Patent ID: 6894277

Claim:
A scanning electron microscope comprising: an electron source to radiate an electron beam; an objective lens system to focus the radiated electron beam on a sample; a scanning system to scan said focused electron beam on said sample; a secondary electron detection system to detect secondary electrons emitted from said sample; and a secondary electron image displaying system to display a secondary electron image of said sample with a secondary electron detection signal from said secondary electron detection system; wherein said objective lens system is composed of a first objective lens and a second objective lens; said first objective lens is arranged on a side near to said electron source; said second objective lens is disposed adjacent to said first objective lens and is arranged on a side near to said sample; said scanning system is a scanning coil; said secondary electron detection system is a secondary electron detector that is provided on the electron source side of said objective lens system; and said first objective lens is mainly excited when a wide visual field mode is used and said second objective lens is mainly excited when a high resolution mode is used.