Patent ID: 7935943

Claim:
A focused ion beam (FIB) processing system comprising: a FIB irradiation unit that irradiates a FIB onto a pattern formed in a wafer, to form a section of the pattern that intersects a top surface of the wafer; an imaging unit that images the section of the pattern; a calculation unit that calculates a pattern size w, wherein w is expressed as w=A sin ω(t-T0), where A is a dimension of the pattern , and a differential, dw/dt, of the pattern size w as a function of time t, based on the image of the section; a judgment unit that judges whether or not the calculated differential, dw/dt, of the pattern size is equal to or below a threshold; and a control unit that stops said FIB irradiation unit if said judgment unit judges that the differential, dw/dt, of the pattern size is equal to or below the threshold.