US 12,224,152 B2
Multi-beam charged particle source with alignment means
Pieter Kruit, Delft (NL)
Assigned to TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT, (NL); and APPLIED MATERIALS ISRAEL, LTD., (IL)
Appl. No. 17/768,802
Filed by Technische Universiteit Delft, Delft (NL); and Applied Materials Israel, Ltd., Rehovot (IL)
PCT Filed Oct. 20, 2020, PCT No. PCT/NL2020/050645
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 13, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/080420, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 29, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 2024065 (NL), filed on Oct. 21, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2024/0096585 A1, Mar. 21, 2024
Int. Cl. H01J 37/14 (2006.01); H01J 37/10 (2006.01); H01J 37/147 (2006.01)
CPC H01J 37/147 (2013.01) [H01J 37/10 (2013.01)] 26 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for generating a plurality of charged particle beamlets, comprising:
a charged particle source for generating a diverging charged particle beam,
a beam splitter for splitting said charged particle beam in an array of charged particle beamlets,
a deflector array comprising an array of deflectors comprising one deflector for each charged particle beamlet of said array of charged particle beamlets, wherein the deflector array is configured for at least substantially collimating the array of diverging charged particle beamlets, and
a beam manipulation device configured for generating electric and/or magnetic fields at least in an area between the charged particle source and the deflector array, wherein the electric and/or magnetic fields are configured for optimizing an alignment of the charged particle beamlets on the deflector array,
wherein apparatus comprises a central axis, wherein the charged particle source, a center of the beam splitter and a center of the deflector array are arranged on the central axis, and wherein the beam manipulation device is configured for generating:
an electric field substantially perpendicular to the central axis, and/or
a magnetic field substantially perpendicular to the central axis.