公开(公告)号：US20230123152A1

公开(公告)日：2023-04-20

申请号：US17970469

申请日：2022-10-20

申请人： ASML NETHERLANDS B.V.

发明人： Yongxin WANG ,  Zhonghua DONG ,  Rui-Ling LAI ,  Kenichi KANAI

IPC分类号： H01J37/244 ,  G01T1/24 ,  H01J37/28 ,  H01J37/285 ,  H01L31/08

摘要： A detector may be provided with an array of sensing elements. The detector may include a semiconductor substrate including the array, and a circuit configured to count a number of charged particles incident on the detector. The circuit of the detector may be configured to process outputs from the plurality of sensing elements and increment a counter in response to a charged particle arrival event on a sensing element of the array. Various counting modes may be used. Counting may be based on energy ranges. Numbers of charged particles may be counted at a certain energy range and an overflow flag may be set when overflow is encountered in a sensing element. The circuit may be configured to determine a time stamp of respective charged particle arrival events occurring at each sensing element. Size of the sensing element may be determined based on criteria for enabling charged particle counting.

公开(公告)号：US20240136462A1

公开(公告)日：2024-04-25

申请号：US18499141

申请日：2023-10-30

申请人： ASML Netherlands B.V.

发明人： Gianpaolo LORITO ,  Stoyan NIHTIANOV ,  Xinqing LIANG ,  Kenichi KANAI

IPC分类号： H01L31/115 ,  H01J37/244 ,  H01J37/28

CPC分类号： H01L31/115 ,  H01J37/244 ,  H01J37/28 ,  H01J2237/2441

摘要： The present disclosure describes a detector used in critical dimension scanning electron microscopes (CD-SEM) and review SEM systems. In one embodiment, the detector includes a semiconductor structure having a p-n junction and a hole through which a scanning beam is passed to a target. The detector also includes a top electrode for the p-n junction (e.g., anode or cathode) that provides an active area for detecting electrons or electromagnetic radiation (e.g., backscattering from the target). The top electrode has a doped layer and can also have a buried portion beneath the doped layer to reduce a series resistance of the top electrode without changing the active area. In another embodiment, an isolation structure can be formed in the semiconductor structure near sidewalls of the hole to electrically isolate the active area from the sidewalls. A method for forming the buried portion of the top electrode is also described.

公开(公告)号：US20240096589A1

公开(公告)日：2024-03-21

申请号：US18038206

申请日：2021-10-26

申请人： ASML Netherlands B.V.

发明人： Stoyan NIHTIANOV ,  Kenichi KANAI ,  Padmakumar RAMACHANDRA RAO

IPC分类号： H01J37/244

CPC分类号： H01J37/244 ,  H01J2237/2441 ,  H01J2237/2446 ,  H01J2237/24495

摘要： A detector may be provided for a charged particle apparatus comprising:



a sensing element including a diode; and
a circuit configured to detect an electron event caused by an electron impacting the sensing element,
wherein the circuit comprises a voltage monitoring device and a reset device,
wherein the reset device is configured to regularly reset the diode by setting a voltage across the diode to a predetermined value,

and wherein the voltage monitoring device is connected to the diode to monitor a voltage across the diode in between resets.

公开(公告)号：US20230335374A1

公开(公告)日：2023-10-19

申请号：US18019088

申请日：2021-07-27

申请人： ASML Netherlands B.V.

发明人： Benoit Herve GAURY ,  Jun JIANG ,  Bruno LA FONTAINE ,  Shakeeb Bin HASAN ,  Kenichi KANAI ,  Jasper Frans Mathijs VAN RENS ,  Cyrus Emil TABERY ,  Long MA ,  Oliver Desmond PATTERSON ,  Jian ZHANG ,  Chih-Yu JEN ,  Yixiang WANG

