Patent ID: 7973280

Claim:
A composite charged particle beam apparatus comprising: an ion beam lens barrel configured to etch a sample with an ion beam; an electron beam lens barrel configured to irradiate an electron beam onto a given area on the sample; a secondary signal detector configured to detect a secondary signal generated by electron beam irradiation; a data processing unit configured to associate a position to irradiate an electron beam with an amount of secondary signals for imaging; an image display unit configured to display thereon an image of a given area on the sample based on an image signal from the data processing unit; an irradiation position setting means for defining an irradiation permit area or an irradiation inhibit area specified by an input device as electron beam irradiation position data; and an irradiation position control unit configured to control a position to irradiate an electron beam based on electron beam irradiation position data from the irradiation position setting means, wherein the irradiation position setting means updates electron beam irradiation position data depending on whether the specified area is an irradiation permit area or an irradiation inhibit area, whereby the irradiation position control unit restricts electron beam irradiation only to the irradiation permit area.