Patent ID: 7378003

Claim:
A method of using a charged particle beam system to process a substrate including a first structural element that can be damaged by being irradiated by the charged particle beam and a second structural element, near the first structural element, to be processed by the charged particle beam, comprising: scanning a first region of the surface of the substrate with the charged particle beam to generate a first image of the first region, the first region including neither the first structural element nor the second structural element; performing pattern recognition on the first image to automatically identify the location and geometry of an identifiable feature in the first region, the identifiable feature being neither the first structural element nor the second structural element; automatically generating, from the location and geometry of the identifiable feature of the surface, a set of signals that directs the focused particle beam to the second structural element; and automatically processing the second structural element by charged particle beam irradiation, the charged particle beam automatically locating and processing the second structural element without irradiating the nearby first structural element.