: operating a small tweezers having a pair of arms that are openable and closable to close the pair of arms to grip a particle attached on a surface of a sample between the pair of arms; relatively moving the small tweezers gripping the particle to an adhesion member having a surface that allows the particle to be attached thereto by adhesion force to remove the particle from the surface of the sample and have the particle contacted with the adhesion member; and operating the small tweezers to open the pair of arms to release the particle from the small tweezers and relatively moving the small tweezers away from the adhesion member, whereby the particle remains as attached to the surface of the adhesion member. 
         [0016]    In the second aspect, the method may further include: adjusting a height of the small tweezers from the surface of the sample. 
         [0017]    In the second aspect, the method may further include: upon contacting the particle to the adhesion member, pressing a lower part of the particle to the adhesion member so that only the lower part of the particle is attached to the adhesion member without contacting the small tweezers with the adhesion member. 
         [0018]    In the second aspect, the method may further include: scanning the surface of the sample with a tip of the pair of arms of the small tweezers to perform atomic microscope observation to obtain image information and detect a position of the particle on the surface of the sample and a height of the particle on the surface of the sample based on the obtained image information; and aligning the small tweezers with the detected position and controlling the height of the sample gripping section from the surface of the sample according to the height of the particle to grip the particle. 
         [0019]    In the second aspect, the method may further include: pressing the sample gripping section of the small tweezers against the adhesion member to remove micro dust attached to the sample gripping section before the gripping the particle attached on the surface of the sample with the small tweezers. 
         [0020]    In a third aspect, the present invention provides a particle removing device including: small tweezers having a pair of arms that are openable and closable to release/grip a particle therebetween; an opening/closing driving unit that drives at least one of the pair of arms to open/close; a stage mounting thereon an adhesion member to which the particle is to be attached; and a moving mechanism that relatively moves the small tweezers between the sample and the adhesion member mounted on the stage. The particle on the sample is gripped by closing of the small tweezers, is released by opening of the small tweezers, and is attached to the adhesion member, so that the particle is transferred from the sample onto the adhesion member. 
         [0021]    In the particle removing device according to the third aspect, the moving mechanism may be adapted to relatively move the small tweezers to and from the sample in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the moving mechanism moves the small tweezers between the sample and the adhesion member mounted on the stage. 
         [0022]    In the third aspect, the particle removing device may further include: a piezoelectric element that vibrates the small tweezers. 
         [0023]    In the particle removing device according to the third aspect, the pair of arms may include a stationary arm and a movable arm integrally formed on a support; and the particle removing device further comprises an optical lever detection system including a laser beam source and a photodiode, adapted to detect deflection of the stationary arm. 
         [0024]    In the particle removing device according to the third aspect, the pair of arms may include a stationary arm and a movable arm integrally formed on a support; and the particle removing device may further include a piezoelectric element that resonantly vibrates the stationary arm to enable observation of a shape of the surface of the sample. 
         [0025]    In the particle removing device according to the third aspect, the adhesion member may include an adhesive sheet having an adhesive layer. 
         [0026]    In the particle removing device according to the third aspect, the adhesive layer may include a material selected from the group consisting of polyurethane, acrylic solvent type pressure-sensitive adhesive, and silicone resin. 
         [0027]    In the particle removing device according to the third aspect, the opening/closing driving unit may drive both of the pair of arms to open/close. 
         [0028]    In the third aspect, the particle removing device may further include a three-dimensional stage that mounts thereon the sample and the adhesion member. The moving mechanism is adapted to move the three-dimensional stage mounting thereon the sample and the adhesion member to and from the small tweezers. 
         [0029]    In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides an atomic microscope including: a particle removing device according to the third aspect of the present invention. 
         [0030]    In a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a charged particle beam apparatus including: a particle removing device according to the third aspect of the present invention. 