IPC分类号： H01J37/26 ,  G01N23/2251 ,  H01J37/244 ,  H01J37/22

CPC分类号： H01J37/265 ,  G01N23/2251 ,  H01J37/244 ,  H01J37/228 ,  H01J2237/2482

摘要： Systems and methods of observing a sample using a charged-particle beam apparatus in voltage contrast mode are disclosed. The charged-particle beam apparatus comprises a charged-particle source, an optical source, a charged-particle detector configured to detect charged particles, and a controller having circuitry configured to apply a first signal to cause the optical source to generate the optical pulse, apply a second signal to the charged-particle detector to detect the second plurality of charged particles, and adjust a time delay between the first and the second signals. In some embodiments, the controller having circuitry may be further configured to acquire a plurality of images of a structure, to determine an electrical characteristic of the structure based on the rate of gray level variation of the plurality of images of the structure, and to simulate, using a model, a physical characteristic of the structure based on the determined electrical characteristic.

公开(公告)号：US20240055219A1

公开(公告)日：2024-02-15

申请号：US18269269

申请日：2021-11-29

申请人： ASML Netherlands B.V.

发明人： Mans Johan Bertil OSTERBERG ,  Kenichi KANAI

IPC分类号： H01J37/147 ,  H01J37/05 ,  H01J37/153 ,  H01J37/28 ,  H01J37/24

CPC分类号： H01J37/1472 ,  H01J37/05 ,  H01J37/153 ,  H01J37/28 ,  H01J37/24 ,  H01J2237/1508

摘要： Apparatus and methods for directing a beam of primary electrons along a primary beam path onto a sample are disclosed. In one arrangement, a beam separator diverts away from the primary beam path a beam of secondary electrons emitted from the sample along the primary beam path. A dispersion device is upbeam from the beam separator. The dispersion device compensates for dispersion induced in the primary beam by the beam separator. One or more common power supplies drive both the beam separator and the dispersion device.

公开(公告)号：US20240234620A9

公开(公告)日：2024-07-11

申请号：US18499141

申请日：2023-10-31

申请人： ASML Netherlands B.V.

发明人： Gianpaolo LORITO ,  Stoyan NIHTIANOV ,  Xinqing LIANG ,  Kenichi KANAI

IPC分类号： H01L31/115 ,  H01J37/244 ,  H01J37/28

CPC分类号： H01L31/115 ,  H01J37/244 ,  H01J37/28 ,  H01J2237/2441

摘要： The present disclosure describes a detector used in critical dimension scanning electron microscopes (CD-SEM) and review SEM systems. In one embodiment, the detector includes a semiconductor structure having a p-n junction and a hole through which a scanning beam is passed to a target. The detector also includes a top electrode for the p-n junction (e.g., anode or cathode) that provides an active area for detecting electrons or electromagnetic radiation (e.g., backscattering from the target). The top electrode has a doped layer and can also have a buried portion beneath the doped layer to reduce a series resistance of the top electrode without changing the active area. In another embodiment, an isolation structure can be formed in the semiconductor structure near sidewalls of the hole to electrically isolate the active area from the sidewalls. A method for forming the buried portion of the top electrode is also described.

公开(公告)号：US20200212246A1

公开(公告)日：2020-07-02

申请号：US16703294

申请日：2019-12-04

申请人： ASML Netherlands B.V.

发明人： Gianpaolo LORITO ,  Stoyan NIHTIANOV ,  Xinqing LIANG ,  Kenichi KANAI

IPC分类号： H01L31/115 ,  H01J37/244 ,  H01J37/28

摘要： The present disclosure describes a detector used in critical dimension scanning electron microscopes (CD-SEM) and review SEM systems. In one embodiment, the detector includes a semiconductor structure having a p-n junction and a hole through which a scanning beam is passed to a target. The detector also includes a top electrode for the p-n junction (e.g., anode or cathode) that provides an active area for detecting electrons or electromagnetic radiation (e.g., backscattering from the target). The top electrode has a doped layer and can also have a buried portion beneath the doped layer to reduce a series resistance of the top electrode without changing the active area. In another embodiment, an isolation structure can be formed in the semiconductor structure near sidewalls of the hole to electrically isolate the active area from the sidewalls. A method for forming the buried portion of the top electrode is also described.