CHARGED PARTICLE BEAM DEVICE WITH RETARDING FIELD ANALYZER

摘要

The invention provides a charged particle beam device (100) to inspect or structure a specimen (102) with a primary charged particle beam (104) propagating along an optical axis (108); a beam tube element (130) having a tube voltage (VT); and a retarding field analyzer (1, 50) in the vicinity of the beam tube element (130) to detect secondary charged particles (2,105) generated by the primary charged particle beam (104) on the specimen (102). According to the invention, the retarding field analyzer (1, 50) thereby comprises an entrance grid electrode (10) at a second voltage (V2); at least one filter grid electrode (4) at a first voltage (V1); a charged particle detector (8) to detect the secondary charged particles (2,105); and at least one further electrode element (122, 122a, 122b, 152, 152a, 152b, 170, 170a, 170b) arranged between the entrance grid electrode (10) and the at least one filter grid electrode (4). The at least one further electrode element (122, 122a, 122b, 152, 152a, 152b, 170, 170a, 170b, 180) reduces the size of the stray fields regions (41) in the retarding electric field region (20) to improve the energy resolution of the retarding field analyzer (1, 50). The improvement of the energy resolution is significant, in particular when the beam tube element (130) is part of a high voltage beam tube.