         [0031]    According to the present invention, the removed particles can be transferred from the small tweezers to the adhesion member with high reliability, so that the particles can be prevented from adhering to the sample again via the small tweezers. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0032]      FIG. 1  illustrates a particle removing method according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0033]      FIG. 2  is a schematic plan view showing an example of a nano tweezers according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0034]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing a rear side of the nano tweezers; 
           [0035]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram showing a construction of a particle removing device; 
           [0036]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of operations for removing particles; 
           [0037]      FIG. 6A  is a schematic diagram illustrating a lifting operation in a sequence from detection to gripping of a particle P by the nano tweezers; 
           [0038]      FIG. 6B  is a schematic diagram illustrating a scanning operation in the sequence from the detection to the gripping of a particle P by the nano tweezers; 
           [0039]      FIG. 6C  is a schematic diagram illustrating a moving/gripping operation in the sequence from the detection to the gripping of a particle P by nano tweezers; 
           [0040]      FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram illustrating a Z-servo system; and 
           [0041]      FIG. 8  is a schematic perspective view illustrating a focused ion beam apparatus equipped with the particle removing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0042]    Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the attached drawings. 
         [0043]      FIG. 1  illustrates a method of removing particles according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment, particles adhering to the surface of a sample are removed using tweezers that can grip small objects having a size on the order of micrometers or nanometers (hereafter, the tweezers being referred to as “nano tweezers”) The operation of removing particles using nano tweezers is performed in a clean room.  FIG. 1  illustrates a method of removing a particle P on a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) substrate  2 . On the CCD substrate  2  is formed an on-chip microlens  200  for each pixel. Heretofore, the particle P has been removed with a cleaning solution. If the surface of the CCD substrate  2  is uneven like the surface of the microlenses  200 , the particle P tends to remain in a concaved portion as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0044]    The operation of removing the particle P with nano tweezers  1  (to be detailed later) according to the present embodiment are outlined. The nano tweezers are moved to the position of the particle P. After the height of the nano tweezers  1  is adjusted, the nano tweezers  1  is driven to close to grip the particle P. The nano tweezers  1  with the particle P gripped therewith is moved in air to a position of an adhesion member  3 , which is a destination of the particle P. Then the nano tweezers  1  is approached to the adhesion member  3  and the particle P is caused to attach to the adhesion member  3 . Thereafter, the nano tweezers are driven to open to release the particle P and moved away from the adhesion member  3 . By the series of actions, the particle P is left to be attached to the adhesion member  3  due to adhesive force acting between the particle and the adhesion member  3 . 
         [0045]    As mentioned above, various methods of gripping the particle P with the tweezers  1  have been presented so far. When the particle P comprised of an inorganic material or an organic material is gripped with the nano tweezers  1  and thereafter the nano tweezers  1  is driven to open, the particle P tends to be left attached to the nano tweezers  1  due to electrostatic force or adhesive force acting between the particle P and the tweezers  1 . In particular, when the particle P is comprised of the organic material, the particle P is easily attached to the surface of the nano tweezers  1  because of cohesiveness of the particle P. This causes inconveniences. When the nano tweezers  1  with the particle P attached thereto is approached to the microlens  200  in order to remove another particle P, the particle P attached to the nano tweezers  1  comes to be attached to the microlens  200  again. 
         [0046]    In the present embodiment, the particle P gripped by the nano tweezers  1  is attached to an adhesion member separately provided in order to prevent reattachment of the particle P to the microlens  200 . Since the particle P removed from the nano tweezers  1  is firmly attached to the surface of the adhesion member because of the adhesive force of the adhesion member  3 , inconveniences that could otherwise occur such that the particle P would come off from the adhesion member  3 , migrate in the device, and be reattached to one of the microlenses  200  again can be prevented. The adhesion member  3  may be, for example, a substrate having applied thereon an adhesive sheet provided with an adhesive layer. Materials that can be used for the adhesive layer include, for example, a polyurethane or acrylic solvent-type adhesive or a silicone resin. 
         [0047]      FIGS. 2 and 3  show an example of the nano tweezers  1  used for removing particles.  FIG. 2  is a plan view of the nano tweezers  1  and  FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing the rear side of the nano tweezers  1 . The nano tweezers  1  includes a stationary arm  10  and a movable arm  20 , both integrally formed on a support  25 . The nano tweezers  1  are formed by processing an SOI (Silicon-on-Insulator) substrate by a photolithographic technology. The nano tweezers  1  function not only as tweezers for gripping a sample but also as a cantilever when the stationary arm  10  is used in an observation by AFM (Atomic Force Microscope). 
