Charged particle beam apparatus and method for operating the same

摘要

A charged particle beam apparatus is provided which comprises a charged particle source (1) for producing a primary beam of charged particles, aperture means (2) for collimating said primary beam of charged particles, wherein said aperture means is adapted to switch between a collimation of said primary beam to a width appropriate for serial imaging of a sample (8) as well as a collimation of said primary beam to a width appropriate for parallel imaging of said sample (8), a condenser lens (3) for condensing said primary beam of charged particles, scanning means (5) for deflecting said primary beam of charged particles, an objective lens (6) for focusing said condensed primary beam, a sectorized detector (7) for detecting a secondary charged particles. Also, several different operation modes of the beam apparatus are described allowing for serial imaging as well as parallel imaging.