Patent ID: 8536540

Claim:
A charged particle beam apparatus comprising: a charged particle column including a function of irradiating a primary charged particle beam on a sample and detecting a secondary charged particle generated by the irradiation; a vacuum sample chamber arranged in a lower part of the charged particle column; and a first sample replacement chamber and a second sample replacement chamber for storing a sample holder on which the sample is placed and carrying out the sample holder, on which the sample is placed, to the vacuum sample chamber, wherein the first sample replacement chamber stores a first sample holder and the second sample replacement chamber stores a second sample holder, the first sample holder and the second sample holder include sample covers formed in circumferences of sample placing surfaces, and materials of the sample covers differ between the first sample holder and the second sample holder, and a charge of a charging voltage which is the same as that of the sample is generated in at least one of the first sample holder and the second sample holder by irradiation of a preliminary charging beam.