         [0048]    The stationary arm  10  includes a lever  10 A and a probe section  10 B provided on a tip of the lever  10 A. When AFM observation is performed with the nano tweezers  1 , the stationary arm  10  is used as an observation probe. The movable arm  20  includes a lever  20 A and a gripping section  20 B provided on a tip of the lever  20 A. The probe  10 B and the gripping section  20 B are arranged substantially parallel to each other at a predetermined distance from each other. 
         [0049]    The movable arm  20  is driven to open and close by an electrostatic actuator  6  in the form of a comb. The electrostatic actuator  6  includes a fixed electrode  60  in the form of a comb fixed on the support  25  and a movable electrode  61  in the form of a comb linked to the movable arm  20 . Between the fixed electrode  60  and the movable electrode  61  is applied direct-current arm opening/closing voltage by the drive circuit  9 . 
         [0050]    The movable electrode  61  is supported on the support  25  by an elastic support section  62 . The elastic support section  62  is linked to the movable arm  20  by a linking member  63 . With this construction, when arm opening/closing voltage is controlled so as to drive the movable electrode  61  in the x direction, the movable arm  20  is driven in a direction in which the nano tweezers  1  are closed. As a result, a sample, which is present between the probe section  10 B and the gripping section  20 B, can be gripped by the nano tweezers  1 . The probe section  10 B and the gripping section  20 B are set such that their lengths in the y direction, widths in the x direction, and heights in the z direction are all equal to each other and each of them is of a wedge form tapering off to a point in the −z direction. 
         [0051]    The cross-sections of the probe section  10 B and the gripping section  20 B are each of a rectangular triangle, with front side thereof flat and the rear side thereof sharpened or tapered off as shown in  FIG. 3 . Opposing gripping surfaces of the probe section  10 B and the gripping section  20 B are vertical parallel planes, so that they can easily grip the sample therebetween. The sharpened edge of the probe section  10 B facilitates AFM observation. 
         [0052]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing a whole construction of the particle removing device when particles are removed with the nano tweezers  1 . The CCD substrate  2  and the adhesion member  3  are mounted on a three-dimensional stage  8  and driven together in the x, y, and z directions relative to the nano tweezers  1 . A laser beam from a laser beam source  12  is irradiated onto an upper surface of the stationary arm  10  to generate reflected light. The reflected light is detected by a photodiode  13 . 
         [0053]    The photodiode  13  may be a 2-part or 4-part divided photodiode. A detection signal from the photodiode  13  is input into a control unit  4  that controls the particle removing device in whole. The laser beam source  12  and the photodiode  13  constitute an optical lever detection system that detects deformation, more particularly deflection of the stationary arm  13 . For example, when the stationary arm  10  contacts the substrate or the like and is further advanced in the z direction, the stationary arm  10  is deflected to some extent and this deflection is calculated based on a detection signal from the photodiode  13 . 
         [0054]    The position of the particle P on the microlens  200  is measured in advance and the obtained positional information is input to a memory unit  5 . The control unit  4  controls the three-dimensional stage  8  and the drive circuit  9  based on the positional information stored in the memory unit  5  to perform particle removing action by the nano tweezers  1 . 
         [0055]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of particle removing action. In a step S 100 , the position of particle P on the microlens  200  is measured by a well-known method. For example, a method of detecting laser scattered light is known. According to this method, to perform measurement on a particle on a surface of a wafer, a laser beam is irradiated onto the surface of the wafer so as to be incident obliquely and light scattered by the particle is detected. In a step S 102 , all the pieces of positional information obtained in the step S 101  are stored in the memory unit  5 . In a step S 104 , the control unit  4  calculates, based on the measured positional information of the particle, an order of transfer and a driving procedure of the stage  8  and the nano tweezers  1  upon transfer for each particle and stores the results of the calculations. 
