Patent ID: 8781219

Claim:
An apparatus for accurately locating a feature of interest on a sample, comprising: a moveable sample stage for supporting the sample; a particle beam column for producing a beam of particles to image the sample; and a computer-readable non-transitory memory storing computer instructions, the instructions including a program for controlling the apparatus and causing the apparatus to carry out the steps of: (i) loading a sample into a particle beam system; (ii) navigating to the portion of the array containing the feature of interest; (iii) forming at least one fiducial on the sample surface at a location near the estimated location of the feature of interest; (iv) obtaining an image of an edge strip along an edge of the array, said edge strip image having a resolution high enough that the pixel size is less than half of the minimum repeating dimension of the cells in the array, and the edge strip image being at least X cells in length and substantially smaller than the field of view in the first image; (v) analyzing the image data to automatically count X cells along the edge of the array to determine the location of the desired row containing the feature of interest; (vi) obtaining a row strip image along the desired row, said row strip image having a resolution high enough that the pixel size is less than half of the minimum repeating dimension of the cells in the array, and the row strip image being at least Y cells in length and substantially smaller than the field of view in the first image, and the row strip image including at least one fiducial and the feature of interest; (vii) analyzing the image data to automatically count Y cells along the desired row to determine the location of cell address X, Y containing the feature of interest; and (viii) determining the offset between the at least one fiducial and the location of cell address X, Y containing the feature of interest.