Patent ID: 8440969

Claim:
A method for acquiring simultaneous and overlapping optical and charged-particle beam images of a sample mounted on a mechanical scanning stage in a multi-beam microscope; the multi-beam microscope having a first imaging beam comprising charged particles having a first focus, a second imaging beam comprising light having a second focus with a spot size that defines a sample pixel area, the method comprising: aligning the imaging beams on the sample so that the first focus and the second focus overlap at a coincidence point; locating the sample so as to place a selected object plane at the coincidence point; specifying a region of interest within the object plane for image acquisition; scanning the sample using the mechanical scanning stage to cover the entire region of interest with the imaging beams; and recording imaging signals corresponding to the imaging beams while scanning proceeds, whereby the recorded images form pixel-by-pixel simultaneous and overlapping images corresponding to the first and second imaging beams.