         [0056]    Besides the measurement of the position of particles, the position and height of all the particles can be obtained more exactly by obtaining images with AFM. The position and height of all the particles may also be obtained with AFM alone. In any case, an optimal driving procedure concerning all the particles is calculated in advance and when performing a particle removing action, the particles are removed following the order determined by the calculation based on the optimal driving procedure. 
         [0057]    In a step S 106 , the stage  8  is driven according to the transfer procedure calculated in the step S 104  to relatively move the nano tweezers  1  to the position of the particle. For example, the stage  8  is driven in the x and y directions so that the nano tweezers  1  is relatively moved to be placed just above the particle. Then the stage  8  is driven in the z direction to relatively lower the tweezers  1  until the nano tweezers  1  contacts the surface of the microlens  200 . On this occasion, a deflection of the stationary arm  10  due to the contact is detected by the above-mentioned optical lever detection system. After the contact, the nano tweezers  1  is raised to a position at which the deflection is zero. 
         [0058]    In a step S 107 , the nano tweezers  1  is drawn up by a predetermined distance from a surface of the sample. The predetermined distance is set to, for example, ½ or less of the height of the particle from the surface of the sample. 
         [0059]    Thereafter, in a step S 108 , the movable arm  20  is closed to allow the nano tweezers  1  to grip the particle. In a step S 110 , the stage  8  is driven to relatively move the nano tweezers  1  gripping the particle to just above a predetermined transfer destination or position on the adhesion member  3 . The predetermined transfer position means a transfer position for each particle that is determined in the step S 104 . For example, an adhesive area of the adhesion member  3  is divided in the form of a lattice and one particle is attached to each of the divided areas. 
         [0060]    In a step  112 , the nano tweezers  1  is relatively lowered toward the adhesion member  3  until a lower part of the particle is attached to the adhesion member  3 . In order to ensure the attachment of the particle to the adhesion member  3 , the nano tweezers  1  is relatively lowered until the lower end of the particle contacts the surface of the adhesion member  3  and a deflection of the stationary arm  10  is detected, that is, the lower end of the particle is pressed against the surface of the adhesion member  3 . Thereafter, the movable arm  20  is driven to open to cause the nano tweezers  1  to open and the nano tweezers  1  is elevated from the surface of the adhesion member  3 . As a result, only the particle P is left on the surface of the adhesion member  3  due to the adhesion between the particle P and the adhesion member  3 . By this action, contact of the gripping section on the arm tip with the adhesion member  3  is decreased, so that attachment of the adhesive material to the gripping section on the arm tip is decreased. 
         [0061]    Although the nano tweezers  1  is lowered in the direction toward the adhesion member in a closed state, the nano tweezers  1  may be lowered after the nano tweezers  1  is opened. When the nano tweezers  1  is opened, the particle P may fall onto the adhesion member  3  or the particle P may remain as attached to the arm section. When the particle P remains as attached to the arm section  10 , the tip of the nano tweezers  1  is pressed onto the surface the adhesion member  3  until it is inserted into the surface in order to further increase the adhesive force to thereby detach the particle from the nano tweezers  1 . 
         [0062]    Alternatively, the nano tweezers  1  maybe vibrated up and down with an piezoelectric element just above the adhesion member  3  to cause the stationary arm  10  formed with the lever  10 A and the probe section  10 B to resonantly vibrate at an amplitude as large as 100 nm or more, or the movable arm  20  formed with the lever  20 A and the gripping section  20 B may be opened and closed by the static actuator  6 . In this manner, the particles attached to the arms  10  and  20  can be detached. 
         [0063]    In a step S 114 , it is judged whether or not the transfer of all the detected particles to the adhesion member  3  is completed. If it is judged in the step S 114  that the transfer is not completed, the process is returned to the step S 106  and the nano tweezers  1  is moved to a next particle position. The processing in the steps S 106  to S 112  is performed to attach a second particle to a second transfer position. When the processing in the steps S 106  to S 112  is repeatedly performed and all the particles detected are transferred to the adhesion member  3 , it is judged in the step S 104  that the transfer is completed and thus a series of processing concerning transfer action is completed. 
         [0064]    A particle removing device having nano tweezers according to a second embodiment is described below. 
         [0065]    In the above-mentioned first embodiment, the position of the particle on the substrate is measured by a measuring device in advance and the nano tweezers  1  is moved based on the result of the measurement. When the probe section  10 B of the stationary arm  10  comes closer to the surface of the substrate, the stationary arm  10  is deflected toward the substrate due to force that acts between the probe section  10 B and the surface of the substrate. In the device shown in  FIG. 4 , the deflection deformation of the stationary arm  10  can be detected by the optical lever detection system. Therefore, by operating a Z-servo system (see  FIG. 7  to be detailed below) in order to scan the surface of the substrate in the directions of X and Y with the probe section  10 B so that the detected deflection becomes constant, unevenness of the surface of the substrate can be detected. 
         [0066]    In the Z-servo system shown in  FIG. 7 , a Z-axis control signal (Vc) based on the detection signal from the photodiode  13  is input into a comparator COMP where the Z-axis control signal (Vc) is compared with a predetermined set point value. Thereafter, the nano tweezers  1  is driven in the z direction by the piezoelectric element through a PID (Positional-Integral-Derivative) controller and a HV (High Voltage) power source. 
         [0067]    In the second embodiment, the stationary arm  10  is used as a probe to detect particles. For example, when only a rough position of a particle is known because of low detection accuracy of the measurement device, a predetermined area that includes the position detected by the measurement device may be scanned by the probe section  10 B of the stationary arm  10  in order to obtain an exact position of the particle. 
         [0068]      FIGS. 6A through 6C  illustrate a series of actions from detection of the particle P to gripping it. As shown in  FIG. 6A , the nano tweezers  1  is lowered until the probe section  10 B of the stationary arm  10  contacts the surface of the substrate  2 . In the same manner as in the first embodiment, this contact is detected by detecting the deflection of the stationary arm  10  by the optical lever detection system. 
         [0069]    Thereafter, as shown in  FIG. 6B , the surface of the substrate  2  is scanned by the probe section  10 B in such a manner that the deflection of the stationary arm  10  becomes constant. If the particle P is present on the surface of the substrate  2  during the scanning, a locus of the tip of the probe section  10 B is of the form shown in a broken line L. From the results of scanning, the position of the particle P is obtained and the nano tweezers  1  is moved as shown in  FIG. 6C  so as to contact the surface of the substrate again such that the deflection of the stationary arm  10 B of the nano tweezers  1  becomes constant again. Thereafter, the nano tweezers  1  is elevated such that the probe section  10 B is at a predetermined distance (for example, h/2 where his the height of the particle) from the surface of the sample and the z servo system is fixed to grip the particle P. 
         [0070]    Although in this embodiment, the deflection of the stationary arm  10  is detected by the optical lever detection system, it would also be acceptable to provide the stationary arm  10  with a piezoelectric element to enable detection of the deflection to be performed based on voltage that is generated in the piezoelectric element. In the above-mentioned embodiment, the shape of the surface of the substrate is measured in a contact mode. However, the measurement of the shape of the surface of the substrate may be performed in a dynamic force mode. That is, the shape of the surface may be observed by causing resonant vibration of the stationary arm  10  to occur with the piezoelectric element and performing scanning of the surface of the sample in the x and y directions while controlling the Z servo system such that changes in resonant vibration conditions (amplitude, frequency, and phase) are constant. 
         [0071]    According to the above-mentioned embodiment, the gripped particle is attached to the adhesion member  3 , so that the particle P is prevented from remaining as attached to the nano tweezers  1 . As a result, reattachment of the particle from the nano tweezers  1  to the substrate  2  can be prevented and the particle P attached to the substrate  2  can be removed efficiently and reliably. 
         [0072]    In the above-mentioned embodiment, the deflection of the stationary arm  10  is detected with the optical lever detection system or the like to detect the contact of the stationary arm  10  with the surface of the substrate  2  or the surface of the adhesion member  3 , and the movement of the nano tweezers  1  in the z direction is controlled. Besides the above-mentioned type of controlling method, it would also be acceptable to control the movement of the nano tweezers  1  in the z direction as follows. That is, the z position of the nano tweezers  1  is aligned with respect to a reference plane for the z-position while observing the nano tweezers  1  with, for example, a microscope in advance, and the movement of the nano tweezers  1  in the z direction is controlled based on a relative position of the nano tweezers  1  with respect to the reference plane for the z-position. While the arm  20 , which is one of the arms of the nano tweezers  1 , is driven to open and close and the arm  10  used for the detection of particles is set in a stationary state, the present invention is also applicable to nano tweezers of the type in which both the arms  10  and  20  are driven to open and close. 
         [0073]    While the substrate  2  and the adhesion member  3  are mounted on the three-dimensional stage  8  and the stage  8  together with the substrate  2  and the adhesion member  3  is moved in the x, y, and z directions with respect to the nano tweezers  1 , it would also be acceptable to move the nano tweezers  1  with the three-dimensional stage  8  with respect to the substrate  2  and the adhesion member  3 . However, in the construction in which the nano tweezers  1  gripping the particle is moved with the stage  8 , there is a possibility that the particle gripped by the nano tweezers  1  could be dropped when the three-dimensional stage  8  is accelerated or decelerated. Therefore, it is preferred that the substrate  2  and the adhesion member  3  are moved by the three-dimensional stage  8  as carried thereon. 
         [0074]    The above-mentioned particle removing processes and the particle removing device can be employed in a scanning electron microscope or a charged particle beam apparatus such as a focused ion beam apparatus equipped with a particle removing device having nano tweezers. Reference may be made to, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,833; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,086,230 and 5,574,280 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0138388 for basic constructions of the scanning electron microscope and the focused ion beam, respectively. 
         [0075]      FIG. 8  shows a focused ion beam apparatus equipped with the particle removing device having nano tweezers according to one of the embodiments of the present invention. An ion beam apparatus  80  includes a focused ion beam barrel  81  that emits a focused ion beam  82  and a vacuum chamber  86  connected to the focused ion beam barrel  81 . In the vacuum chamber  86  are arranged a sample stage  84  on which a sample  83  is placed. A particle removing device having nano tweezers device  87  that includes the nano tweezers  1  (for example,  FIG. 2 ) is arranged in the vicinity of the sample stage  84 . When the focused ion beam  82  is irradiated from the focused ion beam barrel  81  onto the sample  83  mounted on the stage  84  to scan it, secondary electrons are generated on a surface of the sample  83 . The generated secondary electrons are detected by a secondary electron detecting unit  85  to create a secondary electron signal. A secondary electron image on the surface of the sample  83  can be obtained from the detected secondary electron signals. When the particle removing device having nano tweezers  87  is operated in the vicinity of the sample  83 , the operation can be monitored through the secondary electron image, so that the particle removing device having nano tweezers  87  can be operated more exactly. 
         [0076]    In the above-mentioned embodiments, the minute tweezers may be preliminarily cleaned before gripping the particle therewith. More particularly, after the calculation of the transfer procedure in the step S 104  ( FIG. 5 ), or after a negative judgment is made on completion of the transfer and the process is returned to the step S 106 , and before the nano tweezers  1  are actually moved to the position of the particle, the nano tweezers  1  are moved to the adhesion member  3  and contacted therewith to transfer dust, dirt, and the like, if any, to the adhesion member  3 . Thus, the nano tweezers  1  are cleaned. Then, the cleaned nano tweezers  1  are moved to the position of the particle in the step S 106  and the subsequent operations are performed in the same manner as in the above-mentioned embodiments. As a result, the sample can be made much cleaner. 
         [0077]    The probe section  10 B and the gripping section  20 B may constitute a sample gripping unit, the electrostatic actuator  6  may constitute an opening/closing driving section, and the three-dimensional stage  8  may constitute a moving mechanism. 
         [0078]    What is explained above is only exemplary and the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments and variations. 
         [0079]    The above described embodiments are examples and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.